World Geography / Unit 1: Geography Skills
1.6 GIS, GPS and Remote Sensing
Notes
Geographers use technology to collect, store and analyze spatial data.
- A geographic information system (GIS) stores data in separate layers (roads, rivers, population, land use) that can be stacked and analyzed together.
- GPS (global positioning system) uses signals from satellites to give a receiver's exact location.
- Remote sensing collects information from a distance, using satellites or aircraft (for example, photographs of forests or floods).
- Uses: planning a new school, tracking hurricanes, mapping deforestation, finding the fastest delivery route.
- Example: a city overlays a flood-zone layer on a housing layer to see which homes are at risk.
Practice
Which best describes how a GIS works?
A GIS stacks layers so patterns can be studied together.
A phone map app finds your exact position using signals from satellites. This technology is
GPS receivers calculate location from satellite signals.
A planner wants to know which homes are in a flood zone. What is the best GIS approach?
Layering the two data sets shows where they overlap.
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