{"id":3047,"date":"2015-07-25T12:36:50","date_gmt":"2015-07-25T12:36:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.geoplanit.co.uk\/?p=3047"},"modified":"2015-07-25T12:41:14","modified_gmt":"2015-07-25T12:41:14","slug":"guest-post-bringing-spatial-decision-making-to-the-masses-esriuc-2015","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.geoplanit.co.uk\/?p=3047","title":{"rendered":"GUEST POST : BRINGING SPATIAL DECISION MAKING TO THE MASSES (EsriUC 2015)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Quick note from GeoPlanIT’s Elliot Hartley:<\/strong> Ruskin Hartley<\/a>\u00a0(yes my brother) attended this years Esri User Conference in San Diego on behalf of Garsdale Design Limited<\/a>, I asked if he could write a couple of guest blog posts for us, this is his first.<\/p>\n

\"esriUC2015_ruskin\"<\/p>\n

Geography is everywhere. \u00a0Of course, being a geographer I would say that. But for many\u00a0people geography means a list of state capitals and perhaps the atlas published by the National Geographic. \u00a0I\u2019ve just come back from the 2015 Esri user conference in San Diego and saw first hand that this is changing quickly. While much of the discussion was about new software and tools, the\u00a0most exciting\u00a0change is the way these tools are deployed.<\/p>\n

Just as Google maps has transformed the way we navigate our world (when was the last time you used a paper map?!), spatial decision support\u00a0tools are transforming the way we understand the world around us and how we make collective decisions. GIS \u2013 geographic information systems \u2013 is\u00a0the tool\u00a0enabling this transformation.<\/p>\n

GIS is not a new technology. It\u2019s at least 40 years old in its modern incarnation and I\u2019ve been using it for about half this time. Having just spent a few days at the Esri user conference, it is clear that the power of GIS as a decision support tool is on the verge of being brought into the heart of the public domain. It\u2019s exciting and has the potential to transform the way we live, work, and govern.<\/p>\n

A number of trends\u00a0are converging\u00a0to make this possible.<\/p>\n