Where the Physical Meets the Digital - GIS and Enterprise Mobility
One of the mega-trends I write often about is the merging of the physical with the digital and the resulting impact on businesses. A key element of this trend is the association of geospatial or location data with events, tasks, projects, processes, assets and resources. I asked my civil engineering friend and hero of all ducks, J.D. Axford, to teach us a bit about graphical information systems (GIS). Here it is for your reading pleasure. Three broad categories of information are combined in GIS. As a point of reference, let's consider how a utility company would use these three: Landbase information typically comes from outside sources and depicts the natural (earth) and built (man-made) environment in which the utility operates – roads, rivers, and so on. Grid information, defining the physical system (power lines, transformers, substations, power generation sites) the utility owns and operates, this information comes from their engineering, surveying, and maintenance