What is GIS? A Real Life Marauder's Map, of course!

Ever since Mapmyops started, I have been frequently asked "What is GIS? What does it do?"

As much as I am keen to share paragraphs of information over email or redirect them to my website to see the numerous use case videos and files, verbally, I only manage to mutter: 'Geographic Information System' or 'Mapping for Organisations'.

I've seen those confused looks before. After all, I have seen those exact expressions whenever I respond to the question: "What is Supply Chain exactly?" (fyi: I've done my masters in SC and respond as: "it is the operating ecosystem of an organisation").

A phrase as a response just doesn't seem to suffice! Some probe further while others utter "Oh, Ok. Good luck with that" and walk away.

Surely, there must be a short, sweet way to explain the concept. Fortunately, I may have just found it: "(Remember Harry Potter?) It is a Real Life Marauder's Map, of course!"

Just like the Marauder's Map unravelled the majestic Hogwarts castle and estate to the minutest detail, GIS is able to show the viewer 'a common operating picture of the organisation at the given point in time'. The detailed operating picture can be made for a large space such as a hospital, university, stadium and sea-port. It can also be made for the entire span of business operations: country-wide for a national logistics service provider and world-wide for a global manufacturer.

Unlike the secretive, single copy that Marauder's Map was meant to be, GIS is meant to be used by as many stakeholders of an organisation, internal (employees) or external (customers, distributors, government etc). Like Harry Potter used marauder's map to plan better and overcome obstacles, Location Intelligence derived from the operating picture helps stakeholders to take better decisions for savings, growth and competitive advantage. Here, I must point out that GIS can do much more: complex stuff like route optimisation and imagery exploitation or even evolve into something more insightful, but I guess this is a good way to understand for starters.

If you are wondering how a Marauder's Map can be made for your organization (which I recommend you absolutely MUST), please send in your details here. We collaborate with the world's best marauders to prepare it.

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Intelloc Mapping Services | Mapmyops.com is engaged in selling products which capture geo-data (Drones), process geo-data (Geographic Information System) as well as services (PoI Datasets & Satellite Imagery). Together, these help organizations to benefit from Geo-Intelligence for purposes such as operations improvement, project management and digital enabled growth.

Write to us on projects@mapmyops.com. Download our one-page profile here. Request a demo.

Regards,

Arpit

Kind regards,

Arpit

(Thank you J.K. Rowling for, it is due to your best selling book series in all of history, that I have found a creative way to explain to a wide audience.)