Geographical Information Systems - Essay Example

The most important part of a GIS is the ‘gencode’ to which information is connected. It represents a geographical code to highlight a place or location anywhere in the world. A GIS shows vital data in a diagrammatic manner, displaying extended spatial locations, territorial divisions, neighborhood vicinities and their inhabitants with unparalleled clearness. The GIS displays structure upon structure of data {such as characteristics and statistics of human population, income levels, voting preferences, poverty levels, pollution rates, and Internet availability}, and the manner in which all structures work in cohesive unity.

The GIS user then selects the data to structure according to the queries that need to be solved. The precise information provided by GIS is being increasingly used for public safety purposes. Public safety officials have discovered that its geospatial information is derived much more spontaneously, and is more productive as compared to data supplied by ambiguous orthodox photography due to the very fast rate at which imagery of a certain area can be displayed as well as the cost savings involved.

It is estimated that GIS use has resulted in cutting short land-use and field visits by as much as 70%. Tasks like on-the-way and on-the-scene skillful planning, highlighting the precise origin of wireless calls, advance planning of interior safety and security strategies, and re-directing traffic in times of emergencies have become much easier to undertake and solve more quickly and efficiently (Earth Imaging Journal, 2005). The use of GIS as a crime-fighting tool is increasing in the United States.

It enables the police to examine and evaluate crime trends and find precise geographic locations where some crimes are concentrated, connect those crimes to the area in which they take place, and highlight the locations