Page 216 - DMGT505_MANAGEMENT_INFORMATION_SYSTEM

Unit 10: Enhancing Decision Making for the Digital Firm

The output of scanner can be stored in many formats e.g. TIFF, BMP, JPG, etc. A digitizer board Notes
is flat board used for vectorisation of a given map objects. Printers and plotters are the most
common output devices for a GIS hardware setup.

Software

GIS software provides the functions and tools needed to store, analyze, and display geographic
information. GIS softwares in use are MapInfo, ARC/Info, AutoCAD Map, etc. The software
available can be said to be application specific. When the low cost GIS work is to be carried out
desktop MapInfo is the suitable option. It is easy to use and supports many GIS feature. If the
user intends to carry out extensive analysis on GIS, ARC/Info is the preferred option.

Did u know? For the people using AutoCAD and willing to step into GIS, AutoCAD Map is
a good option.

Data

Geographic data and related tabular data can be collected in-house or purchased from a commercial
data provider. The digital map forms the basic data input for GIS. Tabular data related to the
map objects can also be attached to the digital data. A GIS will integrate spatial data with other
data resources and can even use a DBMS, used by most organization to maintain their data, to
manage spatial data.

People

GIS users range from technical specialists who design and maintain the system to those who use
it to help them perform their everyday work. The people who use GIS can be broadly classified
into two classes. The CAD/GIS operator, whose work is to vectorise the map objects. The use of
this vectorised data to perform query, analysis or any other work is the responsibility of a GIS
engineer/user.

Method

And above all a successful GIS operates according to a well-designed plan and business rules,
which are the models and operating practices unique to each organization. There are various
techniques used for map creation and further usage for any project. The map creation can either be
automated raster to vector creator or it can be manually vectorised using the scanned images. The
source of these digital maps can be either map prepared by any survey agency or satellite imagery.

Task Discuss why GIS is very popular in today’s business world.

10.5.3 Advantages of GIS

The Geographic Information System has been an effective tool for implementation and
monitoring of municipal infrastructure. The use of GIS has been in vogue primarily due to the
advantage mentioned below:
 Planning of project
 Make better decisions

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