I’m Jenna and I’m a senior Economics/Politics and Government double major and an Environmental Studies minor. I am in Kappa Alpha Theta and on the OWU cheer team. Previously to reading this introduction, I had a vague understanding of GIS and what it does as well as its applications. However, this went very in depth and taught me a lot about the science of GIS itself. I generally thought of GIS as being more of a software rather than a discipline of science. The reading made this distinction and talked about the differences between the science and systems. It makes clear that you need to understand the reasoning and history behind the systems holistically in order to properly utilize and practice GIS. However, it discusses that GIS does not necessarily have one singular and comprehensive identity because it can mean many different things. I like this concept because it leaves room for growth and adaptability. I also enjoyed the discussion of the history because I thought of GIS as a solely modern development, but learning about its roots. The different applications of GIS are also very interesting because I understood how prolific it was, but didn’t realize that it touched so many different aspects of everyday life as well as different sectors of work.
I looked at GIS applications for economics and there are some obvious examples that I had studied before or talked about in class, but one concept I found new and interesting was its application in tourism economics. GIS is used to look at movement patterns of tourists to help plan infrastructure as well as marketing and can help look at the economic impacts on specific communities.
Another application I looked at was GIS applications in restaurants just because I work in a restaurant and thought it would be interesting to see how they can connect. One thing I found was site selection analysis which can allow businesses such as restaurants to look at traffic patterns and competition density among other factors to determine the best location for the restaurant\
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