GIS – Transforming the way we live

A system to change the system

Today, November 19th, 2014, marks the World GIS Day, and thousands of organisations and people have joined hands to discover the world through GIS, a geographic information system that integrates hardware, software, and data for capturing, managing, analysing, and displaying all forms of geographically referenced information. GIS based geospatial technology has the power to transform lives significantly globally, and even in Pakistan.

This global revolution in low cost information and communication technologies can also help Pakistan address some of it oldest challenges with better planning, informed decision making for stakeholders, and improved government service delivery to benefit citizens. GIS technology can also be explained in simple terms. Consider: At least 90 per cent of everything a business, government, institution or organisation does, it does ‘somewhere’. GIS effectively gathers geographical data, stores and analyses it and presents it in in real world spatial form.

Pakistan has the potential to be at the centre of the GIS world and can make full use of the technology and its available applications. A country with a geographical high risk for emergencies such as floods and earthquakes, Pakistan can benefit immensely from GIS in flood risk mapping; such technology analyses historical data to detect potential flooding areas. Additionally, another example could be in case the transport department starts planning a new route for bus or railway system in Pakistan, GIS can analyse the best path that would cause the least disturbance to citizens and present it in the form of a map. This data can be accessible to the public and provide real time updates.

Critics might argue about the lack of access to such information and technologies to the common man; however, creating awareness about the benefits of this technology can yield unimaginable results. In fact, an analytical study of such critical data can easily save a million lives in Pakistan.

Pakistan can effectively manage its resources, reduce duplication of facilities, and good governance can be encouraged with the use of GIS. In Pakistan, the establishment of NSDI (National Spatial Data Infrastructure) is the need of the hour, whereas it can defined as the technologies, policies, and people necessary to promote sharing of geospatial data throughout all levels of government, the private and non-profit sectors, and the academic community. Through this infrastructure, the duplication of efforts among different organisations can be reduced and Pakistan which already suffers from a lack of resources and good allocation systems can benefit from this immensely.

Pakistan is still catching up on GIS technology. However, many organisations have ventured fast into this development. The Urban Unit, SPARCO, Planning and Development Department and Pakistan Bureau of Statistics are a few of the entities that have developed advanced GIS systems. In this regard, the Urban Unit’s progress is noteworthy.

The Urban Unit has undertaken several projects under its GIS programme, including Walled City Lahore Database and Marking of Royal Trail, GIS based mapping of PESSI’s medical outlets, mapping of Vehicle Intensity of Sheikhupura City, mapping of parks, green belts and roundabouts developed by PHA, mapping of government owned buildings in Lahore, flood prone areas of Punjab and many more. A number of Android based applications have also been developed for monitoring.

One would anticipate that the available technology and data are put to good use for the government to plan holistically, formulate strategies to serve the community with risk mitigation and deliver superior services.

The advancement in these technologies is a big step up for Pakistan and its frequent usage would provide the public and private sector a mechanism to devise result-oriented solutions based on analysis, leading to improved asset management, resource planning and enhanced service delivery in Pakistan.