Climate change and protecting the environment are today on top of our list of concerns. The issues regarding environmental variations are affecting everything from crop production to melting glaciers. So, there is a lot to worry about, and online mapping software is here to help. GIS (Geographic Information System) is a system that can create, manage, analyze, and map all types of data. It is a powerful tool enabling the performance enhancement of any sector, including the environment.
How GIS and Online Mapping Software Can Help with Environmental Changes
Human activity and global warming cause environmental issues that require constant monitoring and supervision. GIS and online mapping software can effectively monitor the environment and deliver valuable information to help us understand the situation much better. GIS can help with environmental data analysis and planning by viewing and better understanding critical ecological conditions. Many factors, including the steepness of slopes, aspects, and vegetation, can be viewed and overlaid in GIS to learn about different environmental parameters.
Furthermore, GIS can show and analyze aerial photographs. It can then overlay digital information on photos to provide environmental data analysts with more familiar views of landscapes and associated data. As a result, GIS offers quick views of hazards and risks and the areas that need to be safeguarded. Moreover, mapping software helps plan and manage environmental challenges that are the foundation of decisions. It supports activities in environmental assessment, monitoring, and mitigation. You can use GIS to generate your ecological models. Additionally, GIS can be helpful in future planning, air pollution, disaster management, forest fires management, natural resources management, wastewater management, oil spills and their remedial actions, and many more.
Disaster Management
GIS can help disaster management by modeling through early warning systems or decision support systems to predict future disasters. As a result, it expedites the process of preparations and responses and helps teams gain awareness, engage with the public, and predict the impact of the disaster, leading to faster recovery.
Air Quality Monitoring
GIS-integrated platforms can meticulously predict the Particulate Matter (PM) levels in different areas of a city using sensors and Internet of Things (IoT) technology for air quality monitoring, analytics, and planning. In addition, it lets you know the most hazardous areas, which is especially important for asthma patients. This way, field officers can take corrective action on time to enhance the air quality.
Forest Fire Management
Wildfires must be avoided because they result in massive damage to forests. GIS offers different applications in forest fire management, including hazard map production, forest fire simulation, and resource management. It uses different information layers, such as the Digital Elevation Model (DEM), flammability index, and various models, to manage forest fires.
Natural Resources Management
GIS helps to identify the impact of human behavior on natural resources. It can map the natural resources data collected through remote sensing, aerial photography, or satellite imagery. More importantly, GIS technology can be most helpful in confronting environmental issues such as floods, landslides, soil erosion, drought, and earthquakes.
Other Applications of GIS in Environmental Changes
In addition to all the abovementioned applications, GIS can help in wastewater management, oil spilling, sewage treatment, and more. It can provide valuable location information that makes decision-making easier and highly productive.
Geographic Enterprises
Would your business benefit from online mapping software? Contact Geographic Enterprises at 888-848-4436 for a free demonstration.