Ann-Margaret Esnard, Nancy Sappington and Miltion R, Ospina
The reading this week was about using the Geographical Information System (GIS) as a tool to aid planners with land usage and allocation. GIS is made up of hardware, software, data, metadata, vector data and raster data. These components combined are used to overlay images of maps.
The importance of the GIS to planners is to understand the land usage and all the variables affecting that piece of land. The GIS is just a tool which has to be manipulated by the planner to obtain the data results specific to the task. For example, a high risk fire zone when added as a layer on the map will highlight all the areas which cannot be built on due to the fire risk. The GIS distinguishes the overlays with different colours and patterns so the planner is able to differentiate between the particular zone(s).
The use of GIS saves planners considerable time and money as they do not have to continuously compare hard copies and sometimes outdated maps. Although this is not to say that hard copy maps have become a useless tool for the planning profession, but nowadays they are used in conjunction with GIS.
Your observation in the last paragraph is very important. I feel there is a growing misunderstanding of GIS that GIS can solve the problem with its "automation" capabilities. GIS a tool only, and cannot solve planning problems. Ultimately, it is human brain which can find problem, interpret problem and solve problem. Its like computer which can calculate millions of times faster than human brain, but a computer will never replace human brain.
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