Hi! My name is Iris Urton. I am currently a freshman and am an Environmental science major with an interest in minoring in botany or zoology.
Before I decided to take this class I had no idea what GIS even was or what it stood for and even reading the course description I had no idea it has so many uses in our modern world besides environmental purposes. I find it interesting how philosophy plays into this by the way that its use and meaning changes based on the intentions of the user. Spatial analysis is very different from mapping apparently, and in the early days if GIS on was just referred to as the computerized version of the other because the immense application of this tool was not yet fully realized. Many rejected the idea of GIS at first because they didn’t see a benefit in using it if they could do the exact same thing on paper but it could do a lot more than that, it just wasn’t given a chance at first. The roots of GIS are hard to pinpoint because its development came at a time when all sorts of information were starting to be digitized. Not only did geographers start to use it but so did landscapers, surveyors and architects. I didn’t realize how long GIS has really been a thing and I can understand why cartographers were slow to change but I think it’s really incredible how GIS allows you to overlay information to get a clearer picture on the question you’re trying to answer. I wonder if GIS would be what it is today if people hadn’t started to ask questions about the accuracy of the system and how it can be made better. The thought that there could be a gender bias in how the system is used is very interesting to me and that the consequences of it can be bigger than we think. As an outdoorsy person I didn’t think that GIS would be something that really would interest me because I’ve always wanted to do something very hands-on and in the field like conservation but in the modern age I realized after reading this that it is becoming a very important tool and can be combined with many specializations including conservation.
For my first application of GIS to look into I chose the conservation of endangered species. What I found is that with climate change still an ever prevalent issue in today’s world, our vast biodiversity of life is being threatened. The number of endangered species is rising but GIS has been an incredibly helpful tool in combating this issue. It allows conservationists to monitor and visualize population distribution, both historical and present, and track the efforts of the conservationists. They are also more easily able to gain better insight on where efforts are most needed.
Source: https://geo-jobe.com/mapthis/wildlife-conservation-powered-by-gis/
Another application of GIS I wanted to look into is about fox bats because they are one of my favorite animals and I find them really interesting. Something I learned from researching this topic is that fox bats are carriers of the Nipah virus and the transmission of the virus is due to habitat loss causing them to have to migrate to more populated areas, increasing the risk of human transmission. Pig farms are also a main source of potential contamination and happen to be a big part of Thailand agriculture. To prevent a possible spread of disease GIS is being used to map potential contact between bats, pigs and humans and to track bat colonies’ whereabouts.
Source:https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4389713/
