1. SGC 2013 GeoSpatial E-Learning

2. Welcome to SGC2013 E-Learning portal…! This portal will help you grasp the gist of GIS (Geographic Information Systems aka ‘Geospatial’ Sciences) so that your team can outwit others in the challenge…! GIS touches almost all aspects of our daily lives – from delivering mail correctly to monitoring dengue clusters, from primary school enrolment eligibility to live traffic condition updates. GIS is a part of our everyday life and you will be enlightened to it. This E-Learning section will take you through what GIS is, and how it is used to solve real life problems. So…be prepared to get your “geo-brain” tickled…!

3. Chapter One: Demystifying GIS

4. LOCATION GIS is about “location, location, location.” It should be viewed as a technology, NOT just another computer system. GIS is an integrated set of hardware and software tools used for digital spatial (geographic) data manipulation, management and analysis, to solve problems or make decisions. Any profession or industry that has “location” information can harness GIS to empower its occupational / organisational excellence. Source: 1.http://bgis.sanbi.org/gis-primer/page_10.htm 2.http://localsearchmarketingtactics.com/ 3.http://maps.google.com.sg/

5. You are given the following industries or professions. Which are the ones that requires or possess information about LOCATION, and which ones don’t …? A – Fast Food Chain B – Fashion Design C – Accountancy D – Medical & Health Care E – Bus Service Operator F – Banking Industry G – Musical Album Production H – Telecommunication

6. You are given the following industries or professions. Which are the ones that requires or possess information about LOCATION, and which ones don’t …? A – Fast Food Chain  YES! I need to know where is the next best location to open the new outlet. B – Fashion Design  NO! I don’t need location information in order to accomplish my design. C – Accountancy  NO! I don’t really need location information to complete my financial statements. D – Medical & Health Care  YES! I need to know the current hotspots of the deadly disease. E – Bus Service Operator  YES! I need to know which bus route is underserved or overloaded. F – Banking Industry  YES! I need to make sure that our service match the population profile of this area. G – Musical Album Production  NO! Location doesn’t really impact the quality of the album that I produce. H – Telecommunication  YES! I need to know if this particular place has sufficient 3G wireless coverage. …Now you have a better idea about the relevance of GIS, don’t you?

7. GIS links geographic information (features) with descriptive information (attributes). GIS can be described as having multiple layers of data assembled into a digital map. GIS is dynamic – user can interact with the map rather than just looking at it. It allows user to visualize, explore, edit, and analyze geographic information, thus greatly increases it’s variety of uses. This animation shows how data layers are assembled in GIS. Source: 1.http://alexandriava.gov/GIS 2.http://www.co.goodhue.mn.us

8. Source: 1.http://alexandriava.gov/GIS One of the most valuable aspects of GIS is how data can be analyzed spatially – to unveil NEW information…! The animated image above illustrates how a user can quickly identify all addresses within 150m of an MRT station by using GIS. A list of the affected addresses can then be churned out for study.

9. Which of the following CANNOT be displayed on a map…? A – Museums B – Blood Types C – Interior Design D – Shopping Malls E – Non-Smoking Areas F – CPU (Central Processing Unit) G – Heritage Trees H – Wind Directions I – Cup Cake Recipe J – Gender & Age

10. Which of the following CANNOT be displayed on a map…? A – Museums  location of museums as displayed in tourist map B – Blood Types C – Interior Design D – Shopping Malls  location of shopping malls as displayed in tourist map E – Non-Smoking Areas  can be indicated on a map F – CPU (Central Processing Unit) G – Heritage Trees  can be indicated on a map (e.g. for Nparks maintenance) H – Wind Direction  as in wind direction map I – Cup Cake Recipe J – Gender & Age  can be indicated on a map (e.g. gender & age group map of a census) These entities are either can’t be mapped out or too insignificant to be displayed on a map.

11. END OF CHAPTER 1 Stay tuned for the next update!