Current Applications and Future Prospects of Geoinformatics: An Introduction

Geographic information systems (GIS) are computer-based tools used to create, manage, analyze, and visualize geographic data. With technological advancements, GIS has significantly evolved and integrated into many of our daily activities. It grew dramatically over time and became pervasive throughout business models, industries, and consumer products. From various internet platforms offering geospatial data to mobile applications offering location-based services, GIS has been transforming our world and making a substantial impact in everyday life. GIS technology has the ability to address important issues and the relevant applications are available in many disciplines and organizations. It can be used for data processing and management. It has various features that help organizations make effective use of available data intelligence and make informed decisions. It can perform spatial analysis by making use of machine learning (ML) algorithms to solve problems in three broad areas classification, clustering, and prediction. This chapter presents GIS concepts, capabilities, applications, and advanced features. This chapter provides an insight on a few major applications of GIS and its evolution with modern technological trends. It begins with the definition of GIS and various software available to perform geospatial operations. Then it narrates crucial applications of GIS in the field of remote sensing (RS), spatial analysis, webGIS, field operations, and location intelligence. It also presents advanced GIS modeling applications and analytics. Further, the role of ML and deep learning (DL) in shaping the modern GIS is explained. Finally, the chapter identifies emerging applications where GIS can play a major role including augmented reality (AR), map services, cloud computing, big data, and drones.