GIS for Smart Cities
The processing of geographic information, that includes capturing, storing, manipulating, analyzing & managing of geographic data and presenting & visualizing it in a map, is done by a system called Geographic Information System (GIS). It has numerous applications such as climate monitoring, coastal zone monitoring, agriculture monitoring, map compiling, urban management, natural hazards analysis and help us understand what belongs where. If a GIS application covers a large geographic area then it has to rely on Satellite imagery (as aerial imagery may not be practical for capturing large areas). Today, Satellite imaging & GIS is playing a significant role in development of smart cites throughout the world especially in the areas like traffic management, planning of housing facilities, infrastructure management and building of highways/expressway etc as shown in Figure 1. It is estimated that by 2050 two-third of world’s population would live in urban areas, this estimation makes Satellite imagery based GIS all the more important for urban management in near future. Use of GIS in smart cities is briefly discussed in this article.
Figure 1: GIS in for smart cities [Ref. 3].
A Few Examples of Use of GIS in Smart Cities:
- Intelligent Transport System (ITS): ITS is used for traffic management, congestion control, analyzing and minimizing pollution caused by automotive etc., using GIS and Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) that analyze the real time data and make it available using applications like Google Earth and Bing Maps.
- Urban forestry management: Satellite imaging could be used for continuous monitoring and mapping of tree count, urban forestry, and interpret characteristics and conditions of specific pollutants in air, water and land. Remotely sensed high-resolution satellite imagery data delivers the detailed information to planners for better decision making in urban forestry management.
- Infrastructure planning: GIS deliver spatial solutions to various areas of civil engineering such as water resources management, facilities management, urban planning, construction and E-business. Public infrastructure is extremely high cost asset and once constructed it should last for 100 of years. Few examples are Dams, Highways, Bridges etc. Therefore, it is very important that infrastructure is well-planned so that it fulfill the current as well as future requirements of community/society. GIS is an effective tool to visualize the topographical conditions of construction sites.
- Tourism Information System: GISs deliver a valuable solution for the sustainable tourism development through better understanding the geography and can fulfil the needs of tourists. They can get information regarding hotels, restaurant and can easily navigate to their respective destinations.
By: Mr. Sartajvir Singh Dhillon, Assistant Professor (ECE), Chitkara University, H.P.
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