The Evolution of GIS - Essay Example

?THE EVOLUTION OF GIS This paper explores the evolution of the Geographic Information System (GIS) or sometimes referred to as GI System. This coversmore than twenty years of development, beginning in the 1970s until the present. The process reflects not just the rate and type of changes that transpired previously but it also depicts the trajectory of future trends. The development also highlighted the capabilities and importance of the system today in an increasingly information-consuming society. This aspect revealed the changing roles of GIS in the past two decades. It underscores an expansion of GIS demand expanding beyond the purely professional and scientific requirements. Finally, the major events that shaped the pattern of GIS evolution through the years are inextricably tied to the changes and breakthroughs in computing technology. Early Beginning Hanna and Culpepper (1998) suggested that that very first GIS developers and users were engineers in Chicago (p.13). They cited the crude geographic information system for planning purposes in a transportation study for the city during the 1950s was the very first GIS system (p.13). The authors went on further by citing the role of GIS in the manner by which cities had developed in America. It was argued that the legacy of urban sprawl could partly be attributed to the knowledge of land planning by pioneering engineers (particularly transportation and water resource engineers), basing from an understanding of early GIS (p.13). Hanna and Culpepper identified the work of Charles Eliot as one of the early examples of this claim. Considered as one of the leading landscape architects of the twentieth century, Eliot did several large-scale park and greenway projects within geographically based planning (Hanna and Culpepper, p.13). While the GIS in this period are crude and complicated amalgamation of applications, they were the foundation of present frameworks and they, certainly, have tried to accomplish the same objectives, which is to produce geographic information. Modern GIS The evolution of GIS in the past twenty years or so can best be explained by the development of two important sectors in the information technology field – hardware and software developments. Based from available literature on this subject, it is clear that these two are the core components of the system and the manner by which they rapidly evolve has driven the pace by which GIS has changed and will change over time. This is supported by the evidences that follows. Essentially, GIS is defined as “the system of computer hardware, software, personnel, organizations, and business processes designed to support the capture, management, manipulation, analysis, modeling and display of spatially referenced data” (TRB, p.10). As with any type of computing technology, the GIS's own system is consisted of three basic parts, namely, the UI or the user interface, the tools, which is differentiated according to functions, and, finally, the data manager. Put in another way, the components of the system can be said to include data, technology, application and humans (Lloyd and Bunch, 2003, p.828). All of which have their respective and equally important functions. While the GIS could run in a single computer terminal, the optimum framework requires several computers for GIS operations - desktop, client server, centralized desktop and centralized server (Longley et al. 2005, p.158). These variables and operational framework underscore why hardware and software are critical in the progression of the GIS development. Hardware The invention of the silicon chip back in the 1970s launched the fast paced computer development (Pasewark and Pinard, 2007, p. 263). It led to the viability of personal computers, which became the precursor of the current technology typified by smaller, faster, powerful and cheap hardware. To put this environment in context, there is the so-called Moore’s Law which states that computer processing chips double in power almost every 18 months, making computer more powerful than ever before (Davis, 2001, p.407). To demonstrate the substantial changes, one could merely compare a personal computer in the 1980s to a computer that has been recently released. In 1983, the computer would typically have 4 megahertz speed and 64 kb of RAM, complimented by 5.25-inch floppy drive for storage purposes (Davies, p.406). In a radical contrast, the 2012 user will settle for no less than the lightning speed of an Intel i3 or AMD A6 processors, with at least 64 gigabytes of storage and 4 gigabytes or more RAM, complemented by a DVD or USB flash drive. While there is no specific barometer for the average computer specifications, these are normal capabilities one will find in computers being sold in the market today and one that users would find acceptable to run their applications. Following the hardware development, Davis was able to illustrate the GIS capability associated with technologic change (see Fig. 1). Fig. 1: GIS Movies Spatial Trend (Davis, p.408) The power attributed to the hardware in each developmental stage of the computing technology development is influential in the manner by which GIS has been designed and improved on throughout the years. This is particularly demonstrated in the manner by which the system evolved in terms of accomplishing more tasks within a short period of time. The above illustration depicts the speed by which a GIS movie can be created and processed as well as the ability to store bigger files efficiently. Software An important GIS component that has driven much of its evolution in recent years is the GIS software. The development of GIS software began with simple software performing basic GIS tasks (Haklay, 2010, p.14). These are built from a collection of computer routines collated by computer programmers. In the initial stages of development, applications are highly differentiated according to their functions. This changed during the 1980s when the GIS market expanded. Longley et al. explained this when they said that the demand for a standard user interface increased and by the latter part of this period, a standard means of communication with a GIS finally emerged with the use of command lines (p.159). To illustrate how the interaction between a GIS and its user must have been like, there is the case of drawing a topographic map. Here, the programmer inputs instructions through command prompts such commands in regards to the attributes of a forest or the area of a specific location or landmark. The principle at work was that the system could be likened to a toolbox of geoprocessing operators that was then applied to data sets in order to yield new data sets (Longley et al., p.159). During this stage, it is still difficult to identify what a GI system is or categorize the applications within the system. Meaden and Do Chi (1996), for instance, pointed out that there are numerous mapping applications available but that they have varying capabilities making them part of the GIS only in some aspects (p.117). During the 1990s the price for GIS software was generally high and promptly reflected in its market price (Chan, 2011, p.387). This is attributed to the poor record of development. Meaden and Do Chi highlighted that the rate of development is significantly slower than the development of hardware, making the software aspect to GIS not only costly but also less reliable (p.117). Indeed, even when there were many softwares available, their evolution had been confined to minor updates and less on breakthrough developments that improved on performance and capabilities. Rapid development occurred in the past decade as computing power increased and demand for sophisticated GIS expanded. Besides the rudimentary improvements on GIS as an application such as the manner by which complex data are processed and stored, there was the increase in the aspect of integration and compatibility with other applications that enabled the accurate, fast, stable, confident and cheap processing of geographical information that came to span spaces, hierarchies and geographic scales. This is best depicted in the case of the Computer-aided Design and drafting application also known CADD. GIS and CADD Previously, CADD, which is an important application in processing and depicting geographic information, was extremely incompatible with GIS, making the use of both extremely costly especially for individuals. For instance, achieving precision and accuracy is different in GIS and in CADD. For the former, it is represented as 32-bit units while it is represented in 64-bit units in CADD (Shekhar and Xiong, 2007, p.112). This condition was changed, paving the way for the integration of GIS and CADD data through the use of the DXF technology or the drawing exchange format. The integration was improved on further by a series of technologies and application updates such as the creation of ArcCAD, the AutoCAD Map and the DWG format. The integration made GIS all the more popular because of the ease by which GIS, CADD and their users could interact and create geographic data. Specifically, it streamlined the planning-to-site-design-to-construction transition by making the two-application work seamlessly together (Hanna and Culpepper, p.18). Today, CADD is not the only software to interface with GIS in order to make designing, mapping, data retrieval, among other functions easier for users. This reflects the efficacy of GIS as a system and its reliability in processing geographic information. An underlying variable out of the evolution of GIS is that technology has made it possible for the system to finally be compatible to the manner by which humans process information. This has been the subject of much research. For instance, Albert and Golledge (1999) investigated the ability of people to use GIS through a series of map overlay tests. The researchers found that the performance of the tool used such as the manner by which a GIS application render map layers determine accuracy in the interpretation of information or in decisions made out of the activity. Current Examples As previously mentioned, GIS is indispensable in geographic exploration and land planning. It is an indispensable tool for geographers who are doing expeditions and fieldwork. Along with global positioning system, it is a distinctive feature of the tools used by GeoAltai, which is a joint expedition of the United Kingdom and Russia, primarily undertaken to provide baseline environmental information for the Katunsky Ridge area of the Belukha Massif, which would then be used as the basis for landscape assessment, simple modeling and environmental zoning of the area in the process of its evaluation as a Russian national park (Carver et al., 1995, p.168). Besides these, however, it emerged critical in other fields such health and the environment. For example, in the United States, GIS is used in health mapping. In a study by Vine, Degnan and Hanchette (1997), it was explained that GIS help environmental epidemiologists to investigate the relationship between environmental exposures and the spatial distribution of disease (p.598). GIS databases also emerged as crucial tools in this respect. Map layers, for instance, contained in GIS databases are linked to geographic coordinates, attributes and demographic characteristics provided by the US Bureau of Census that are used to predict health trends and patterns such as cancer rates (Vine, Degnan and Hanchette, p. 598). GIS is also being used to investigate and analyze climate change. For example, the system was used in tandem with Individual-based Modeling in a research to predict the impact of climate change on marine animals (Clark et al., 2001). This study highlighted the responses of the environment to the climate change. GIS became especially crucial in determining species distribution, their abundance as well as their viability or potential of survival (Clark et al., p.161). Iannou, Kritikos and Prastacos (2002) were also able to design a GIS-based decision support system called Map Route for intra-city vehicle routing, which generates routes according to satisfactory time and vehicle constraints. Using GI system, the creators of Map Route were able to address the problem of exorbitant cost and software vulnerabilities of previous other systems. GIS provided the application with standardized user interface, effective personnel training, guaranteed maintenance and system upgrades, among other breakthrough features (Iannou, Kritikos and Prastacos, p.842). GIS also powers the application with accurate information using up to date database mechanism, which solved the difficulty designing a solution that would follow actual road networks, one that also complies with the traffic patterns along major city arteries, large streets and roads (p.844). GIS databases are also becoming indispensable as analytical resource that offer diverse and numerous amounts of data. A case in point is NASA’s LANDSAT, which stores imagery and cartographic data within an integrated, global database (Peuquet, 1988, p.376). These examples underscore the breadth of fields and disciplines that use GIS today. In an information-driven society, GIS is made more relevant. As with the development of computer from the costly prototypes in its early years to the shift towards cheap and powerful personal computers, the trend in GIS also reflects the same trajectory. Its users expanded to include more and more people, using geographic data and information not just for work or for professional and scientific purposes but also for everyday usage such as in the manner by which people navigate city routes. Map applications such as Google Maps are proprietary softwares bundled with many mobile phones and tablet computers used by ordinary people every day when they go to work, when they go to the park or visit a museum or explore another city. Trends Recent GIS trends reveal an increasing interest on the opportunities offered by the Internet. The networking capability of the web provides tremendous benefits for GIS users, particularly in the area of access. Longley et al. explained that this can tremendously lower costs of ownership and improve access to geographic information by dramatically reducing implementation, ongoing support and maintenance costs (p.164). This is recognized to be possible because the web-based GIS model can use a centralized software and data management. It is important to note that the rise in network-based GIS models does not signal the end of desktop GIS. Instead, it is going to reinforce it by stimulating the demand for content and professional GIS skills in the process of GIS automation and administration, including software development (Longley et al., p.164). Future trends are likewise exciting. As computing technology further develop and GIS change with it side by side similar information technologies, the system will not merely achieve the stability, accuracy, compatibility and sophistication but rather, it is expected to evolve further, integrating more technologies such as speech-control, which is appears to be the next logical stage in the linear progression of the evolution. When GIS was first driven by command-based interface, it transformed into the visual approach with the introduction and development of user interface. It is expected that the next stage in the evolution process would be further advancement in the way users interact with the system. Aside from voice or sound control, there is also the possibility of a virtual reality-driven interface, allowing for an interactive three-dimensional model that enable users to “virtually walk” a geographic location or data (Alagan, 2007, p.26). This would render a virtual tour of any location on Earth and perhaps even Mars possible, including the study of major landforms, the deep crust for geologic exploration, among other exciting “field works” (Davis, p.407). The importance of high technology GIS can be contextualized in the manner by which people, in general, make sense of geographical structures in a cognitive-developmental level. In a study by Downs and Liben (1997), it was highlighted that people encounter difficulties in considering an integrated but complex set of variables in order to sufficiently understand geographic information. The researchers explained that people need to cope up with numerous and diverse spatial and logical concepts such as the understanding of the properties of metric spaces, coordinate systems and frames of reference in addition to the manner by which spatial transformations, the conservation of shape and maintenance of part-whole relations take place (p.305). The modern GIS address these variables effectively. The hardware capabilities and the sophistication of available GIS softwares empower users because the processes became more visual, or, rather, visual in approach. Conclusion The evolution of the GIS system can be attributed to several important technological developments. First, there are the advances in computing hardware, which made computers affordable and powerful. Today, many people and organizations can buy desktop systems not just in workplaces but even for home use. These are computers that can perform complicated tasks and functions with apparent ease (Hanna and Culpepper, p.18). The viability and power that emerge in the process provided the ecology by which GIS has been developed, improved on. This is demonstrated in the emergence of sophisticated computing languages, which made programming easier and faster. Together with the hardware capabilities, this allowed a steady and swift evolution that finally led to a sophisticated technological tool. The creation and development of the UI, for instance, has hastened GIS development because it led to less reliance on command-type operations, making the use of the system popular because of the significantly shorter learning curve. Technology has also paved the way for a more effective system because the advances in terms of power, platform and language, allowed developers to explore other aspect of GIS in order to make it more effective. This paper has cited a trend, for example, that emphasize on developing GIS applications that are consistent, appropriate and conducive to human cognitive capabilities, particularly in understanding geographic information. All in all, in order to depict the significance of the evolution of GIS in the past twenty years, it is important to go back to the importance of geographic information. According to Pequet (p.375), this is central in the field of geography and other related disciplines and fields because it is required and inextricably linked with the process of spatial analyses and the modeling of geographic phenomena including the uses that they entail. Accurate and reliable geographic data do not only mean effective geographic expeditions or land mapping initiatives. Rather, they are imperative in many other endeavors such as in running a city or in predicting a catastrophe. This is the reason why GIS is an important technological tool and how its evolution should be of interest for people. In the past twenty years, there were significant achievements and the evolutionary path points to a more sophisticated and intuitive system that would help people to make sense not just of the Earth but also beyond. It is worth noting that today there are just numerous geographies or approaches to geography. One of GIS’ greatest contributions, as evidenced by its evolution, is the universalization and consistency of geographic information. References Alagan, R. (2007). Participatory GIS Approaches to Environmental Impact Assessment: A Case Study of the Appalachian Corridor H Transportation Project. Ann Arbour: ProQuest. Albert, W. and Golledge. (1999). The use of spatial cognitive abilities in geographical information systems: The map overlay operation. 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