Geospatial technology is an evolving field of study that involves different application like Remote Sensing (RS), Geographic Information System (GIS), and Global Positioning System (GPS). Geospatial technology allows you to acquire data referential to the earth and use it for modeling, analysis, visualization and simulations. With geospatial technology, we can make informed decisions depending on the importance and priority of resources, mostly limited in nature. Geospatial technology is generally used to create intelligent maps and models that can be interactively investigated to get the required results in a STEM application. Alternatively, we can use it to advocate social policy and investigations based research. This technology is also used to unveil spatial patterns that are embedded in larger volumes of data that cannot be accessed or mapped otherwise.
Today geospatial technology has become a significant part of our everyday lives. It plays a vital role in different areas, from personal fitness, agriculture to transportation. In this blog, we have discussed the part geospatial plays in the primary industries.
The role of geospatial technology in various sectors
Geospatial Technology in smart city planning
Geospatial technology is an essential factor that is responsible for successful smart city planning across the globe. Because of geospatial, the following framework with 4 main components suits the best for developing smart cities:
- Sensing Layer: Sensing layer is to constantly track the parameters of the city subsystems, including network of sensors, machines, human sensors and IoT devices.
- Data Layer: Data layer includes desperate or federated databases in link to functioning of urban municipalities and other civic bodies, along with the various departments supporting the infrastructure of the city such as utilities, transportation, etc.
- Business Layer: Business layer includes models concerning visualization, analytics, semantics, business logic, metadata, data catalogs, etc.
- Application Layer: It includes various applications that municipal staff, citizens and administrators use in relation to various other departments of the smart city structure.
Use of geospatial technology and type of geospatial data used for smart city planning
Different applications of geospatial technology are used at various stages of smart city development, such as planning, designing, building and operating.
The various kinds of geospatial data used at different accuracies and scales of smart city planning help in the maintenance and management of smart cities.
- Data required for city planning: For developing smart city master plans
- Data required for physical infrastructure: For bridges, roads, public spaces, city furniture, etc.
- Data required for standalone buildings: For green building and energy-efficient design.
Geospatial Technology in Logistics
Apart from the primary application of GPS, geospatial data is now associated with various new applications to provide an in-depth understanding and insight of national, local and global landscapes. Businesses in today’s modern times require making regular efforts to decrease the maintenance costs and delivering services and goods of high-quality at the same time.
Several reputed companies like Zomato, Ola, Uber and many others use geospatial data to ensure efficient delivery services by keeping a track and expedite shipments. It also improves the dynamic inventory of goods with help of mapping the transit routes and different warehouse locations. The result shows more effective customer satisfaction and high productivity, reducing the overall cost of production.
Geospatial Technology in Military applications
Today, geospatial technology is one of the most used technologies in the defense and military field of almost all countries. Some even set a complete observation satellite program. Several aerospace companies such as EADS sell ground segments and aerial platforms for Homeland Security Operations. It is highly accurate geographically with almost any location on earth linked with GPS technology.
Some main applications of geospatial in defense field include:
- To help in planning and reporting on wide-scale security operations, where the risk of terrorist action is higher
- To plan and stimulate a mission prior to the beginning of a particular military operation
- To carry out imagery analysis report and mission outlining for a systematic aerial search of a specific area for any possibilities of terrorist actions
- To formulate defensive operations to assess the vulnerable areas of approach to a confined [property or area of interest
- To participate in Peace Keeping Operations where the military troops will work in a foreign environment and require complete information of the geographical surroundings
- To prepare and evaluate a specific action plan during natural disasters where taking action in the ground gets difficult. We are talking about the use of RADAR imagery with all-weather ability.
Geospatial Technology in Agriculture
Geospatial has been used prominently in the agriculture industry. Geospatial and communication technologies for agricultural and rural development, specifically in the Asia-Pacific area are advancing rapidly over the last 10 years. Geospatial is used for mapping and surveying plantation crops. It is the significant activity in countries such as Indonesia and Malaysia. Geospatial applications like GIS and remote sensing come to extensive use for the mapping of various crops such as oil palms and sugarcane.
Talking about the micro level implementation of the geospatial tools, it is specifically used in the mapping of drainage patterns, groundwater resources, variable rate application and handling of fertilizers, insecticides and pesticides. Geospatial technology is known as an influential factor in the agriculture field as it increases yields, helps predicting the outcomes, manages resources and enhances farm practices.
It’s role in precision agriculture
The agricultural area is reducing with the passing days due to fast urbanization and industrialization. Today farmers face different kinds of agricultural problems, one of the most common being the area to produce. To carry out successful farming, farmers use different input application. In recent years, the advanced use of GIS and GPS has lead to agricultural advances in geospatial data management that have changed the way how several growers manage their crops. In the near future, farmers will go to a field with a spreader or combine it with GPS, which records positional information linked to the variable rate of fertilizer application or produce harvests for their farm. This ability to track the variability in the field and further particular areas for input application with use of the variable rate method is called as precision farming. Several countries use this information for time and site particular field analysis with the help of farm management systems. Farm management systems are GIS-based with specific functions customized to the activities of farming.
Geospatial Technology in Natural Resource Management
Like several other industrial and geographical domains, geospatial technology also plays a vital role in Natural resource management. Natural resources are not properly distributed across the globe but they vary spatially, like does the economic and social development challenges. In context of management, the spatiality of natural resources shows the development landscape in the way it presently exists and the most effective ways to change it.
Applications of GIS used in Natural resource
- Change detection
- Impact assessment
- Suitability analysis
- Resource assessment
- Scenario study
Geospatial technology is used in NRM to measure the amount of sediment flow and soil loss from the land, to locate different surface water harvesting area with the help of GIS application and more.
Geospatial works as a powerful tool in the field of natural resource management. However, it is vital to have proper information on the concerned resource before creating a development action. Additionally, knowledge of spatial dimensions is fundamental to set development actions and to convince policymakers.
In a nutshell
Geospatial technology is one of the fastest-growing fields that fits in almost every industrial and geographical domain, such as agriculture, natural resource management, logistics, smart city planning, military and more. With the growing trends of geospatial, it is soon to become an unavoidable part of our daily activities.