Category Archives: Spatial IT/GIS

What AI Can Do for GIS

Part 2 By Juan B. Plaza and Giulio Maffini Before we can even attempt to describe what AI can do for GIS, we need to understand what a GIS is and how it is used. What do these three letters mean? A pretty good definition is: A geographic information system consists of integrated computer hardware...

The Complex Issue of AI and GIS

Part 1 We attended remotely the ESRI User’s Conference (UC) held in San Diego on July 10th and, for the first time, saw and heard how the leading commercial GIS software company in the world positioned itself for the use of AI in its products. It is reasonable to assume that AI can make GIS...

Mapping Internet Deserts

North Carolina uses GIS to identify rural communities with poor broadband access to help farmers and fight poverty When Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack visited North Carolina last year to announce a $17.5 million grant for broadband connectivity, it felt like a lottery win for Warren County officials. Without the vital Internet connections that drive economic...

Low-Code/No-Code Mapping

Location-aware apps can now be created with almost no coding expertise. Is this the next frontier in mobile GIS? When authorities at the Ara Hīkoi Aotearoa, New Zealand’s Walking Access Commission, needed to revamp the country’s web-based maps, they knew that they had to build a handy and more user-friendly alternative for their hiking patrons.  ...

How Cool

Los Angeles uses GIS technologies to help residents find respite during heat waves In late August 2022, a vicious heat dome sat over Los Angeles just when summer would typically fade into fall. For a week, temperatures climbed as high as 115 degrees in parts of Southern California—and didn’t cool off much at night. The extreme...