By Maitphang Syiem
“A map is the greatest of all epic poems. Its lines and colors show the realization of great dreams.” – Gilbert H. Grosvenor, Editor, National Geographic (1903- 1954)
Truly as quoted, maps have a great story to tell. In fact one can actually recite a poem out of the representation, and not only a poem it can be an unending story to tell which can go on forever. Technically, the definition of a map is a graphical representation of the geographic features in a two dimensional format. Maps have been a great source of information with its use and implementation going back as far as Aristotle and through the medieval ages until today. History of places, people and kingdoms can be better explained using maps. Have we ever noticed the accompaniment of maps in our history books, either at the side or bottom of the page, referring to which our study of history of people, places and kingdom become even more interesting? Students and scholars should be able to make the best use of maps as far as academics are concerned. Maps and any spatial representation of geographical features in the early ages were merely in the form of paper drawings, stone drawings or in tablets. Furthermore, in some civilizations leaves were used for representing geographical charact-eristics or sometimes even mud models were used to show the features. However, in the recent millennium with the advent of Information and Technology, conventional map representations are being converted into digital formats. This has proven of great use. All the conversions are done through a particular system and medium called GIS.
All of us may have a big question mark as to what GIS is or what exactly it does or how it works etc. Basically, GIS stands for Geographical Information System. Technically, we define GIS as an integrated system of hardware and software to capture, store, analyze, manipulate and represent a spatially referenced data and the data is nothing else but maps which are in digital format. Over the years GIS has moved to a more dynamic, user interactive format in the form of Web GIS and Cloud GIS. There are many events which have led to the advent of GIS. For instance, the projection of Cholera outbreak using point-representation by John Snow in London, Dr. Roger Tomilson’s initiative in development of the first operational GIS in Ottawa famously known as the CGIS or Canada Geographical Information System in the year 1960, the development of geographic software packages in Harvard labs and later in the year 1969, initiatives by Jack Dangermond who later founded Esri commonly called as Environmental Systems Research Institute have aided in putting GIS in the main stream globally. Currently Esri is the global leader of GIS products.
“Knowing where things are, and why, is essential to rational decision making” – Jack Dangermond, founder of Esri.
This famous GIS quote logically applies to our decision making when it comes to the daily aspects of human and associated activities. For example, if a tourist visiting Meghalaya wants to know the optimal and shortest route from Mawlai to Police Bazar, he can analyze and visualize the time and distance for himself with the help of a GIS application either on his smart phone or GPS device. This cited example is just a layman’s explanation but as far GIS applications are concerned there are numerous forms and many nations have made GIS mandatory in their Infrastructure and Urban Development. It is noteworthy that India is also one of the nations which has implemented GIS in many projects through respective public as well as private organizations. Although, looking at the current scenario of GIS in India there is still a lot of work to be done. In fact, GIS is still in its early stages of development but no doubt India is moving forward in this field of Technology. Furthermore, Geospatial Science in India has been evolving periodically. Many developments have taken place as far as GIS is concerned in India, the formation of National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI), and the upcoming (INGO) Indian National GIS Organization initiated by the Ministry of Earth Sciences are a few to name. GIS has also taken its roots in Academics. Many Institutes and Research Organizations have GIS as a specialized field of study; (SIG) Symbiosis Institute of Geo-Informatics Pune, JNTU Hyderabad, IIRS Dehradun, Pune University, Annamalai University to name a few.
Technically, GIS is applicable in many fields, such as Utilities which include Traffic & Road Management, and Energy & Power. The other fields wherein GIS is mostly used are Urban Planning, Land Use Mapping, Natural Resource Management, Business and Retail Analysis, Defense Projects and Health Applications. These are just a few to name but however GIS can be applied to numerous fields and it all depends on how it is used. GIS in American and European countries have been applied to its highest potential use right from its personal to corporate aspects. Drawing a parallel, we in India can also make the most of GIS right from the grass-root level. The use and application of GIS should not remain in the minds of just a few people but it should reach the public masses. No doubt our government is taking initiatives in this field but their initiatives should also target the grass-root level, starting in communities from the State to the National level.
Several States in India including Karnataka, Hyderabad, Maharashtra and Meghalaya have implemented the use of GIS in various forms. In Meghalaya, GIS has been used effectively for the management of Electoral process; maps of different constituencies have been prepared in collaboration with North Eastern Space Application Centre, (NESAC). As far as the use of GIS is concerned in the state of Meghalaya, it still has to find a strong place and no doubt GIS in our State can be used to its highest potential in solving many of our State problems in terms of decision making, health issues, criminal activities, insurgency issues, power and energy, natural disasters, our depleting natural resources and forests, state boundary issues which is the bone of contention, and traffic and transportation problems which our people are facing daily. It is strongly felt that our State leaders and State bureaucrats need to be acquainted with GIS technology. It is high time for them to broaden their thoughts and look beyond. Structured initiatives should be taken to bring and set this powerful technology in our state of Meghalaya. Such scientific programs should be organized to make the common people aware. It should reach the community level including students, public organizations, local NGOs and Institutes. To be specific, in regard to the recent initiative taken by our state Chief Minister Dr. Mukul Sangma for a public hearing regarding State Development, he should be made aware of implementing GIS for the development programs in our State and also for effective rational decision making. Sometimes the plans and strategies go haywire and do not project the required outputs and things land up in a mess bringing about chaos and confusion. However, if GIS is effectively used in the developmental projects it is certainly capable of an effective and successful outcome.
(The author is GIS Trainee (Tech- Support) Environmental Systems Research Institute India)