What is GIS and how does it work?Ngā mahere me te Pūnaha Pārongo Taunaha

What is GIS and how does it work?

A GIS (Geographic Information System) is used to display, manipulate, and analyse geographic information.

GIS represents features of the real world as geographic layers. For instance Roads and Primary Land Parcels.

A GIS combines layers of information about a location to give you a better understanding of that location.

GIS can also be used to solve real-world problems including:

• verifying location,
• creating planning models,
• monitoring environmental conditions.
• routing and tracking vehicles,
• estimate 100 year floods,
• and much more!

Tools for map display, query, geometric processing, or analysis are built into GIS software packages which can be tailored for specific needs.
GIS data most commonly exists in one of two formats: vector or raster.

• Vector data consists of discrete features such as points (manholes), lines (roads), or polygons (parcel boundaries).
• Raster data consists of continuous data made up of pixels (Aerial Photography).

View GIS website

How does Central Hawke's Bay District Council use GIS?

The Community Infrastructre and Development Group uses GIS to create, manage and analyse planning and regulatory information (Building Consents, Resource Consents, Subdivisions, Hazard Information, Dogs, etc).

The Asset Strategy Manager's team uses GIS to create, manage and analyse. Utilites information (Sewer, Stormwater and Water infrastructure). It is a key tool for Utilities Asset Management.