Chapter Two: GIS: Coming of Age

In 1854, John Snow, an English physician, depicted a cholera outbreak in London using points to represent the locations of individual victim through a map, possibly the earliest use of geographic information in epidemiology. His study of the distribution of cholera which establishes relationship between the victims and the water source, led to the source of the disease a contaminated water pump, thereby saving many lives.

Source: 1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geographic_information_system 2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Snow_(physician)

The first known use of the term "Geographic Information System" was by Roger Tomlinson, a Canadian, in the year 1968 in his paper "A Geographic Information System for Regional Planning". Tomlinson is thus acknowledged as the "father of GIS, and the first GIS in the world was developed in Canada during the end of 1960s.

Source: 1. http://www.esri.com/news/arcnews/fall12articles/the-fiftieth-anniversary-of-gis.html 2. http://www.esri.com/news/arcnews/fall12articles/origins-of-the-canada-geographic-information-system.html 3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geographic_information_system

The true potential of GIS was widely evident only with the establishment of the first computer-based GIS in 1986, which also signified the beginning of modern GIS. The advancement of modern GIS empowers users to capture, store, manipulate, analyze, manage, and present all types of geographical data in ever more sophisticated ways.

Source: 1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geographic_information_system 2. http://www.econsultsolutions.com/what-we-do/technical-apps/geospatial-analyses-gis/ 3. http://www.geospatialtraining.com/blog/index.php/integrating-arcgis-and-google-earth-for-crime-analysis/ 4. http://geospatial-solutions.com/the-new-age-of-real-time-gis/

Learn to think like John Snow! Establish relationship between each feature (or entity) on the left , and its attributes on the right:
A Recreational Park B Canal C Expressway D MRT Station E HDB F School G Hospital H Library I Petrol Station J Bus Interchange name, speed limit, number of lanes, starting point (X,Y) name, monthly loan volume, membership, address block number, number of storey, postal code name, length, width, depth, ending point (X,Y) name, number of beds, address, number of wards road name, company name, number of station name, number of berth, total service route, postal code name, area, year established, types of facility, road name name, address, year established, total enrolment station name, number of exits, station code, postal code

Learn to think like John Snow! Establish relationship between each feature (or entity) on the left , and its attributes on the right:

A Recreational Park --B Canal ------------------C Expressway ----------

name, speed limit, number of lanes, starting point (X,Y)

name, monthly loan volume, membership, address block number, number of storey, postal code

D MRT Station ----------E HDB ---------------------F School ------------------

name, length, width, depth, ending point (X,Y)

name, number of beds, address, number of wards road name, company name, number of station

G Hospital --------------H Library ----------------I Petrol Station ---------

name, number of berth, total service route, postal code

name, area, year established, types of facility, road name name, address, year established, total enrolment

J Bus Interchange -----

station name, number of exits, station code, postal code

Learn to think like John Snow! Establish relationship between each feature (or entity) on the left , and its attributes on the right: A Recreational Park --B Canal ------------------C Expressway ---------name, speed limit, number of lanes, starting point (X,Y) name, monthly loan volume, membership, address block number, number of storey, postal code name, length, width, depth, ending point (X,Y) name, number of beds, address, number of wards road name, company name, number of station name, number of berth, total service route, postal code name, area, year established, types of facility, road name name, address, year established, total enrolment station name, number of exits, station code, postal code

Notice the location element MRT Station ----------inDeach features attributes?

E HDB ----------------------

It is the critical info that helps F School -----------------display a feature on the map geospatial gene! G the Hospital --------------H Library ----------------I Petrol Station --------J Bus Interchange -----

Amazing isnt it? Almost everything that we associate with in our daily lives have the geospatial genes!

Want to know more? Lets move on to the next chapter!