Yaşamın ve Evrenin Korunmasında GIS Teknolojisi

GIS Technology Used To Save Lives, The Planet

Written by Renata Di Gregorio

Last updated on November 18, 2015 @ 7:04PM

Created on November 18, 2015 @ 4:23PM

We take so much technology for granted. We can count our steps on our wrists and reach thousands of people from the palms of our hands. But what about the technology used in saving lives and our planet? Wednesday is Geographical Information Systems, or GIS, Day and officials in Randolph County say GIS has changed the game for emergency responders, forest service workers, and some of you.

First-responders used to get places with directions like 'turn left at the brick house.' Foresters used to sometimes rely on hand-drawn maps. With GIS this isn't the case anymore and you can use it to your advantage too.

So what is GIS?

"GIS is more than map making," said Crystal Krause, Assistant Professor of Biology and Environmental Science at Davis and Elkins College. "It's this ability to bring in lots of different data sets to analyze patterns and really to help us make decisions."

Some of those decisions are ones you may be facing, for instance, if you want to open a business.

"You can use GIS to look at the dynamics of your community and understand, 'Where should I put my new restaurant or my new daycare?" Krause said.

Krause says she and the city of Elkins are looking at using GIS to map crime patterns. It's also used by EMS workers so they know exactly where they're going.

"When a 911 call comes in they can zoom out and actually get directions from that," said Cindy Hart, Director of the Randolph County Office of Emergency Management.

Hart says it's been a huge game changer.

"The rural routes, nobody really knew where those were at. The halves on the addresses, nobody knew where those were at. So it made it very, very difficult to find addresses," she said.

It's not just used to help people, but also to help the planet. Forest services use it as an information library.

"If we wanna put in a new road or a trail then we say, 'Are there endangered species involved? Is it too much of a slope?'" said Tim Brake, Cartographic Technician for Monongahela National Forest.

You can use it to see things like if you're in a floodplain or what tax district you're in. You can view this on the Randolph County Assessor website.

"Every piece of property in Randolph County has a district, map, and parcel number. With those three things you can find your property or someone else's property." said Seth Pratt, GIS Technician at the Randolph County Assessor Office.

Krause says we use types of GIS every day on our phones and she predicts the technology will keep expanding. Brake told 5 News there are uses for it that we haven't even started doing yet.

Kaynak: http://www.wdtv.com/wdtv.cfm?func=view&section=5-News&item=GIS-Technology-Used-To-Save-Lives-The-Planet-26880