The Geographic Information System has been an effective tool for implementation and monitoring of municipal infrastructure. The use of GIS has been in vogue primarily due to the advantages mentioned below:
Planning of project
Planning of project Make better decisions
Visual Analysis
Spatial analysis
Improve Organizational Integration
i) Planning of Project:
The advantage of GIS is often found in detailed planning of a project that has a large spatial component; and, where analysis of the problem is a pre requisite at the start of the project. Thematic maps generation is possible on one or more than one base maps. As an example: the generation of a land use map on the basis of a soil composition, vegetation, and topography. The unique combination of certain features facilitates the creation of such thematic maps. With the various modules within, GIS it is possible to calculate surface, length, width, and distance.
ii) Making Decisions:
The adage “better information leads to better decisions” is as true for GIS as it is for other information systems. A GIS, however, is not an automated decision making system, but a tool to query, analyze, and map data in support of the decision making process. GIS technology has been used to assist in tasks such as presenting information at planning inquiries, helping to resolve territorial disputes, and placing pylons in such a way as to minimize visual intrusion.
iii) Visual Analysis:
Digital Terrain Modelling (DTM) is an important utility of GIS. Using DTM/3D modelling, a particular landscape can be better visualized which leads to better understanding of certain relations in the landscape. Many relevant calculations, such as (potential) lakes and water volumes, soil erosion volume (for example: landslides), quantities of earth to be moved (channels, dams, roads, embankments, land levelling) and hydrological modelling becomes easier.
Aside form the previously mentioned fields, in the social sciences GIS can prove extremely useful, too. Besides the process of formulating scenarios for an Environmental Impact Assessment, GIS can be a valuable tool for sociologists to analyze administrative data, such as population distribution, market localization, and other related features.
iv) Spatial Analysis:
The use of spatial analysis, which is a technique of GIS, helps to:
Identify trends on the data.
Create new relationships from the data.
View complex relationships between data sets.
Make better decisions
v) Improving Organizational Integration:
Many organizations that have implemented a GIS have found that one of its main benefits is improved management of their own organization and resources. Because GIS has the ability to link data sets together by geography, it facilitates interdepartmental information sharing and communication. By creating a shared database, one department can benefit from the work of another - data can be collected once and used many times.
As communication increases among individuals and departments, redundancy is reduced, productivity is enhanced, and overall organizational efficiency is improved. Thus, in a utility company, for example, the customer and infrastructure databases can be integrated so that when there is planned maintenance, people can be informed by computer-generated letters.