Hi my name is Daniela Flores (she/her) I am a sophomore majoring in environmental science. I’m from Philadelphia PA, I love listening to music and going on walks.
Chapter 1
When people think of GIS, they believe it’s only software for geographers because of its ability to document and log locations. In reality, everyone uses it, and it is a helpful tool for anyone in any subject or job position. GIS can help with basically anything that is in any place that can be documented.Ā
With GIS we can visualize things we couldnāt when it was just with pen and paper. We can see the repercussions of potential construction in areas and how it can damage the environment without doing anything to the area. GIS reminds me of a layered cake, layering different layers of the land, soil, forest, housing/buildings to create one map that includes all the characteristics of one area. One thing I like about GIS that this chapter talked about was how when using GIS the facts and data donāt have to be as precise, there can be guesstimates to see how things would look while finalizing data or making hypotheses while mapping. GIS is also good for visual learners, they can see the separate layers of the area and learn about it in an easier format instead of reading long articles about data. With this visual format, it can be easier to solve problems as they are now imitating what someone is trying to hypothesize. With GIS we are not only able to address environmental concerns but also human concerns like crime, femicide, and social changes. GIS can help with anything you can think of, it is a powerful, and accessible tool that anyone can use. I wonder if GIS has been purposefully used to urbanize and gentrify certain areas because they seem like good areas to build businesses without identifying the places that were there before.Ā
Two GIS applicationsĀ
One GIS application I looked up was feminicide, I found one based in Antioquia, Colombia. This paper focuses on studying feminicide from a geographical perspective, and seeing how the relationship with drug trafficking in geographical locations impacts feminicides.Ā
Source: The spatial heterogeneity of factors of feminicide: The case of Antioquia Colombia
The second GIS application I looked up was Landslides in Colombia. They used GIS to estimate groundwater levels and compare them to rainfall events. They also compared it with earthquakes to see their relationship and how they could predict landslides.Ā
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/%28SICI%291096-9837%28199609%2921%3A9%3C853%3A%3AAID-ESP676%3E3.0.CO%3B2-C
