Overview
ABSTRACT
The use of geographical information has grown considerably with the development of computer tools. In companies or administrations, geographic information systems (GIS) allow the representation of the spatial environment from basic geometric shapes (polygons, vectors, meshes...). The GIS thus exploit software tools, data to be processed, computer servers but also technical know-how. This article proposes to present to the engineers the potentialities offered by GIS and the associated computer tools. Thus, examples of GIS exploitation are presented on various topics.
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Read the articleAUTHORS
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Pierre-Alain AYRAL: Doctor of Science - Lecturer at IMT Mines d'Alès, - Associate researcher at UMR CNRS 7300 ESPACE
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Sophie SAUVAGNARGUES: Teacher - Teacher-researcher at IMT Mines Alès - Associate researcher at UMR CNRS 7300 ESPACE
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Yannick FOGUE-DJOMBOU: Doctor of Science Consultant
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Billy POTTIER: Master 2 in Geomatics - Doctoral student at IMT Mines Alès
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Florian TENA-CHOLLET: Doctor of Science - Lecturer at IMT Mines d'Alès
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Vincent THIERION: Doctor of Science - Research engineer, CESBIO, INRAE
INTRODUCTION
Implementing a Geographic Information System (GIS) is a costly operation in terms of hardware, software, data and personnel. A great deal of thought must go into assessing the needs of the designer and/or user. To do this, a series of questions must be asked in order to define a Conceptual Data Model (CDM), which forms the basis of the geographic information system. At the same time, it is often essential to select the software and IT solutions that will be needed to implement the project.
The aim of this article is to provide decision-support during this implementation phase, by reflecting on the basic questions that need to be answered when setting up a GIS, while succinctly presenting the possibilities available to designers. Specific developments are proposed for Web and computer applications, as these are essential in the implementation of a GIS.
To illustrate this implementation aspect, beyond the general focus on GIS design, three areas of application are proposed. The first illustrates the use of GIS coupled with multi-criteria analysis methods to solve a specific problem. The second example presents the implementation of a GIS application focused on Web-Mapping and participatory sciences in the field of hydrology, and discusses the technical choices that led to the realization of this application. Finally, the last section focuses on GIS and programming, which can be used to automate processes that would be tedious to carry out manually, illustrating the use of Python and R languages through business modules.
A glossary of terms is provided at the end of the article.
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KEYWORDS
geomatics | Geographic Information System (GIS) | decision making tool | programming
CAN BE ALSO FOUND IN:
Geographic information systems: case studies
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