'What is GIS?' Harry Potter offers a clue...
- Arpit Shah
- Jul 22, 2019
- 2 min read
Updated: Dec 4
Ever since my professional services firm came into being, I’ve often been asked a familiar question:
What is GIS? What does it do?
As much as I’d love to share paragraphs of information—or direct the person to my website full of articles and demonstrations—I usually end up muttering a short line: GIS stands for Geographic Information System, or GIS is a mapping platform to perform location analytics.
Predictably, this is followed by confused expressions. To be fair, I get similar looks when I answer What is Supply Chain Management? (my academic specialization and the operating ecosystem of any organization).
A short sentence just doesn’t seem to suffice! Some people probe further, but most simply say, “Ok… good luck with that,” and walk away. 😒
Surely, there must be a short and sweet way to explain such a broad, multidimensional concept. Fortunately, I think I’ve found one.
Remember Harry Potter? GIS is like a real-life Marauder's Map!
Just as the Marauder's Map revealed the majestic Hogwarts castle and its estate in granular detail, a GIS application provides a common operating picture of an organization at any given moment.
This operational view can represent a physical space—such as a hospital, university, stadium or port—or it can cover the entire geographic span of operations, whether country-wide or global.
Unlike the secretive, single-copy Marauder’s Map, GIS is meant to be used collaboratively by multiple stakeholders across an organization—employees, customers, distributors, regulators, and more.
Just as Harry used the Marauder’s Map to plan his adventures and navigate obstacles, Location Intelligence derived from GIS empowers stakeholders to make better decisions for savings, growth, and competitive advantage.
With geospatial modelling capabilities, GIS is also adept at route optimization, imagery analytics and deriving powerful insights from complex, large-scale location datasets.
For beginners, I feel this demonstration is a good starting point to understand GIS' potential.
If you’d like a Marauder’s Map for your organization (which I firmly believe you should), send in your requirements. We work with the world's best marauders, after all.
ABOUT US - OPERATIONS MAPPING SOLUTIONS FOR ORGANIZATIONS
Intelloc Mapping Services, Kolkata | Mapmyops.com offers a suite of Mapping and Analytics solutions that seamlessly integrate with Operations Planning, Design, and Audit workflows. Our capabilities include — but are not limited to — Drone Services, Location Analytics & GIS Applications, Satellite Imagery Analytics, Supply Chain Network Design, Subsurface Mapping and Wastewater Treatment. Projects are executed pan-India, delivering actionable insights and operational efficiency across sectors.
My firm's services can be split into two categories - Geographic Mapping and Operations Mapping. Our range of offerings are listed in the infographic below-
A majority of our Mapping for Operations-themed workflows (50+) can be accessed from this website's landing page. We respond well to documented queries/requirements. Demonstrations/PoC can be facilitated, on a paid-basis. Looking forward to being of service.
Regards,
