Tehdyt toimenpiteet

Geographic information systems

Geographic information is information about objects and phenomena that have a known location. A typical GIS database contains coordinates of locations and the associated attributes. Sometimes the coordinates can be expressed, say, as street names.

Attributes are measurement results, observations or the results of mathematical modeling. They may concern features such as groundwater reserves, traffic congestion, or whether a certain location in the terrain was above or below the water level in the Stone Age.

Although GIS databases may consist only of text and numbers, their application requires software with a map user interface. The databases, and the maps visualized from the databases by means of the software, describe two or three spatial dimensions, and sometimes also the temporal dimension. The software produces dynamic maps or animations from the databases containing the temporal dimension.

The temporal dimension of geographic information is utilized, for instance, when optimizing the routes of emergency ambulance services.

Good GIS software is extensive and versatile. CSC acquires software licenses for Finnish universities and coordinates their use. High-quality software can analyze data in many ways and enables the presentation of results as illustrative images and animations.

Geographic information systems develop rapidly. Geoinformatics is a new field of science that combines geography and mapping with expertise in data processing. Metadata, or summarized information about data, plays an important role in keeping geographic information material usable.

Map material and attributes are expensive, and many methods are needed to acquire them. If the GIS database concerns traffic jams in a big city, information is collected by means of suitably located observation equipment. The edges of glaciers are studied from aerial and satellite images, but the distribution of plant species cannot be determined without visual observations by the human eye.

One application of geographic information is town planning. Urban geography makes use of GIS, for instance, when mapping soil pollution, while sociologists study the population’s socioeconomic distribution between regions.

Another application of GIS pertains to mobile phones. Optimal location of base stations requires knowledge of the shadow regions caused by terrain shapes. These regions can be determined by modeling with the help of three-dimensional geographic information systems.

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Tehdyt toimenpiteet

Geographic information systems


Sisältö Methods of computational science Applications of scientific computing Modeling the universe Ships and computational fluid dynamics Protein research Drug design Speech recognition and synthetic speech Modeling the human body Modeling in geosciences Geographic information systems Genotype and bioinformatics Grand Challenge research projects in CSC magazines Supercomputers and grids	Tehdyt toimenpiteet Tämä sivu suomeksi Geographic information systems Geographic information is information about objects and phenomena that have a known location. A typical GIS database contains coordinates of locations and the associated attributes. Sometimes the coordinates can be expressed, say, as street names. Attributes are measurement results, observations or the results of mathematical modeling. They may concern features such as groundwater reserves, traffic congestion, or whether a certain location in the terrain was above or below the water level in the Stone Age. Although GIS databases may consist only of text and numbers, their application requires software with a map user interface. The databases, and the maps visualized from the databases by means of the software, describe two or three spatial dimensions, and sometimes also the temporal dimension. The software produces dynamic maps or animations from the databases containing the temporal dimension. The temporal dimension of geographic information is utilized, for instance, when optimizing the routes of emergency ambulance services. Good GIS software is extensive and versatile. CSC acquires software licenses for Finnish universities and coordinates their use. High-quality software can analyze data in many ways and enables the presentation of results as illustrative images and animations. Geographic information systems develop rapidly. Geoinformatics is a new field of science that combines geography and mapping with expertise in data processing. Metadata, or summarized information about data, plays an important role in keeping geographic information material usable. Map material and attributes are expensive, and many methods are needed to acquire them. If the GIS database concerns traffic jams in a big city, information is collected by means of suitably located observation equipment. The edges of glaciers are studied from aerial and satellite images, but the distribution of plant species cannot be determined without visual observations by the human eye. One application of geographic information is town planning. Urban geography makes use of GIS, for instance, when mapping soil pollution, while sociologists study the population’s socioeconomic distribution between regions. Another application of GIS pertains to mobile phones. Optimal location of base stations requires knowledge of the shadow regions caused by terrain shapes. These regions can be determined by modeling with the help of three-dimensional geographic information systems.