What do they Do? They use Geographic
Information Software (GIS) to analyze and present data. I recently watched a
program on television about the history of a small English town. The program detailed
the development that have occurred in the last two hundred years.
They tracked changes in the population and correlated it to the economic
activity during that period of history.
The narrative was interesting
and so was the explanation of the reasons for the growth and contraction of the
town. All the statistics were well presented but it was not until they showed a
map of the area with the trade routes and the changes in the population imposed
on it that the picture was clear. The location of the town was a key
contributor to its economic fortunes.
Displaying any data
graphically helps explain complex ideas and engages the audience. GIS
techniques can be used to simply map customer locations or produce location
intelligence - detailed trend analysis integrated with demographics. This kind
of information was once only available to organizations with large IT budgets.
Now anyone can Do It - with GIS tools for data analysis and Google products to display the results.
Here is a sample of the distribution of the population in Southern Ontario. Using a table present this type of data is good, a graph or pie chart is better, showing it using a thematic map overlaid on a Google Map is best.
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| Population Distribution in Southern Ontario |
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