18 History of Geographic Information System

Dr. Puneeta Pandey

 

1. Learning Objective

 

This module has been introduced with an objective to review the history of GIS. A brief review regarding GIS and its applications in various fields has been presented in this chapter. The chapter highlights contribution to the evolution of GIS applications made by pioneers with limited resources and enhancements in the techniques with time. The role of underlying principles and technologies in the GIS development such as GPS and remote sensing has also been attempted to familiarize the audience within the domain of this module.

 

2. Introduction

 

GIS and remote sensing are emerging techniques with numerous applications in diverse areas. Number of studies has been carried out that shows the expanding use of GIS technology in recent times.

 

Geographic Information System is commonly abbreviated as GIS. The term with combination of three words define each word specifically.

 

Geographic implies the location of spatial objects in terms of their geographic coordinates (Longitude or Latitude). Information stands for data of specific feature in qualitative and quantitative terms while system stands for various interconnected components with diverse functions that form GIS.

 

GIS is a computer based mapping tool that facilitates manipulation of large information as layers. It provides facility to collect, store, manipulate, analyze and display particular data or geographic information. It is combination of art, engineering, science and technology.

 

The GIS utilization involves two main components i.e., computer system and geographic data. Computers are used for preparation and digital representation of earth surface features in GIS software. This technique is used by people belonging to different fields such as by Historians, Meteorologists, Statisticians, Planners, Architects, Commercial Companies and Engineers as well. Road maps, maps representing urban area, rivers, railway lines, several places, cloud cover, temperature etc can be prepared using GIS. It comprises of package of software that enable analysis, acquisition, and visualization of data.

 

In this module, our focus is on the various historical developments carried out in the field of widely used GIS.

 

3. GIS: Historical background

 

3.1 Databases GIS and digital cartography are two independent fields from where GIS has been derived. The decreased computer cost and rise in power has induced the GIS technology.

 

Database links

 

The present concept of GIS with combination of spatial and non-spatial data has important utilization of Data Base Management Systems (DBMS). The development of relational DBMS was particularly significant with examples such as Oracle being widely used today.

 

Digital cartography

 

Developments in larger Computer Aided Design (CAD) field induced enhancement in digital cartography.

 

The GIS technology has undergone various development phases. The roots of GIS lie in the stimulus presented by expansion of remote sensing techniques during 1960-1970. To start with the history of GIS, GIS is a recent expansion of conventional cartography. Although cartographic maps were simple with limited data displayed but like the conventional cartography, GIS also comprises of a base map. Paper maps were used earlier to represent the geographical information of an area. The geographic data was overlaid by hand on the printed paper maps before introduction of concept of computerization of maps. The time period from 1960-1980 was GIS pioneering period that originated new discipline in future research and development for GIS. The quantitative revolution of 1960’s in Geography motivated the expansion of computer programs for map analysis which were otherwise difficult for manual operation. The computer involvement as substitute of manual cartographic processes for complex data was focused in the 1970’s.

 

The Cholera map made by John Snow to represent epidemiological data in 1854 was a major start-up step that linked geography and public health safety. This map preparation was not merely the beginning of spatial analysis; it also marked the initiation of an entire field of study-Epidemiology (study of the spread of disease). The dot map with locations of fatal cholera cases made by him also discovered the source of disease spread by contaminated water i.e., cholera epidemic for England. This technique was followed from map prepared by Charles Picquet in 1832, a geographer, for forty eight districts of Paris that suffered from cholera outbursts. Michael George Mulhall, in 1884, used pictogram to show data by icons that were proportional to a number. French Cartographer Louis-Alexandre Berthier mapped the Battle of Yorktown (American Revolution – 1781) that involved hinged overlays representative of movements of troops.

 

Another key development in the history of GIS was done by Roger Tomlinson. He, then a 28-year-old geographer invented Canada Geographic Information System (CGIS) in 1962, which is one of the oldest GIS method used (Tomlinson, 1988). CGIS is often considered as the roots of Geographic Information Systems due to its uniqueness because it considered a layer approach system to map handling. This GIS was developed with aim of analyzing data gathered by the Canada Land Inventory (CLI). The CLI maps were prepared at 1:50,000 map scale. These CLI maps classified land under various premises, such as soil capability for agriculture, shoreline, capability for wildlife, recreation capability and present land use. Due to his contribution in this field and credit for coining the term GIS, he is also known as Father of GIS. An article on ‘A Geographic Information System for Regional Planning’ was also published by Tomlinson in 1968. This article however came into light on the 50th Anniversary of GIS by Esri in the Fall 2012 edition of ArcNews.

 

3.2 Harvard Laboratory for Computer Graphics

 

Howard Fisher in 1964 founded Harvard Laboratory for Computer Graphics. In 1965, Synagraphic Mapping System (SYMAP), novel widespread automated mapping program was designed at Harvard Laboratory for Computer Graphics. It was able to form choropleth, isoline and proximal. Line printer was used as mapping equipment. It was executed all over the world’s educational institutes (Chrisman, 1988). This program was significant as it provided facility to handle geographical data in computer package (Coppock and Rhind, 1991). Later on, in 1960s, an improved version of SYMAP i.e., CALFORM was developed. It was used to prepare high quality choropleth maps by pen plotter. Harvard Laboratory Computer Graphics afterwards launched SYMVU, GRID, POLYVRT, and ODYSSEY. SYMVU involved three dimensional perspective views of SYMAP output. In GRID, similar output techniques as SYMAP were used to display raster cells. ODYSSEY GIS (first vector GIS) was developed in mid-1970 with efficient algorithm for polygon overlay comprising sliver removal. This was another developmental stage for GIS. Harvard Laboratory for Computer Graphics in 1977 also organized an important symposium regarding topological data structures. The lab had significant contribution in the expansion of GIS until early 1980s. The International Journal of Geographical Information Analysis was available in 1987.

 

U.S. Census Bureau discovered the GBF-DIME files in 1965 indicating the wide use of digital mapping by the U.S. government. This induced the development of Census TIGER (Topologically Integrated Geographic Encoding and Referencing system) files in 1986. These files are nowadays one of the most important socioeconomic spatial data sets used.

 

3.3 Environmental System Research Institute (ESRI)

 

Jack and Laura Dangermond founded the Environmental System Research Institute in Redlands, California, United States in 1969. ESRI is renowned for its huge contribution in the field of GIS. The ArcINFO software was developed in 1983 by ESRI and over 2,000 licenses per year were sold by it up to 1985 (Coppock and Rhind, 1991). In 1986, ESRI developed personal computer version of ArcINFO software replacing use of UNIX and other operating systems for running GIS taking benefits of newly discovered platforms. The ArcINFO software comprises of grouping of computer display geographic features like line, point and a database management tool to allocate attributes to these geographic features.

 

ArcView software with desktop mapping system was developed by ESRI in 1992 that facilitated geo-processing capacity to visualize data and overlay maps. This graphical user interface based software provided major enhancement in usability over ArcInfo’s command-line interface. The software was accepted by several defense, business, government and non-governmental agencies because of its simple usage and GUI interface.

 

Further, ArcGIS was introduced by ESRI in 2001 that has common user interface which is easy for learners. Adding to research in this field, GIS reader software, ArcExplorer was developed by ESRI in 2007. The features of this software include the overlaying and visualization of GIS data and performing elementary geo-processing operations.

 

ESRI with equal contribution from University of Maryland and Maryland Department of State Planning introduced the Maryland Automated Geographic Information System (MAGI). GIS was used as data management tool with remote sensing based hydrological model in Maryland for first time (Antenucci, 1982). The exhibition of several layers of data by base maps made the MAGI system important for GIS.

 

ESRI also carried out research with New Castle Delaware Institute for Public Administration’s Water Resource Agency (WRA) in 1975. The use of WRA GIS was made into diverse fields by its users led by Vern Svatos, also known as Father of GIS in Delaware. The development in GIS was seen into several areas such as watershed management, land use and planning, public school management and monitoring pollution during WRA’s combination with Institute for Public Administration.

 

The ESRI organized its first user conference in 1981 that was attended by 16 users. The ESRI user conference has developed to be largest annual conference for GIS with approximately attended by 15,000 people. The annual conference is held by ESRI every year at San Diego Convention Center.

 

3.4 Minnesota Land Management Information System (MLMIS)

 

Minnesota Land Management Information System was developed by the University of Minnesota Centre for Urban and Regional Analysis in the year 1976. The digital land use maps prepared from MLMIS were merged with aerial photography. MLMIS represented geographic space by a regular coarse grid of 40 acre cells was utilized to produce raster maps. By 1980, there were about 200 users of MLMIS and numerous GIS projects were assisted by MLMIS. GIS emerged as important technique for water resource management as Minnesota used MLMIS to add to the water information catalogue.

 

Meanwhile, the Kentucky Department of Natural Resources and Environment Protection launched GIS as Kentucky National Resource Information System (KNRIS) in 1979. This system has ability to map polygons at a resolution of 10 acres. It was enhancement over MAGI in terms of resolution and economic cost. The KNRIS and MAGI software made use of GRID software developed by ESRI.

 

The Geographic Information Retrieval and Analysis System (GIRAS) was introduced by the United States Geological Survey (USGS) in 1973. It was developed with ability to do geo-processing operations.

 

3.5 Intergraph Corporation

 

Intergraph Corporation earlier known as M&S Computing Inc was developed by Jim Meadlock in the same time frame. Numerous individual spatial data systems were introduced that counted to 500 from previous 285 between the time period of 1976-1980. The development of microcomputers in 1980s attracted advancements in efficient mapping and spatial analysis techniques. This era brought large demarcation in GIS. The formerly developed Intergraph Corporation invented primary computer terminal for raster graphics in 1981 by making its own software and hardware. Further, a terminal proficient of rotating three dimensional graphics, shading surface, uninterrupted zooming in and out and involved a 4,096 color palette and memory of 1MB was developed by Intergraph in 1982. Moreover, in 1985 digitization of various drawings to generate three dimensional model of Statue of Liberty was assisted by Intergraph. Modular GIS Environment (MGE) was developed in 1989 by Intergraph. The award winning software with concentration on CAD and its high quality workstations made the Intergraph quite eminent company. In 2010, Hexagon acquired this company which is still contributing in industry specific software for data mining and visualization (Intergraph, 2013).

 

Besides, in 1979, the Map Overlay and Statistical System (MOSS) which was an earliest public domain open GIS, was developed. The development of this software has important contribution in this area. This software was new vector based interactive GIS that provided combined vector and raster processing.

 

The US Army Corps of Engineers introduced first open source GIS software, Geographic Analysis and Support System (GRASS) GIS in 1985 at Construction Engineering Research Laboratory (CERL) in Illinois. It was developed as a raster based GIS programme for land management at military installations. It was used by both government and academic organizations throughout the world. The open source availability of GRASS GIS made it a flexible tool by its emerging users (Netelar and Mitasova, 2008).

 

MapInfo was founded in 1986 by Andrew Dressel, Laszlo Bardos, Sean O’ Sullivan and John Heller. Pitney Bowes acquired MapInfo in 2007. The development of MapInfo can be seen from its 23rd position in Inc. Magazine’s annual list of rapidly developing private organizations in U.S. in 1992.

 

Autodesk (San Rafael) is another company that initiated as a computer based Computer Aided Design. It has now developed as leading CAD supplier. This company developed its first GIS AutoCAD Map in 1996.

 

Keeping these developments in mind, the GIS History Project was launched in 1996 with the objective to do and publish research on the history of GIS by all scholars. This project planned to create an archive for all type of documents such as published, semi-published, and unpublished information regarding the early history of GIS.

 

Quantum GIS or QGIS, well known open source desktop GIS software was introduced in the year 2002. It provides facility to work with spatial data and is widely used by over 100, 000 users. Paleontological studies in Portugal, Fire mapping in Australia and urban planning are some of applications that were carried out with QGIS. Data visualization, data editing and its analysis can be done with this software.

 

Google Earth, software for spatial analysis was developed in 2005. It was initially developed by Keyhole and termed as Earth Viewer 3D.

 

A user friendly Internet Desktop GIS also called UDIG GIS is an Open source desktop application that was developed in 2005. It was invented with Eclipse Rich Client technology for Java Virtual Machine. An open Source Geospatial Foundation (OSGEO), which is independent legal entity that helps and encourages the collaborative improvement of open geospatial data and technologies, was founded in 2006. It provides economic and legal support for broadening of open source geospatial community.

 

Satellite remote sensing, global positioning system technologies along with enhancements in computer hardware and software has defined the usefulness of GIS. Geo-referencing is one of the most important tools of GIS.

 

The developments in GIS have now reached to new phase. GIS day is celebrated in November month every year during Geography Awareness Week. November 19, 1999 was celebrated as first GIS day.

 

Reston, Virginia hosted first AUTOCARTO, International Symposium on Computer Assisted Cartography held in 1974. Besides, the online classes for GIS were started by Dr. Anthony Robinson as Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) in 2013. This was a five week GIS course with 29,000 attendees under the title ‘Maps and the Geospatial Revolution’.

 

4. Summary

 

GIS principally is concerned with the geographic information to be analyzed, manipulated and stored in an ordered way by computers for solution of real world problems. Advancements in GIS were the result of several technologies. Databases, remote sensing, geography, computer science, computer mapping, computer programming and computer aided design have important contribution towards the expansion of GIS. GIS and remote sensing are connected with each other. The advancements in remote sensing techniques cannot be specified without the development of GIS and vice-versa. GIS has undergone several developments since its early beginnings. With the initiating effort of John Snow to GIS, Roger Tomlinson, the GBF-DIME files of the US Bureau of the Census; Harvard Laboratory for Computer Graphics and Spatial Analysis and Minnesota land Management Information System contributed a lot to GIS development. Intergraph and ESRI come into sight as commercial vendors of GIS software by early 1980s. ArcInfo and ArcView software were developed by ESRI that enabled widespread applications of GIS. This inspired subsequent commercial GIS development of user friendly software that attracted various clients and researchers in this field. Recently, various open source GIS softwares has been released that can run in a wide range of operating systems and perform specific tasks.

 

Suggested Readings

  • Antenucci, J. C. (1982). A GIS generation gap: MAGI and KNRIS. Computers, Environment and Urban Systems, 7(4), 269-273.
  • Coppock, J. T. and Rhind, D. W. (1991). The history of GIS. Geographical information systems:
  • Principles and applications, 1(1), 21-43.
  • Dixon, B., Uddameri, V., and Ray, C. (2015). GIS and Geocomputation for Water Resource Science and Engineering. John Wiley & Sons.
  • Mark, D. M., Chrisman, N., Frank, A. U., McHaffie, P. H., and Pickles, J. (1997). The GIS history project. UCGIS Summer Assembly, 15-21.
  • Patra, P. (2010). Remote sensing and geographical information system (gis). The Association for Geographical studies.
  • Tomlinson, R. F., 1988. The impact of the transition from analogue to digital cartographic representation. The American Cartographer. 15 (3): 249-261.
  • https://www.gislounge.com/gis-timeline/