Where is GIS Technology Headed?

Geographic information system technology has shifted its focus to the user experience. Anyone with an internet connection can now develop GIS apps even if they are not GIS experts.

FREMONT, CA: Today, Geographic Information System (GIS) is all about problem-solving in the real world. Businesses are increasingly relying on spatial technology to help them make better decisions and improve their processes. But one will need an app that can turn the query into a map before they can do that. Developers construct these apps by describing the problem and then figuring out how to fix it. Then they provide pre-existing or customized remedies to the issue. It is no surprise that 70 percent of businesses want to shortly expand their spending on smart building technologies.

Managing thousands of acres of forest assets, for example, presents challenges in the forestry industry. It takes a lot of skill and resources to develop, manage, and maintain the GIS apps and servers. Many companies will struggle to achieve this in-house. To address this, businesses have developed forest operations software, which allows for powerful geographical analysis without the hassle of designing, hosting, and maintaining the system oneself.

Applications and data had to be placed on servers when corporations first started utilizing GIS. Cloud-based GIS emerged as the next step in GIS technology about ten years ago. It provides users with access to their GIS data 24/7, without the hassle of managing IT infrastructure and manual backups. During the same period, GIS technology has shifted its focus to the user experience. Anyone with an internet connection can now develop GIS apps even if they are not GIS experts. The apps now handle a lot of the work because technology has become so simple and accessible. Furthermore, since the technology is cloud-based, one will not need to set up any complicated IT systems to get started.

Future of GIS

GIS mapping revolutionized the way businesses in a variety of industries do business 20 years ago. Cloud computing is currently playing a similar role in the advancement of GIS. However, it is anticipated that this tendency will continue to increase at an unprecedented rate in the future. Leading GIS technology firms have stated their commitment to the cloud. It is not hard to see why. The future of cloud GIS is bright, with spatial data becoming easier to store, access, and analyze than ever before.

Traditional software models will fall behind while the two GIS delivery models coexist. Companies that maintain their GIS data on-site servers will be saddled with in-house maintenance and updates. It will become impossible to keep up at some point. The massive growth in people working from home is another element that will promote cloud GIS adoption. It is no longer a luxury to be able to access the data at any time and from any location. If firms are to survive the era of remote labor, it is an absolute must.

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