Remote sensing GIS and public policy

GIS – How it portrayed
GIS – The
opportunities

Six Commandants of GIS Use
 Thou shalt not think ‘too technical - its not for me’.
 Thou shalt not copy or use proprietary GIS database.
 Thou shalt not use any database without understanding
its precision and origin.
 Thou shalt think spatially to get a better understanding
of reality.
 Thou shalt take it as an excellent tool for decision
making.
 Thou shalt believe in data sharing.

Content
 What is GIS
 Components of GIS
 Applications of GIS
 GIS for EIA
 GIS for Social Sciences
 GIS for Natural Resource Management
 GIS for Disaster Risk Reduction
 Participatory GIS (PGIS)
 GIS for Decision Support and Public Policy

What is GIS?
 “A system for capturing, storing, checking, integrating,
manipulating, analysing and displaying data which are
spatially referenced to the Earth. This is normally
considered to involve a spatially referenced computer
database and appropriate applications software”.
 A Technology - hardware & software tools
 A Strategy - for information handling
 The Objective: to improve overall decision making

What is GIS?
 Manipulate spatially
 Calculate distances and adjacencies
 Change projections and scales
 Integrate disparate sources
 Analyse spatially
 Quantitative analysis
 Qualitative analysis
 Visualise data
 Maps!
 Tables, graphs, etc.
 Animations
 Virtual landscapes

Components of GIS: Data
 Data on different themes are stored in separate layers
 As each layer is geo-referenced, layers from different
sources can easily be integrated using location
 This can be used to build up complex models of the real
world from widely disparate sources
VECTOR

Applications of GIS
 Hydrology - study and management of water resources
 Crime mapping - identify crime hot spots, along with other
trends and patterns
 Transportation engineering –plan and optimized routing
 Impact Analysis – understand and assess impact of certain
activity
 Health – understand the spread of certain (vector borne)
diseases and possible reasons and planning of measures
 Insurance –understanding the risks
 Social – mapping hunger, malnutrition
 Public policy – planning for the future, policy rethinking

GIS for EIA
BP oil spill, Gulf of Mexico
April 2010

GIS for EIA: OCP and LULC
Change
JunMe a 2y0 020807
Sept 2013

GIS for Social Sciences
Accessibility to basic amenities and planning
for better services

GIS for Social Sciences
Gender Inequality Index (GII)
Main indicators
 Economic participation and opportunity
 Educational attainment
 Political empowerment
 Health and survival

GIS for Natural Resource
Management
Site suitability analysis for afforestation/reforestation
programme under CDM-F
 Forest boundary layer
 Forest density
 Climatic condition
 Elevation model
 Native species

GIS for Natural Resource
Management
Estimation of
forest vigour/
density in
treated areas for
evaluation
Low High
Vegetation index

GIS for Disaster Risk
Reduction
Flood hazard mapping for DRR
Required
 3D elevation model
 Drainage network
 LULC
 Population data
 ……

Reduction
Hazard map for lava flow
based on numerous
simulations of lava flow paths,
different potential vents,
eruptive history, 3D model
etc.

Reduction
Multi-hazard: Fukushima (Tsunami and radiation)

Reduction
Seismic hazard, historical earthquakes and nuclear
reactor power plants in USA

Participatory GIS (PGIS)
 Despite the growing popularity of Google Earth and
other low-cost or free applications, there is still a clear
divide between the GIS haves and have-nots.
 PGIS can be used as a bridge to capture individuals’ or
groups’ perceptions of local issues and development
efforts.
 Facilitating participation of
communities/individuals could be
used to fill the gap between people
and institutions and promote
equitable development.

Spectrum of GIS for Public
Policy
 Influencing Policy & Legislation
 Changing Organizational Practices
 Fostering Coalitions & Networks
 Educating Providers
 Promoting Community Education
 Strengthening Individual Knowledge & Skills

GIS for Policy Makers
The prerequisites are …
NONE!

GIS for Decision Support and
Public Policy
 GIS is still treated as a specialized tool rather than an
easy way to understand real world and take decisions.
 Public policies related to many crucial national issues,
such as climate change, immigration, health, civil
rights and racism, transportation, energy, natural
resources, social justice, environment etc. could be
well understood and formulated using GIS support.
 However, these require a properly functional National
Spatial Data Infrastructure portal with access to Open
Government Data.

Public Policy
Mainstreaming
of extremists

Public Policy
Mainstreaming of left extremists
 Is development the solution?
 What are the issues?
 What are the locations?
 How these issues could be addressed?
 Which govt. programmes are needed to be prioritized?
 How the implementation process could be monitored?
 How the programme could be evaluated?
 Is the process sustainable?
 Could it be replicated?

Public Policy
 Demography
 Socio-economic
 Infrastructure
 Resource
 Govt. programmes and success
 Monitoring and evaluating system
 Understanding gap
 Policy rethinking
 Changing organizational practices

Public Policy
Tribal Sub-Plan (TSP) and
GIS

Public Policy
 The Tribal Sub-Plan (TSP) strategy was developed by
MoESW in 1972 for the rapid socio-economic
development of tribal people and was adopted in the
Fifth Five Year Plan.
 Objective of TSP
 Identify the resources for TSP areas
 Prepare a broad policy framework for development
 Define a suitable administrative strategy for its
implementation

Public Policy
 Locating vulnerable communities (in terms of social,
cultural, economic and/or political traditions and
institutions)
 Identifying major resources that can be diverted for
planning, utilize and manage with a focus on the
specific needs of vulnerable communities.
 Understanding local practices and sustainability
 Capacity development and market products

Public Policy
Sustainable agriculture

Public Policy
 Issues in Agricultural Sector in Punjab
 Extensive paddy-wheat cycle (MSP influenced)
 Over exploitation of groundwater
 Groundwater lowering
 Impacts
 (More) deep bore well
 More requirements of electricity
 Environmentally unsustainable

Public Policy
 Possible actions
 Identify grouond water depleted area
 Identify alternative (less water intensive) agricultural
practices and assess productivity
 Promote and support alternative agricultural practices
 Providing MSP on those crops
 Assist in marketing
 Evaluate
 Rethinking?

Remote sensing GIS and public policy

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