Geographic Information Systems: Some History, Some Thoughts, and What's New

Geographic Information Systems: Some History, Some Thoughts, and What’s New


ESRI, which stands for Environmental Systems Research Institute, is the premier computer mapping and spatial analysis company that provides the industry standard software platform for GIS. Their website has a nice short history of GIS. Below is a quick summary:


They begin in 1960 with the National Center for Geographic Information and Analysis which evolved with early computers. In 1963 Roger Tomlinson set out to develop the Canada Geographic Information System in order to inventory Canada’s natural resources and automate data processing and storage of that information. He also coined the term geographic information system. In 1965 the Harvard Laboratory for Computer Graphics developed software known as SYMAP. Geographers, planners, and computer scientists collaborated there to develop early GIS applications. In 1969, a member of that Harvard Lab, Jack Dangermond, and his wife Laura, founded Esri to help land use planners and resource managers. They developed software tools, formats, and work-flows, many still in use today. Esri went commercial in 1981 with ARC/INFO, making their software available to a wider public. 


It was around the mid-1980’s is when GIS began to be used more extensively in science applications. Geologists and cartographers mapping land surfaces, subsurface features, and mostly human-made above surface features, had long superimposed various “layers’ to see how they matched and how best to design various things. Archaeologists could overlay maps of settlements from different time periods to help discover how things changed spatially. Biologists could map plant and animal populations. Environmental scientists could map point-sites of pollution, how pollution disperses, and contamination plumes in groundwater and surface water. Geologists could compare subsurface features to surface features.


Because digitized layers were not available for all spatial data, some of us sometimes had to use a pre-computer technology: light tables, a surface with a light underneath, so that two paper maps of the same scale could be superimposed. One could also use ‘see-through’ tracing paper. I did this with coal seam structure maps and coal mine maps to predict depth to set gas well casing below the coal seam and to predict whether that seam was mined out and a void, possibly filled with water, would be encountered. Sometimes we had multiple coal seams and multiple mines to set multiple strings of casing through, so we had to be careful. We also had to overlay lease maps and topographic maps for spotting wells in suitable areas. With lease line distancing requirements this could be challenging. Often, I would spot wells for development plays, then the surveyor would go to the location and see if that was feasible. Sometimes he would call and suggest alternate locations based on topography and forest cover. 


With well-defined computer map layers in GIS programs like ESRI’s ArcGIS or ArcView the process is a bit easier nowadays and doesn’t require a big area to spread out maps. Spatial knowledge has come a long way in the past 35 years and helps to streamline many applications. Global positioning satellites set the stage for accurate location in three dimensional xyz space. With free GPS software on our smartphones the process of knowing where you are is simplified. When we are somewhere our coordinates can be read by others who can see where we are on a map just like we can see where we are when we’re driving. GIS has so many practical applications in so many fields and such accuracy that the methods of the pre-GIS past will simply fade away.


GIS is the basic technology for mapping spatial data. It is synonymous with mapping itself, just computerized, digitized into raster and vector data and packaged into map layers. Superimposition and what we can learn from that is often the goal. Interpreting spatial information is part of so many human endeavors. Newer technologies like drones, remote sensing, robotics, automated switching for energy production and manufacturing, and infrastructure monitoring, rely on it. Drones can be used for things like detection of oil and gas pipeline leaks by flying them along the routes with detectors embedded.

The dashboards mapping out the spread of coronavirus are an unfortunate but valuable new application for GIS. ESRI partners with the WHO, the CDC, and other public health bodies to put together geographic depictions of the data. GIS also aids the ‘contact tracing’ necessary to see where a carrier of the virus has been, although this can get into the realm of surveillance, more specifically AI surveillance by tracking our phone GPS history. 


Integrating GPS and GIS helps police and emergency medical personnel, natural disaster response, property assessment, mapping of underground utilities, wires, water pipes, gas pipes, etc. The list is pretty much endless and having accurate spatial data saves lives and makes lives easier. GIS can help farmers water and fertilize crops with great precision and less waste. ‘Call Before You Dig’ services help contractors avoid dangers by consulting detailed maps of underground features, which can be quite extensive in urban environments. GIS is often a primary feature of ‘Big Data’ which can be analyzed to find hidden trends. Political redistricting and the U.S. Census depend on GIS. Federal, state, county, and municipal governments rely on GIS. Knowledge often depends on databases and databases often include necessary spatial data so GIS is a key part of many databases. 


Some of us economic geologists like to stare at maps. It helps to get our exploration mind in perspective. Our own subsurface mapping programs have evolved in tandem with GIS and they work best with surface GIS layers superimposed.   


Esri is always improving their software and making it compatible with other software and formats so that we can zoom in to what we want to see or zoom out for a more global perspective. Although for many businesses, competition is useful, for something like GIS it is rather necessary that a single platform be standard. Esri has provided such a standard. A single platform standard will be desirable for other things too like switching dynamic energy buying and selling based on dynamic pricing. This is related to the Internet of Things and GIS is a key part of that as well. Knowing where things are on a map or within a system is geographic information and that knowledge is essential. Esri calls it the science of where.


References:


History of GIS, Esri website, (esri.com)


Dashboards Give Geographic Perspective to Coronavirus, in ArcNews Esri, Spring 2020, Vol.42 No. 2


ArcNews Esri, Spring 2020, Vol.42 No. 2