Reader response final draft

 Geographic Information System(GIS) is a technology widely utilized across multiple industries. GIS was developed with a simple mindset to modernize mapping in line with advancing technology. What started as a system providing a foundation in mapping, has progressed into a software that’s largely involved in solving complex issues such as climate change, sustainability and social inequity(Esri). Specifically designed to handle spatial data, which includes collecting, storing, analyzing, and visualizing geographic information, hence with amazing functions such as geocoding, spatial analysis and data management. Route planning, weather forecasts and land topography are just a few of the thousand applications driven by GIS. Moreover, GIS is heavily involved in environmental conservation and management. Identifying high-risk areas for natural disasters, wildlife habitat protection, sustainable land use planning are among many that GIS assists in environmentally. Possessing remarkable capabilities make GIS a sought-after digital tool as it is versatile.

Despite its high implementation cost, GIS has proven to increase efficiency and sustainability with its ability to provide engineers convenience and clarity.  It is also highly compatible with other technologies when assessing terrains, which helps in the evaluation of the environment of a project/research site.

GIS has reduced the workload of engineers, while improving their convenience and clarity on a project. Its spatial data management capabilities enable efficient storage, organization, and analysis of geographic information, saving time while also enhancing data visualization. "GIS gives the ability to connect heterogeneous information with each other, to compare, research, select the most convenient and visual data visualization, for example, by forming on the basis of them the necessary maps, drawings, tables, charts, diagrams." Evaluating and understanding site terrains are an important step for engineers and with GIS providing an accurate site analysis and the creation of visual data, makes it easier to understand complex site conditions and automatically stores the data. Instead of having to manually process this information paired with the possibility of misconceptions, engineers can now rely on GIS to help them.

Furthermore, environmental impact assessment is enhanced through GIS by evaluating land use patterns and ecosystem changes. Through spatial analysis, GIS is able to detect areas with deforestation, endangered animal species, pollution and can also help design eco-friendly cities; it allows users to evaluate the site, whether it is suitable for construction or even setting up a business at the specific location. By offering data-driven, visual, and predictive insights that enables engineers to design sustainable projects while minimizing environmental harm, GIS has been widely applied in research on evaluation of natural resources and environmental management (Grabaum and Meyer 1998, Bayliss et al. 2003). Although this might make GIS prone to cyber threats since it is capable of storing large amounts of sensitive data that can be detrimental should it fall into the wrong hands, this problem can be prevented by having more firewalls alongside regular security maintenance. For the most part, being able to integrate multi-source spatial data to assess the environmental setting of a project area makes GIS a system that's desired.

Naturally, a software with remarkable features and functions can be costly. Corporations will have to assess the cost-benefit of incorporating GIS into the project as there are possibilities of security threats and inaccurate data reading due to its dependency on the quality of data input. According to Zeiler(1999), "GIS is not just a software package, but rather a combination of skilled people, spatial and descriptive data, analytic methods, hardware and software." At that, high-performing computers are needed to process large spatial data, the complexity of the software requires specialized training, and sometimes geographic data may be costly to access as well. Having all these factors that contribute to the total cost aside from the basic implementation may not be affordable for smaller companies.  Thus, GIS is still a software that requires upgrades and may be even more costly in the future as its complexity increases.

In conclusion, its expertise in spatial data enables accurate mapping and efficient decision-making across various industries, not limited to engineering. Its unique problem solving technology allowed GIS to change from being a ‘mapper’ to one of the pivotal software used to combat world-scale matters. Every software is bound to have flaws mixed in with the spectacular features offered and GIS is not excluded. Though high costs may be difficult to resolve, security challenges faced can potentially be solved as the software is constantly being reinvented, upgraded, to keep up/get ahead of the ever-advancing world of technology. Nonetheless, GIS is still considered as a desirable software and is widely incorporated into applications that are being used in daily life. Unknowingly, GIS can be deemed as an invisible tech quietly aiding in daily operations of huge corporations and with the current world politics - climate change, disaster-prone cities and war, GIS is more important than ever.

References

Andreev, D. V. (2020). The use of GIS technology in modern conditions. IOP Conference Series. Earth and Environmental Science, 421(4), 42001-. https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1755-1315/421/4/042001/pdf

Esri. (n.d.). What is GIS? Esri. https://www.esri.com/en-us/what-is-gis/overview

Faiz, S. (2016). Handbook of Research on Geographic Information Systems Applications and Advancements. IGI Global. https://eds-p-ebscohost-com.singaporetech.remotexs.co/eds/detail/detail?vid=0&sid=70f58b8c-408f-414c-b81f-fd5adb996cc2%40redis&bdata=JkF1dGhUeXBlPWlwJnNpdGU9ZWRzLWxpdmUmc2NvcGU9c2l0ZQ%3d%3d#AN=1403944&db=nlebk

Lynn, G. (2007). Putting Canada on the map. The Globe and Mail. https://www.theglobeandmail.com/technology/putting-canada-on-the-map/article1092101/

Montoya, L. (2003). Geo-data acquisition through mobile GIS and digital video: an urban disaster management perspective. Environmental Modelling & Software : With Environment Data News, 18(10), 869–876. https://www-sciencedirect-com.singaporetech.remotexs.co/science/article/pii/S1364815203001051#section-cited-by

Xu, Y., Sun, J., Zhang, J., Xu, Y., Zhang, M., & Liao, X. (2012). Combining AHP with GIS in synthetic evaluation of environmental suitability for living in China’s 35 major cities. International Journal of Geographical Information Science : IJGIS, 26(9), 1603–1623. https://www-tandfonline-com.singaporetech.remotexs.co/doi/pdf/10.1080/13658816.2011.642800

Zeiler, M. (1999). Modeling our world: The ESRI guide to geodatabase design. Environmental Systems Research Institute, Inc. https://books.google.com.sg/books?hl=en&lr=&id=qAe-ScoyTqIC&oi=fnd&pg=PR1&ots=Mckh9-FFP4&sig=EM2Q3raVAeucLTY3yoUQtFXzH7g&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false