1000 GIS Use Cases

3D Archaeology

Rendering accurate and efficient 3D recordings of archaeological heritage sites, in particular, archaeological excavations with aerial imagery and 3D environments

3D Atmospheric Data

Visualizing layers of the atmospheric features like a vertical profile

3D Borehole

Symbolizing sub-surface data like boreholes magnitude with inverted depths

3D Fences

Building security fences with post-interval and a number of wires/boards with heights in a 3D GIS environment

3D Geometry

Sketching up custom 3D transmission towers and lines for import into ArcScene

3D Historical Fly-through

Soaring through historical imagery with ArcScene

3D Printing Oslo

Printing off 3D models of the City of Oslo with data preparation in FME

3D Scanners for Biomass

Measuring with laser accuracy 3D biomass using the FARO scanner

3D Ski Maps

Touring a mountain virtually in realistic 3D virtual tours

3D Snow Depths

Plotting out 3D snow depths at ski resorts using Golden Software

3D Synthetic Scene

Overlaying synthetic scenes over the real scene

3D Viewshed

Showing what is visible with distance, direction, and pitch with viewable areas in green and hidden areas in red

4D GIS

Getting to know the XYZ’s with timber harvesting and subsequent vegetation growth

A/B Testing

Making real-world choices by sending cars to various routes for the fastest deliveries

ATM Machine

Filling in market and service gaps by understanding where customers, facilities, and competitors are with address locating, database management, and query tools

Access Limitation

Calculating access limitations for building like slope being a major factor for getting wagons up the hill to the site

Acid Runoff

Controlling acid waste runoff from mines by capturing terrain topography, mine age, and stream proximity

Active Licenses

Exploring active, operations and exploration wells at all locations on a map

Active Transportation Planning

Leveraging the public with Participatory Geographic Information Systems and active transportation

Advisories

Alerting citizens of boil water advisories by taking an area on a map, and connecting to a central database of phone numbers and automated message alerts

Aeromagnetic Anomalies

Correlating aeromagnetic anomalies with surface geology in a tectonically active region

Aeronautical Charts

Scouting out the best routes, safe altitudes, and navigation aids in the sky with aeronautical charts

Age of Trees

Inventorying the XY position and rings of trees in a database to understand their age

Agent-Based Models

Exploring cities using Agent-Based Models and GIS

Agent-Based Simulation

Simulating the spread of an agent (like a fire) triggered by random events (such as lightning) on a raster landscape in discrete time

Agri-tourism

Navigating through crop mazes with GPS receivers in the developing field of agri-tourism

Agricultural Non-Point Source (AGNPS) Model

Predicting the effects of agriculture on water quality using the Agricultural Non-Point Source pollution model in MapWindow

Agricultural Pollution

Quantifying the impacts on climate and the environment from agricultural pollution

Agriculture Capability

Classifying the varying potential for agricultural production using the Canadian Land Inventory

Agriculture Revenue

Determining the Effective Opportunity Cost relating to deforestation and potential agricultural revenue with IDRISI GeOSIRIS for REDD

Agromap

Breaking down primary food crops by sub-national administrative districts and aggregating by crop production, area harvested, and crop yields

Air Space Review

Automating the dissemination and portrayal of Special Activity Airspace information via OGC Web Services

Air Traffic Control

Fine-tuning air traffic control with a common operational picture for security vulnerability and land use permitting

Airline Planning

Navigating to safer airspace by including nearby land use to runway lighting systems

Airplane Identification

Pointing your phone to the sky and identifying airplanes above you using Flight Radar 24

Airport Sound Exposure

Assessing the relationship between aircraft-generated noise levels and land uses, noise receptors, and demographics in the airport environs

Airspace Builder

Visualizing the air available to aircraft to fly in with 3D volumes using NASA’s World Wind

Albedo

Measuring albedo for Earth’s heat budget using surface reflectance satellite data

Algae Blooms

Monitoring algal blooms through multiple images over time

Amazon Mail Delivery Drone

Shipping parcels in style using drone technology

Amazon Rain Forest

Maximizing satellite potential viewing soil erosion, watershed destabilization, climate degradation, and species extinction in Brazil

Ambulance Response

Responding to emergencies faster with the quickest geographic route

American Museum of Natural History

Apply biodiversity information to collect, organize and analyze biological and environmental data to provide new insights into conservation, ecology, and evolution

Anaglyph 3D

Viewing anaglyph 3D images with the SAGA GIS Anaglyph Tool

Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP)

Combining input layers and a table with several factors comparing their comparative weights to calculate a new layer as a linear combination of the input layers

Ancestry

Surveying through ancestry with geophylogeny

Anchor Search

Searching for a lost anchor in a restricted area with electrical cables and gas pipelines using sonar and bathymetry

Angle of Repose

Computing the steepest angle (depending on the material) of a surface at which loose material such as soil will remain in place rather than sliding or crumbling

Ankle Monitor

Homing in on those under house arrest or parole

Antarctic Digital Magnetic Anomaly Project (ADMAP)

Uncovering the tectonic evolution using near-surface magnetic anomaly data

Antenna Height Optimization

Optimizing antenna height using GIS 3D modeling

Anthropogenic Disturbances

Understanding the effects of transmission line construction by monitoring mammals with helicopter surveys

Anti-Smoking Campaigns

Targeting Anti-smoking campaigns where it’s needed most and most visible to the target audience

Anti-aircraft

Answering anti-aircraft gun reach using 3D dome layers to avoid dangerous airspace (Anti-aircraft)

Aquaculture

Farming fish in a sustainable manner by understanding where inland fisheries are located

Aqueduct

Mining, modeling, and analyzing water risk with the current and future stresses

Aquifer Recharge

Measuring permeability recharge and quantifying growth over time

ArcGIS Online Historical Maps

Exploring the old USGS historic maps

ArcGIS Open Data

Exploring tens of thousands of data sets around the world from thousands of organizations around the world

ArcHydro

Operating ArcHydro in ArcMap to delineate and characterize watersheds

Archaeological Site Prediction

Connecting favorable slope, aspect, geology, hydrology, and distance to water using the Multiple Criteria Evaluation (MCE) to predict archaeological sites

Archaeological Survey

Tackling huge problems archaeologists face every day

Arctic Ocean Floor

Sculpting the Arctic Ocean with the sonic depth finder and discovering dynamics with trenches, ridges, and abyssal plains

Arctic Research Projects

Displaying research projects, showing available data, and exploring possible collaborations

Arctic’s Geology

Interpreting the geology of the Arctic using enhanced magnetic data, Landsat imagery, and topographic data

Artificial Dam

Damming a site artificially by raising the elevations along a dam site using a Euclidean distance grid and map algebra

Aspect

Using aspect and incoming solar radiation data to understand how glaciers accumulate on the poleward side

Asset Management

Reporting infrastructure defects with photos and geo-locations

Asteroids

Gazing the sky and tracking asteroids with NASA’s bolide events map

Asthma

Connecting the dots between asthma and air pollution

Astrogeology

Delivering planetary mapping to the international scientific community in the public domain

Attack Modelling

Modeling a potential attack to legitimize the needs and have policymakers truly understand the consequences of an attack with preparedness expenditures

Augmented Reality

Pulling up engineering diagrams and real-time sensor networks to view water pressure or amperage

Augmented Reality Sandtable (ARES)

Improving battlespace and military visualization with projected GIS data on a sand table

Auto Theft and Recovery

Tracking auto theft with GPS-enabled vehicles

Avalanche Modeling

Uncovering areas prone to avalanches by assessing high slopes with sparse vegetation for residential planning, ski resorts, and highway safety planning

Azimuth

Calculating solar elevation, solar azimuth, and sun hours in the sky for each location (R

Aztec vs Mexican Last Names

Aligning current place names to historical place names to understand the ancient geography of Aztec culture

BASINS (Better Assessment Science Integrating point & Non-point Source)

Running water quality assessments with land use, point source discharges, and water supply withdrawals

Babylonians

Etching the lay of the land on clay

Ballot Counts

Depicting the spatial distribution of states, districts, and parties that won an election

Base Construction Planning

Constructing a base site without it being visible from nearby major roads using the 3D skyline tool

Bathymetry

Exploring ocean bathymetry from an exaggerated 3D global perspective

Bearings

Importing bearings and distances from a survey for parcel mapping and transcribing it on a map

Beijing Building Footprints

Crowd-sourcing digital mapping of Beijing building footprints

Bigfoot Field Researchers Network

Finding Bigfoot in a spatial sightings database

Bike Sharing

Optimizing locations of bike-sharing program stations

Billing Systems

Updating and correcting the billing system for the cost of street and security lighting

Biodiversity

Managing biodiversity in parks with smartphones

Biogeography

Studying ecosystems in geographic space and through (geological) time along geographic gradients of latitude, elevation, isolation, and habitat area

Bird Risk and Richness

Studying the effects of shrinking habitats on bird populations in the world

Bird Strike

Flying safely through the Bird Avoidance Model (BAM)

Border Safety

Increasing safety at international borders often stretching miles

Bosnia-Herzegovina

Dividing a road to peace of the former Yugoslavia at the valley bottom using terrain data to support diplomatic negotiation

Boundary Changes

Carving out how boundaries change in time such as after World War II

Braided Rivers

Managing braided rivers with their complex geometry and state in flux

Breakaway/Disputed Areas

Delineating international and maritime boundary dispute areas from Kashmir to the Elemi Triangle, Northern Cyprus to Western Sahara (Natural Earth Data)

Brownfield and Greenfield Sites

Digging up the background information (Phase 1) and conducting the necessary geotechnical analyses to explore economic opportunities at brownfield and greenfield sites

Buffer Zone Search

Buffering a search area for a query when house hunting

Build-Out Design

Developing and designing a build-out project in Grenada

Building Constraints

Prohibiting construction where the overall stability of a bluff using aspect to understand how- south-facing slopes undergo more extensive freeze/thaw cycles

Building Permits

Helping the user determine whether or not a requested permit is in a historic district, an aquifer protection district, wetland, or floodplain

Building Virtual Environments

Designing future buildings, roads, cities, and parks with video game contributions

Bus Route

Designing transit routes with cost and demographic impacts

Bus Services

Assessing which addresses in proximity to a school are eligible for busing

Buying Behavior

Correlating unthinkable variables like weather and location with buying behaviors to find sales opportunities

CAD Interoperability

Integrating CAD data (DWG, DXF) into GIS and vice versa

COAST COastal Adaptation to Sea level Rise Tool

Adapting to climate change decisions (building sea walls, proactive building ordinance, levees, zoning change, relocation with COAST

COGO

Constructing points, spirals, curves, and arcs with coordinate geometry

COMNAP Facilities

Mapping out the COMNAP facilities in Antarctica that currently supports a range of scientific research

Camouflage Detection

Carrying out early reconnaissance missions during a war using near-infrared

Campus Navigation

Navigate through a university campus with online mapping applications

Canadian Land Inventory

Charting out the land capability to sustain agriculture, forestry, and recreation

Cancer Research

Researching cancer from the sky with the Landsat satellite

Capital Projects

Listing all the capital projects with different stages of completion

Carbon Sequestration

Deferring global warming through carbon sequestration through location-based carbon management systems

Carpooling

Adding carpool lots by analyzing the number of incoming trips in a city

Cartographic Modelling

Using map algebra to depict the relationships of transportation and geography on access to adult literacy centers in Philadelphia

Catchment Areas

Delineating watershed catchment areas, where rainfall flows into a river

Cellular Automata

Stimulating urban growth expansion simulation

Cellular Coverage Analysis

Maximizing cellular coverage using tower height by using interference analysis including viewshed and line-of-sight

Cemetery Mapping

Implemented a system to map cemeteries using unmanned aerial vehicles UAVs) and storing graves in a spatial database

Census

Utilizing decennial TIGER data to support and improve selected demographic and economic studies

Center of Population

Centering in on population drift watching its shift in dasymetric mapping

Centre for Disease Control (CDC)

Serving county-level maps of heart disease and stroke by race/ethnicity, gender, and age group, along with maps of social and economic factors and health services for the entire United States or for a chosen state or territory

Chart Symbology

Taking advantage of pie charts, line graphs, and bar charts to display socio-economic data by area

Chernobyl Exclusion Zone

Buffering a radius of 18

Child Abuse

Allocating family service facilities to sites where child abuse is more prevalent

Chokepoint

Safeguarding chokepoints like bridges or dams where critical infrastructure converges

Christopher Columbus

Tracing Christopher Columbus’ footsteps on his voyages and discovery of America

Cirrus Clouds

Detecting cirrus clouds with Landsat’s Cirrus band

Citizen Alert

Guaranteeing protection of citizens by delivering geo-targeted alerts on mobile

Citizen Engagement

Empowering populations who have little voice in the public arena to change geographic involvement and awareness on a local level

City Engine

Assessing feasibility and plan implementation using Esri’s City Engine improving urban planning, architecture, and overall design

City Heating

Addressing the GIS requirements of municipal hot water heating networks in Tatuk GIS (Tatuk GIS- City Heating)

CityScan

Managing city assets (road conditions, utilities, billboards, and sign inventories) with mobile LiDAR to inventory and ensure safety standards

Climate Change Design

Redesigning to accommodate climate change and pinpointing those locations needed most

Climate Change Risk

Adjusting to climate change with better future risk prediction

Climate Change Skeptics

Turning skeptics into believers

Closest Facility

Solving the cost of traveling between incidents and facilities which are nearest to one another

Cloud Computing

Building and sharing maps in the cloud for common operating and faster decision-making

Cloud Computing-Based Land Base Mapping

Bringing land use planning to the cloud for Smart Cities like the City of Portland

Cluster Analysis

Identifying built environmental patterns using cluster analysis and GIS: relationships with walking, cycling, and body mass index

Coal Exploration

Identifying new opportunities and areas for coal exploration by assessing geological data and setting out exploration targets

Coal Stockpiles

Capturing satellite imagery of frequent shots of open pit mines and resource stockpiles to better understand how much coal has been mined each month

Coastal Hazards

Minimizing loss by identifying potential hazards such as algal blooms, eutrophication, and tsunamis (Coastal Hazards)

Coastal Management

Adapting to climate change through better flood and erosion defense

Coastal Surges

Estimating risk in three steps using HAZUS software by FEMA

Coastal and Marine Ecological Classification Standard (CMECS)

Combining water columns, geoform, substrate, and biotic components that are collectively used to define marine ecosystems

Coastline Fractals

Modelling complex natural shapes along the coastline’s fractal-like (jagged recurring pattern) properties

Combat Flight Planning Software (CFPS)

Previewing combat routes, weapon delivery, and airdrop planning in Falcon View

Commercial Establishments

Updating commercial establishment using gvSIG Mobile and local databases

Commercial Space Availability

Checking zoning data for any city such as commercial space availability

Common Operating Picture

Getting everyone on the same page with a Common Operating Picture

Communicating Stories

Storytelling in news events with maps such as oil spills, crime scenes, and weather damage

Community Engagement

Harnessing human potential by leveraging open data and civic technology

Community Reinvestment Act (CRA)

Fulfilling the obligations to loan in areas with particular attention to low- and moderate-income households

Commuter Shed

Finding where the commuter sheds are

Comparative Real Estate Analysis

Comparing value per square meter in map form to see how much the price is for similar properties on the block

Concession

Putting concession licenses that give a company the right to drill for oil or gas and exploratory drilling boreholes on a map

Conflation

Conflating two road datasets with OpenJump Vivid extension “Road Mapper” or Spatial Adjustment in ArcGIS

Consequences Assessment Tool Set (CATS)

Analyzing damage to the environment and providing real-time resource allocation information to mitigate the consequences

Construction

Considering slopes for construction and livability as 15 degrees or less is considered buildable

Construction Environmental Management Plan

Mitigating the potential negative impacts of engineering projects by identifying environmentally sensitive sites and mitigation measures

Consumer Profiling

Optimizing consumer profiling with location-based information on age, ethnicity, education, housing, and more

Contamination

Evaluating the risk of impact for the construction and situating industrial plants, landfills, agricultural activities, and other potential groundwater contamination sources

Continental Drift

Measuring tectonics plate movement with GPS

Contour Lines

Delineating contour lines because floods follow contour lines

Coordinate Calculator

Converting coordinate conversion tool of choice for GIS

Coral Reef Conservation

Understanding the present state of coral reefs through mapping to better understand future deterioration

Corridor Analyst

Identifying possible corridors and preferred transmission routes using Least Cost Path engineering, environment, and combined routing algorithms

Cost Path

Laying out a gas pipeline from one location to another location with a CAD schematic in AutoCAD 3D

County Climate

See for yourself how the average maximum temperature rises/falls in each county in the United States

Crayfish QGIS Plugin

Animating flood model outputs and flood propagation

Crime Patterns

Responding to crimes with a data-driven approach and delivering tailored responses through rapid deployment of personnel and resources

Crisis Mapping

Using drones to aid Nepalese in a time of crisis

Critical Features

Identifying threats to homeland security by collecting knowledge of the built and cultural environments

Crocodile Eggs

Monitoring in real-time factors like temperature and humidity for crocodile eggs

Crop Assimilation Model

Simulating soil, water, and crop processes to better understand crop productivity and monitoring using the Crop Assimilation Model tool in GRASS GIS

Crop Forecasting

Predicting crop yields using NDVI, weather, soil moisture, soil types, and other parameters

Crop Productivity

Calibrating crop productivity using indices like Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) to estimate global crop productivity

Crop Resilience to Climate Change

Adapting to climate change and shifting weather patterns by promoting the continued health of your fields

CropScape

Estimating acreage of crop types and spatial distribution using satellite imagery with National Agricultural Statistics Services

Crowd Simulation

Mastering the collective dynamics of interacting objects in urban phenomena at the scale of individual households, people, and units of real estate and at time scales approaching “real-time”

Cultural Heritage Inventory

Customizing and deploying the collection of cultural heritage field observations with open source geospatial software Arches

Cultural Preservation

Preserving historic properties whose documentation must still be located and entered into this GIS

Curb Cuts

Finding curb cuts that give access to people with disabilities

Current Food Security

Safeguarding food insecure populations by establishing underlying causes through satellite, mobile-collected, and GIS data storage

Cut & Fill

Carving out 3D cut and fills for major civil engineering projects such as major road constructions

Cut Lines

Finding cut lines in ortho imagery to find easy access

DNA Barcoding

Attaching a specific location when barcoding life

DNA Traits

Mapping the richness, distribution, and diversity of organisms on the landscape based on a molecular marker (DNA)

DRASTIC

Evaluating the vulnerability of pollution of groundwater resources based on hydrogeological parameters

Daily Routing Efficiency

Balancing postal routes based on time and optimizing routes, number of routes, or volume with sequenced stops

Dam Sites Selection

Comparing hypothetical dam sites by potential water storage to understand how land use/land cover is impacted

Darcy Flow

Examining the movement of groundwater flow through coarse materials like sand

Data Analytics

Analyzing location-based information to reveal the relationship between individuals, families, and communities, and the environment in which they live

Data Mining

Automating the search for hidden patterns in large databases

Data Visualization in R

Writing each line of code to programmatically create maps (R Data Visualization

Daytime Population

Marketing products effectively with detailed daytime population demographics for an area reflecting who works in that area as opposed to residential demographics

De-Extinction

Bringing extinct species back to life and marking their previous habitats

Dead Zones

Mapping out dead zones where marine life is unable to be supported

Deadliest Roads

Pinpointing the safest and deadliest roads on the planet with the Roads Kills Map

Deepsea Dawn Wright

Understanding the relationship and patterns of how oceans affect dry land and more

Deforestation

Gauging deforestation using land cover change in time

Demographics Research

Delving into census information for a deep research news story

Demography

Projecting populations worldwide with a dot density style map

Department of Interior

Constructing dams, power plants, and canals for protecting water and water-related resources in the United States

Desertification

Understanding the underlying causes of desertification such as inappropriate agriculture practices, deforestation, and drought

Desire Lines

Plotting desire lines showing stores that serve customers

Detecting IED

Monitoring disturbed surfaces one day to the next to find Improvised Explosive Devices

Development Area

Getting the big picture by tapping into GIS data like gentle slopes, and closeness to roads

Development Planning

Making citizens happy through smart development planning and understanding the bigger picture

Diamonds

Searching for diamonds in Nairobi in fluvial diamond placer deposits

Digital Rock Engineering

Tunneling underground with attention to existing topography and its surroundings which includes above-ground and underground structures

Dip and Strike

Plotting dip and strike readings and their geological orientation with rotational symbols

Direct Marketing

Revitalizing selling strategies by reaching out to customers directly with locational intelligence

Directional Drilling

Logging depth, inclination, and azimuth (dependent on true and magnetic north) for directional drilling

Disaster Debris

Estimating debris amounts to better prepare and respond to a major debris generating event

Disaster Warning

Alerting citizens before a large-scale earthquake happens with a new generation of inter-operable early warning systems for multiple hazards

Disease Control

Combating the spread of pests by identifying critical intervention areas and efficiently targeting control interventions

Disease Spread Patterns

Plotting ellipses for a disease outbreak over time to model its spread

Disease Surveillance

Monitoring West Nile Virus with GIS on handheld devices

Dissolving Political Boundaries

Grouping separated countries into one like West and East Germany as well as North and South Vietnam

Distance Decay

Observing distance-decay between locations of ethnic groups- the further apart they are, the less likely it is that they will interact very much

Distance to Health Care

Finding the closest doctor is a spatial problem

Domino’s Pizza

Streamlining the planning of Domino franchise territories

Doppler Radar

Predicting rainfall using Doppler Radar

Drainage Channel Builder

Cutting a simple, trapezoidal channel in a DEM and calculate cut volumes

Drainage Ditches

Tracing farm field drainage lines using stereo imagery in MicroImages TNTMips

Drill Hole Planner

Drilling with 3D planning tools including depth, azimuth and positions

Drive-Time Analysis

Determining a trade area based on how long a customer must drive to get to the store

Drone No-fly Zones

Delineating drone no-fly zones where it’s illegal to fly such as near airports and military bases

Drones for Indonesia Indigenous

Promoting sustainable forests using drones in Setulang village, Indonesia

Drought

Minimizing the impact of drought by analyzing the spatial distribution of rainfall and real-time sensors like SMAP, SMOS, and synthetic aperture radar

Earth Interactions

Modelling vegetation, atmospheric, rainfall, and ecosystems to study their interactions simultaneously

Earth Trends Modeler

Assessing long-term climate trends, measuring seasonal trends in phenology, and decomposing image time series to seek recurrent patterns in space and time in IDRISI TerraSet

Earthquake Assistance

Assisting in the aftermath of the massive Ecuador earthquake by listing “Safe Place” locations from government listings

Earthquake Epicenter/Hypocenter

Establishing the epicenter, hypocenters, faults and lineaments, radius, and frequency of earthquakes

Earthquake Prediction

Obtaining earthquake signatures measuring subduction events with GRACE satellite and the geoid

Earthquake-Landslide Susceptibility

Mapping the susceptibility of earthquake-induced landslides using artificial neural networks and factors such as slope, aspect, curvature, and distance from drainage

Earthworks

Downloading data from Stanford including labor supply, sex ratio, and social data

Ebola

Mapping the change of confirmed and probable cases of Ebola over time

Eco-Tourism Site Selection

Gauging environmental impacts for sustainable eco-tourism sites

Ecological Barrier

Marking physically isolated barriers between species

Economic Base Indicator

Viewing economic indicators for business, industry, and demography based on radial, drive, and proximity

Economic Costs of Pollution

Assessing greener growth options and the costs of pollution in India by understanding the current state of environmental degradation

Economic Freedom

Mapping economic freedom throughout the world

Economic Viability

Making decisions on parcels of prime agricultural land using the Analytic Hierarchy Process

Election Violence

Reporting issues like outbreaks of violence, intimidation, or vote fraud during Tanzania’s election

Elk Ranges

Estimating an average home range for an entire herd of mammals using the Minimum Convex Polygon in Hawth’s Tools

Emergency Calls and Dispatch

An emergency call starts and ends at a location

Emergency Repairs

Flagging potential emergencies with weather forecasts, staging support where needed, and logistics for the movement of people

Emergency Shelter

Allocating emergency shelter at the time of disaster

Emergency Water Supply

Preparing emergency water supply when contaminated

Employee Travel Times

Modelling travel times in urban networks for employee travel times

Enabling Governments

Saving money by investing in a GIS-based system for decision making

Energy Budgets

Simulating Earth’s energy budgets for anthropogenic and natural changes with anomalies of surface temperature and sea-level pressure

Energy Consumption

Drawing out energy capacity and consumption on a map

Energy Demand Estimation

Combining building volume, number of floors and other characteristics to predict the energy demand for heating and cooling using 3D city models in Germany

Energy Usage

Mapping trends of electricity usage that are metered to a network

EnterVol Geology

Creating full 3D, volumetric models of geology direct from collected data integrating lithology data with surfaces

Environmental Impact Assessment

Gauging multiple layers including existing infrastructure, river crossings, soils and vegetation, groundwater, and elevation/ slope to determine pipeline impact

Environmental Monitoring

Referencing environmentally sensitive sites along a linear transmission system

Environmental Risk

Assessing the environmental vulnerability of marine resources with respect to oil spills as external stressors

Epidemiology

Tracking disease and epidemiological information in a spatial database

Equator Bulge

Measuring the bulge of Earth at the equator

Erosion Reduction Strategy

Identifying erosion hot spots through topography, soil, and land-use characteristics

Erosion-Productivity Impact Calculator (EPIC)

Prioritizing cropland conservation program implementations through “Model Simulation of Soil Loss, Nutrient Loss, and Change in Soil Organic Carbon Associated with Crop Production”

Estimated Travel Time

Locking in your destination and getting live updates for estimated travel time

Euclidean Distance

Finding the distance to disposal sites during an avian flu outbreak

Evacuation

Evaluating evacuation capabilities neighborhoods may face and generating effective design

Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ)

Carving out boundaries for sovereign rights regarding the exploration of marine resources below the surface of the sea

Exclusive Economic Zones

Carving out boundaries in the Arctic

Exposure to Noise

Orchestrating urban mobility plans with special consideration for the impact of environmental noise using OrbisGIS

Extra Penalties

Dishing out extra penalties to criminals if convicted of selling drugs within a specified distance of school property

Facility Management

Optimizing energy efficiency with building automation services for a more comprehensive view of a building

Farm Preservation

Establishing farm priority zones by analyzing the local farming landscape and constructing criteria for high-quality farming areas

Fear of Crime

Interviewing individuals for fear of crime using GPS-enabled mobile computing

FedEx Package Tracking

Meeting timelines and managing routes for special types of deliveries

Fibre Optic Cable

Planning fiber optic cable infrastructure through network views showing capacity, equipment, and customer demographics

Fibre Optic Cable Design

Extracting LiDAR ground points to assist in fiber optic cable design at water crossings

Finding Islands

Using satellites to find uninhabited islands around the world

Fire Growth Simulation

Extinguishing fires faster by understanding how they grow in discrete steps bringing together wind, weather, and fuel for the fire

Fire Hydrants

Locating hydrants in a municipality marking their general condition, and date for greasing the caps and exercising the valve

Fire Severity

Prioritizing prevention and planning efforts during forest fires

First Law of Geography

Using Tobler’s First Law of Geography in analysis- “Everything is related to everything else, but near things are more related than distant things

First Response

Getting to a crime scene quicker with all the critical information needed in the field

Fish

Showing the probability of occurrence and observations for fish species

Fish Eradication

Eradicating Northern pike which negatively affects local trout fishery and the economy by tracking their movements with GPS

Fish Habitat Conservation Areas

Fine-tuning fish habitat conservation areas by knowing the big picture of fish distribution

Fish Habitat Models

Connecting fish species with their habitat using habitat suitability indexes

Fishing Maps

Creating 3D bathymetric maps in real-time with Sonar (Navionics)

Fishnet

Creating a fishnet to correlate the coefficient between boating accidents and dams using a fishnet

Fitbit

Plugging in your Fitbit to map your runs

Fleet Management

Staying in route and solving scheduling problems with fleet management

Flight Path

Simulating flight paths integrated with elevation data, imagery, and other spatial data using Falcon View

Flight Simulator

Becoming a pilot in the cockpit with three-dimensional perspective views of an area by combined with elevation and imagery

Floating Car Systems

Displaying taxi fleet in one hour

Flocking Birds

Mimicking flocking birds in a system of interactive parts using Agent Based Modeling

Flood Extents

Digitizing flood extents worth satellite data like synthetic aperture radar

Flood Forecasting

Simulating with stream discharge hydrographs with variations of water over time

Floodplain

Minimizing losses by flooding through FEMA flood maps

Flow Accumulation

Answering the question “where did water come from” by picking a point (a single cell in the DEM) and tracing backward showing all the contributing cells

Flow Direction

Coding the direction of flow with eight valid directions

Flow Estimator

Estimating flow rates with a series of spatially-located gauging stations

Flow Stations

Marking flow stations on a map

Fly Through

Cruising the high altitudes with interactive 3D viewing and fly-throughs with Landserf

Food Deserts

Accessing grocery stores in low-income areas by incorporating information such as sidewalks, bicycle lanes, and public transit

Food Insecurity Drivers

Pinpointing the underlying drivers of food insecurity such as farming practices, climate change, and changing demographics

Food Security

Delivering assistance with expected outputs to those in need most

Food Trust

Overlapping factors like poverty and obesity, fresh supermarkets, diet-related disease

Football Stadiums

Turn maps into straight line journeys with FME’s ShortestPathFinder transformer

Foreclosures

Scoping out the effects of recessions on real estate markets by mapping out foreclosures by neighborhood

Forensic GIS

Applying science and geographic information for the investigating of a crime

Forest Carbon Reserves

Sequestering carbon through forest reserves and carbon observed in the atmosphere

Forest Disease

Mapping the impact of how forest infestations like the mountain pine beetle have on forests and the economy

Forest Fires

Plotting out forest fires with MODIS

Forest Heights

Measuring tree heights with altimetry and noticing how trees generally differ 20m with taller ones at the equator

Forest Inventory

Prioritizing timber harvesting units by referring to age class and forest type to better measure timber acreage and average estimates

Foursquare

Recommending 50 million users search for restaurants, recommend bars, and check in around the world with a Mapbox custom branded map

FragStats

Computing a wide variety of landscape metrics for categorical map patterns

Frequency Management

Regulating radio spectrum to evaluate frequency interactions when approving applications using terrain, environment, and building data

Fresnel Zones

Finding the region of space between wireless transmitter and receiver where obstructions cause interference to the signal

Future Development Patterns

Locating future growth and evaluating scenarios such as loss of prime agricultural land

Future Food Demand

Diagnosing the future food demand and planning how to fulfill the needs of a growing and increasingly affluent population

Fuzzy Logic

Identifying suitable locations for the construction of parks with relevant experts to determine the significance and weight of the criteria

GEOINT

Revealing human activity through the use of geospatial investigation and ultraviolet to microwave imagery

GHydraulics

Analyzing water supply networks using EPANET

GIS Corps

Volunteering in GIS projects such as bridging the divide between the world’s insurance markets and the most vulnerable, low-income people

GIS-Based Search Engine

Correlating products and services to a GIS database record that corresponds to a unique geographic location

GPS Receivers

Nurturing mapping technology as it’s almost standard to have a GPS receiver and a monitor with all the latest maps

GPS Tracking

Applying tracking technologies to humans to understand how their movements affect ecosystems in national parks

Garden Reporting

Creating data-driven reports and mapbooks on collections of plants about conditions and hazards

Gardening Microclimates

Studying microclimates (temperature from large bodies of water, topography, urban areas trapping heat) to carefully choose and position their plants and make them thrive

Gender Inequality

Showing the history of how women are working in the GIS field

Gender Studies

Exploring how transportation infrastructure support mobility access to basic services vital to achieving poverty reduction, gender equality, and sustainable development objectives in Ghana

General Bathymetric Chart of the Oceans (GEBCO)

Charting out elevation paths along the ocean with GEBCO

Geo-tagging

Discover places with 360 panoramic camera views

GeoBranding

Increasing credibility and increasing sales with prospective clients, vendors, and media by conveying complex data to increase sales

GeoEvent Notification

Avoiding high-crime areas with geofencing when delivering high-valued goods

GeoFencing

Immobilizing cross-border travel with geofencing (virtual barriers)

GeoJournalism

Assisting journalists to dive into a world of data visualization using geographic data

Geoblocking

Limiting your access to the internet, based on your geographic location

Geocaching

Hunting for treasures and even surveying monuments through geocaching

Geocoded Real Estate

Fetching geocoded real estate in Germany through a JSON and R

Geocoding Businesses

Pinpointing anything to everything from restaurants, banks, and donut shops with a list of addresses

Geodesign

Conceptualizing building plans with a focus on stakeholder participation and collaboration to closely follow natural systems

Geodetic National Adjustment

Adjusting datum positions with the Geodetic National Adjustment

Geographic Innovation Index

Investigating the relations between geographic proximity to innovation resources and stock returns

Geographic Portfolio

Diversifying your stock portfolio geographically for different countries and stock markets of the world

Geographic Profiling

Using a connected series of crimes to determine the most probabilistic location of a criminal offender or offense which is useful for finding serial criminals

Geographic Text Analysis

Incorporating a semi-automated exploration of written texts combining Natural Language Processing techniques, Corpus Linguistics and GIS

Geoguessr

Embarking on an educational journey that takes you all over the world (Geoguessr)

Geologic Structure

Using photogrammetry in inaccessible regions in 2D and 3D cross-sections for geologic structure mapping

Geological Interpretation

Digitizing surficial geology (surface sediments, their morphology and properties) with air photo interpretation and field validation

Geomagnetic Referencing

Using the Earth’s magnetic field obtained by the USGS to more accurately drill direction and position

Geomedicine

Tracking patient’s location history to determine if environmental and industrial hazards put them at risk for certain types of diseases

Geomorphology Features

Studying the nature and origin of landforms, including relationships to underlying structures and processes of formation

Georeferenced Video

Cataloging and retrieving full motion video using the ArcGIS Full Motion Video Add-In or Hexagon Geospatial GeoMedia Motion GeoVideo Analyst

Georeferencing Historical Imagery

Straightening historical imagery using georeferencing

Geosocial Tools

Searching Twitter geographically for tweets with the gvSIG Geosocial Toolbox

Geospatial Modelling Environment

Leveraging open source software R as the statistical engine to drive powerful analysis tools in ArcGIS

Geospatial Revolution

Captivating audiences with the Penn State Geospatial Revolution

Geotagged Tweets

Spreading the word to make world headlines from local Missouri and eventually the whole world

Geotagging Photos

Specifying wildlife photo locations through geotagging and streamlining the importing process with ArcPhoto

Gerrymandering

Manipulating the geographic boundaries of an electoral constituency to favor one party

Global Ecology Land Units

Characterizing distinct physical environments and associated land cover of global ecosystems (USGS)

Global Forest Watch

Putting all the pieces together with an integrated forest watch online platform

Global Positioning Systems

Locating the position of anything and anywhere on Earth

Global Shark Tracker

Monitoring shark recovery rates with acoustic tags allowing detection in multiple dimensions

Global Trade

Exporting goods that start at one location and end up in another

Global Trading Ports

Climbing buoys as if you’re at giant marine trading ports

Global Transition to a New Economy

Prioritizing human well-being through a crowd-sourced sustainable projects map

Global Wind Vectors

Displaying gusting winds with vectors as directions

Globalization

Measuring the degree and extent of economic globalization using international trade data through time

Golden Eagle Tracking

Tracking Golden eagle populations using a Biodiversity Tracking System in Manifold GIS

Golf Course Water Systems

Planning a golf course’s underground water system and sprinkler system in 3D

Goods Flow

Illustrating the flow of people or goods from point to point based on values with desire lines

Google Cardboard

Visiting properties in Google Cardboard’s virtual reality experience

Google Earth Elevation Transect

Pulling out steep slopes using the elevation transect tool in Google Earth for any given cycling and jogging route

Google News Lab

Storytelling around the globe with Google Maps and Fusion Tables (Google News Lab)

Google Planetary Engine

Seeing with your own two eyes the alarming changes on our planet

Graffiti

Studying clusters of graffiti with other factors such as proximity to city constructs such as crossing guards, phone boxes, and electricity boxes

Gravity Anomaly

Understanding our Earth’s gravity by mapping the unusual concentrations of mass in different regions on Earth

Gravity Models

Determining the likelihood of customers patronizing a particular store based on the store’s proximity, competition, and other factors

Green Roofs

Greening roofs in metropolitan areas with a focus on lighting and shadow analysis

Gross Domestic Product

Creating continuous area cartograms

Groundwater Availability

Analyzing land use practices with water availability and quality

Groundwater Plume

Delineating groundwater contamination and its change

Groundwater Volume

Determining to drill a new well by examining existing groundwater and surface water

Group Decision Making

Mediating interests and getting valued concerns in the community and society through PGIS

Guard Posting

Posting armed guards in optimal locations to eliminate chokepoints

Gulf Basin Depositional Synthesis

Providing context for exploration in the Gulf of Mexico and reducing overall risk to oil and gas companies by understanding the depositional history of drilling

HEC-HMS

Simulating the complete hydrologic processes of dendritic watershed systems with the HEC-HMS GIS-based methodology

HEC-RAS Flow Model

Predicting where the water will go (flooding) to prevent inundated roads and inaccessibility

HIV AIDS Database

Making the distribution of HIV/AIDS to manage treatment

Habitat Priority Planner

Prioritizing conservation, restoration, and planning through NOAA’s Habitat Priority Planner

Habitat Suitability

Factoring in all the variables to understand the habitat that animals select and avoid using linear regression

Hadoop

Leveraging the Hadoop framework for millions of data points with big data spatial analytics

Hazards Assessments

Characterizing infrastructure, risk areas, and disaster zones, planning and implementating of hazards reductions measures to assist planners in selecting mitigation measures and emergency preparedness

HealthMap

Delivering real-time, global disease monitoring (HealthMap)

Height Above River

Generating predictive surfaces for plant species distribution modeling using high-resolution DEM data

Heli-skiing

Assessing the impacts of heli-skiing on mountain animal behavior using GPS trackers and frequently skiing areas

Helicopter Landing

Inventorying potential landing zones for helicopters unseen, unheard, and on flat terrain

Hexagon Tesselation

Defining sampling locations, helping to ensure that all regions within the study area are represented by the sampling results

High Rise Valuation

Characterizing commercial real estate by its unique age, size, location, and proximity to ensure that the property values are consistent between assessed value and the sales price with Geomedia 3D visualization

Highway Accidents

Reporting the location of highway accidents on a map

Highway Planning

Constructing viewpoints with multiple layers like ecology, topography, and cultural features for a three-dimensional visual highway

Hiking Trail

Incorporating factors in trail development like gentle slopes for an accumulated least-cost path

Historic Street View

Time-travelling in the past to see just how much a location has changed over time with a historic street view

Historical Agricultural Land

Plotting the historical and future farming trends served

Historical Photos

Geo-locating historical photos in augmented reality

Historical Precipitation

Observing historical precipitation from ground stations and radar in NetCDF with MapWindow Meteobase

Historical Weather

Discerning weather patterns by studying old weather

Home Evaluation

Getting a big picture to understand home value including proximity to schools or panoramic view

Home Sharing

Scoping out shared homes and surroundings

Homeland Security

Addressing vulnerabilities and formulating preparedness measures in case of terrorism and emergency situations

Homeless Shelters

Analyzing urban inequalities and homelessness to allocate homeless shelters appropriately

Honey Bees

Stimulating spatial thinking processes by analyzing relationships between environmental characteristics and honey bee health and abundance (GIS Honey Bee Research)

Horizon Blockage

Calculating the horizon blocking line in all directions from a given observation point with gvSIG’s Horizon Blockage

Horton Statistics

Calculating the number of streams, the average stream length, and the average area of catchments for Strahler stream orders

Hotel Search

Searching geographically for five-star hotels using a circle radius

Housing with Mortgages

Charting out occupied houses that have a mortgage or loan

Hovmoller Diagrams

Plotting meteorological data with latitude and longitude as an axis

Huff Model

Calculating sales potential based on the Huff Model

Human Activity Patterns

Engraving activity on maps showing human movement patterns with time-enabled GIS

Human Mobility

Measuring human mobility using mobile phone records enhanced with GIS data

Humanitarian Assistance

Plotting the spatial distribution of humanitarian assistance for planning purposes

Humanitarian OpenStreetMap

Responding to humanitarian issues and economic development through open data sharing

Hunger Map

Raising awareness about global hunger and places that are in need

Hunting Zones

Tracing out hunting zones for cultures around the world

Hurricane Andrew

Comparing geographically which homes fared better from Hurricane Andrew’s destruction because of changes in building code from Steve Doig’s piece that earned him a Pulitzer Prize

Hurricane Response

Sidestepping the threat of hurricanes by tracking historical hurricane paths and through better disaster response/assistance

Hydro-Acoustics

Listening to echoes with hydro-acoustics for the Crean Lake Hydro-Acoustics project

Hydrologic Volume

Measuring volumes for the Hydrologic Budget Equation and amount of precipitation in a given watershed

Hydrostratigraphy

Identifying mappable units based on aquifer hydraulic properties

Hyperlinking

Embedding hyperlinks with access to actual photos, video, audio, text, and data associated with map locations

Hyperspectral Imagery

Discovering new minerals from the existing 4000 types of compositions using airborne and satellite data

Illegal Logging

Identify potential illegal activity with satellite data

Illegal Smuggling

Monitoring cross-border smuggling activity by placing a GPS on a vehicle with a warrant to do so

Illiteracy in Myanmar

Building literacy in Myanmar and evaluating literacy programs in a GIS database with indicators such as budgeted funds, dropout levels, and available training

Impoundment Index Tool for Wetlands

Unearthing wetlands with Impoundment Index Tool to site potential wetland restoration projects, monitor wetland drainage, and model beaver habitat

In-Vehicle Usage

Monitoring driving habits like speed, sudden acceleration, and pushing hard on the brakes for insurance underwriting

Incident Map

Keeping the community safer by streaming visual mediums for arson, assault, burglary, homicide, prostitution, robbery, theft, and vandalism in a city

Indigenous People

Keeping a record of traditional land use of indigenous people

Industrial Revolution Radioactivity

Putting radioactivity on the map since the industrial revolution

Infant Mortality

Track child immunizations with mortality rates

Information Delivery

Inspire and educate your visitors with intelligent web maps of your park or garden

Infrastructure Damage

Reporting damaged infrastructure in a browser web mapping system

Infrastructure Design

Planning network infrastructure, build, operations, and maintenance with Smallworld Core

Infrastructure Expansion

Comparing historical data to current conditions with satellite data from Astro Digital

Infrastructure Life Cycle

Reiterating the process of planning, designing, constructing, operating, and maintaining a transportation system

Insect Control

Spraying pesticides to eliminate mosquitoes and other pests with knowing no-spray zones and the status of the previous spray

Insurance Fraud

Doing the detective work for fraudulent crop insurance claims

Insurance Risk

Charging higher insurance premiums in flood-prone areas using radar

Integrated Freight Network Model

Integrating highly detailed information about shipping costs, transfer costs, traffic volumes, and network interconnectivity properties in a GIS-based platform

Integration of GIS and BIM

Operating a facility with BIM (building information modeling) because of its ability to analyze information and integrate data from different systems

Intelligence Data Integration

Overlaying accurate geographic data for battlefield application and making life-saving decisions

Intelligent Transportation System (ITS)

Feeding data from GPS units, video cameras, and road monitoring units to advance the efficiency and safety of transportation systems

Inter-modal Transportation

Compiling two different modes of transportation (such as rail and truck) to move goods or passengers

International Joint Commission

Solving international watershed issues through international collaboration

International Space Station

Tracking the real-time location of the International Space Station (ISS) in ArcGIS Online Data

International Waters

Aligning the boundaries of international waters in a georeferenced system

Internet Geocoding

Mapping and analyzing user-generated geocoded data to get a glimpse of what internet users (in the aggregate) think about particular places

Internet of Things

Improving efficiency, accuracy, and economic benefit through a network of physical objects such as devices, vehicles, buildings, and other items—embedded with electronics, software, sensors, and network connectivity that enables these objects to collect and exchange information with one another

Intersection Analysis

Improving intersection safety through crash and road safety analysis with the MapWindow Safety Software Plugin

Into the Okavango

Trekking the Okavango in a journal style map

Invasive Species Modular Dispersal

Modelling the spread of a species’ population distribution through time occupancy maps (GRASS GIS Species Dispersal)

Irrigation

Capturing irrigation infrastructure for land management decisions more than two-thirds of the world’s freshwater withdrawals are for irrigating crops

John Snow

Forging a whole new field of study (epidemiology) by studying the spatial distribution of cholera cases and identifying the source of the outbreak as the public water pump on Broad Street

Karst

Identifying known cave and karst resources into a sinkhole digitization database for best interstate alignment selection

Kibera Slum

Mapping sites of rape and crime by the people themselves to solve where a police station should be located (and more)

Kriging

Using statistical approaches for mining valuation with the geostatistical technique kriging from Daniel Krige

Köppen-Geiger Climate Classification

Modelling observed and projected climate change scenarios with variables such as population growth, economic development, and varying energy use and technological innovations

LS Factor

Calculating slope length (LS) factor as part of the Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE) based on slope and specific catchment area

Land Bridges

Agreeing on an acceptable term for “land bridge”

Land Change Modeller

Simplifying innovative land planning and decision support with IDRISI’s Land Change Modeler

Land Facet Corridor Analysis

Identifying linkages between wildlife and landscapes

Land Surface Temperature Change

Using map algebra to see how land surface temperature changes year by year

Land Use

Generating polygons and classification with the multi-resolution segmentation algorithm

Land Use Change

Summarizing statistics, graphs, and tables in spatial units

Land Use Policy

Reproducing individual behavior with agent-based modeling to simulate their behaviors and outcomes having a direct impact on the surrounding landscape

Land for Development

Finding available serviced and unserviced land available for development

Land-use Conflict Identification (LUCIS) Model

Making smart land-use decisions with a model-builder framework land-use conflict identification strategy

Landfill Site Selection

Analyzing and eliminating sites within a buffer distance of sensitive populations (elderly, schools, hospitals, etc) and other overlay information like groundwater, transportation networks and surface water

Landform Classification

Classifying landforms with qualitative analysis of the surface like summits, passes, convex/concave break lines, crests, and more with gvSIG geomorphology tools

Landscape Fragmentation Tools (LFT)

Classifying land cover types into forest fragmentation categories

Landslide Vulnerability

Dodging landslides with relief maps and 3D analysis

Law Enforcement Operations

Allocating and dispatching police officers where it’s needed most by studying crime activities

Lead Concentration in Soils

Collecting soil samples and mapping the lead geochemical landscape

Lead Concentrations

Correlating how children with lead poisoning were found to be closer to an old lead refinery

Leaf Area Index

Summing the total area of leaves per ground unit

Length of Growing Period

Meeting the full evapotranspiration demands of crops when average temperatures are greater or equal to 5°C and precipitation plus moisture stored in the soil exceeds half the potential evapotranspiration

Leukemia Research

Investigating leukemia clusters with proximity to transmission lines

Lewis and Clark

Charting out the Lewis and Clark expedition

Life Travels

Accompanying travelers in their life travels in map-form

Lifecycle Management

Updating life cycle status of utility information as existing or proposed in GE SmallWorld

Lift Stations

Move the flow from a lower to a higher elevation for sewer utility

Light Pollution

Recognizing the artificial light introduced by humans in the night sky and how it interferes with the observation of stars

Lightscape

Lighting up bridges picking out the illuminated details and obscured areas

Line Extension Easements

Creating electrical line extension easements (legal rights of access) in GE SmallWorld Electric Office Geospatial Asset Management

Line Profile

Utilizing slope profiles to generate terrain profiles with Manifold GIS

Line Vision

Synchronizing 2D viewing in 3D environments with viewports

Line of Sight

Planning high-rise buildings so they don’t obstruct the view of the mountains in Portland using the line of sight tool

Linear Directional Mean

Determining the trend for the movement of elk and moose in a stream valley could calculate the directional trend of migration routes for the two species

Linear Referencing

Using linear referencing along shorelines to track volumes of organic debris

Live Air Traffic

Turning your computer into an air traffic control center using Flight Radar 24

Live Marine Traffic

Turning your computer into a marine traffic monitoring station giving the perspective of nearby ships on the ocean

Living Plant Collection

Managing garden collections and plant records with the ArcGIS Public Garden Data Model like the UC Davis Arboretum, Arnold Arboretum at Harvard University, and Smithsonian Garden

Local Advertising

Advertising through social, local, and mobile mediums through location and making presence more known

Locating Cell Towers

Locating cell tower placements in urban areas using 3D building structures

Locational Intelligence

Creating safety and danger areas for ground-to-ground weapons (Surface Danger Zones) and air-to-ground Weapon Danger Zone

Logistics

Responding to military and security decisions with timely logistics and support

Logistics Management

Planning, implementing, and controlling the efficient effective flow and storage of goods and services from a point of origin to point of consumption

London in Maps

Charting life in London, England like never before with 100 maps and graphics

Lost Cities

Revealing lost cities in the ground by using ground-penetrating radar and infrared sensors

MIKE21

Simulating physical, chemical, or biological processes in coastal or marine areas

MODFLOW

Modelling groundwater demand and predicting the impact of groundwater demand in basins

Machine Performance

Logging geographic coordinates of agricultural machinery in a farm field to better understand the spatial variability cost of field operation and machinery performance

Macroscope

Seeing through the macroscope

Madrid’s Air

Visualization Madrid´s air (gases, particles, pollen, diseases, etc) to make visible the microscopic and invisible agents

Magnetic Declination

Positioning with the magnetic declination, a varying angle from a true geographic north using NOAA National Geophysical Data Center 2015 data and the Magnetic Declination QGIS Plugin

Magnetic Fields

Investigating magnetic field lines in 3D with international geomagnetic field maps

Mammal Magnetic Alignment

Discovering how deer can sense magnetism through satellite image analysis and field observations of body alignments of deer beds in snow

Manhattan Immigration Patterns

Showing how immigrants in Manhattan varied not only through space, but also time

Maori Tribe

Recording, organizing, and making available information about traditional values from Maori elders

Map Algebra

Applying local, focal and zonal functions techniques

Map Automation

Generating maps automatically from tiles along a transmission corridor with ArcGIS Data Driven Pages or QGIS Atlas

Map-ematics

Making math operations in maps like adding, subtracting, multiplying, dividing, exponentiation, root, log, cosine, and differentiation (Map-ematics

Mapbox Outdoors

Powering your fitness and outdoor applications with terrain maps that highlight thousands of biking, hiking, and running trails as well as ascents through topography lines

Mapping Conflict

Putting any crisis, destruction, or terror attack on the map

Mapping Mars with MOLA

Start mapping a whole entire new planet using NASA’s MOLA

Mapzen Search

Searching geographically with a spatial search engine for places based entirely on open-source tools and powered by entirely open data

Marathon Routing

Planning the route of a marathon using elevation and base maps

Marine Bioregional Plans

Protecting the marine resources by dividing the coasts of Australia into four geographical pieces

Marine Geology

Inventorying marine geology

Marine Pollution

Pinpointing the source of marine pollutants such as industrial, agricultural, and residential waste

Marine Renewable Energy

Seeing the ocean of information with wave heights and wind for electric dam selection

Marine Tools Plugin

Geoprocessing with marine data to better understand research, conservation, and spatial planning problems

Market Analysis

Expanding businesses through customer profiling, estimating sales potential, and finding available lots

Market Segmentation

Segmenting customers geographically and forecasting the demand for services where growth is likely to occur

Market Share

Examining branch locations, competitor locations, and demographic characteristics to identify areas worthy of expansion or determine market share

Market Share Analysis

Optimizing the locations of facilities so the allocated demand is maximized in the presence of competitors using tools like location-allocation in ArcGIS

Mars Rover Landing

Examining how to land the Mars Rover safely with operations criteria including latitude for solar power, soil softness, slopes using laser altimetry, dustiness, rockiness, and a landing footprint

Mars Terrain

Going for a spin on the rugged terrain of Mars using data captured by the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA) instrument on the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS)

Mars in Google Earth

Searching for Martian landmarks with Google Earth’s “Live from Mars” layer

Mediterranean Landscape Dynamics

Modeling surface process change and landscape evolution to better understand the long-term interactions of humans and landscapes in the Mediterranean using GRASS GIS

Megan’s Law

Obeying the requirement for local law enforcement agencies to notify residents about the presence of certain sex offenders in their area by only contacting a buffered area of the offender’s residence

Mercator Projection Game

Learning about the shape, size, and conformity of the Earth with map projections

Mercury in Stream

Grasping the origin of mercury

Merger and Acquisitions

Profiling and finding opportunities to gain and build where customers are with market profiling

Microclimates

Analyzing exposure to sunlight with aspect data as an indication of microclimates and species occurrence

Micronesian Navigational Chart

Navigating by canoe using stick charts as ocean swell patterns

Middle Eastern Geodatabase for Antiquities

Recording, monitoring, and protecting archaeological sites to avoid impacting, factor cost for site mitigation

Migrant Rescue

Improving Humane operations and rescuing migrants through the deployment of emergency water stations on routes known to be used by migrants coming north through our desert

Migration Patterns

Simulating the East African wildebeest migration patterns for the Serengeti

Migratory Birds

Cross-referencing telemetry GPS migratory (Osprey) bird locations with Langley Air Force Base flying operations to reduce an aircraft strike

Military Grid Reference System

Locating points on the Earth in three parts

Military Mission Planning

Increasing operational awareness to helicopter pilots through 3D for conducting ingress and egress movement

Military Simulation

Simulating ground vehicles in a highly realistic virtual world

Milky Way

Surveying the inner part of the Milky Way Galaxy with GLIMPSE (Galactic Legacy Infrared Midplane Extraordinaire)

Mine Rehabilitation

Restoring mines back to their original state using GIS tools like 3D profiling flooding of mine because almost all working mines require pumps to remove water

Mineral Titles

Administering mining titles for exploration and acquisition available on a web map

Mining Operations

Track mining assets in the field with mobile GIS

Minkowski Generalization

Determining how complicated objects are with Minkowski fractal dimension (Minkowski

Missing Body Search

Narrowing down the search for a missing by finding subtle terrain anomalies in the ground using LiDAR

Mobile Banking

Capturing locations where existing mobile transactions occur and assisting in mobile security infrastructure

Mobile Command Modeling

Setting up shop by finding the most optimal mobile command location

Mobile Flu Shots

Determining an optimal site location for mobile flu shot vehicles to service where demand is needed most with location-allocation

Monitoring Driving Habits

Fastening seat belts and monitoring people’s usage to charge car insurance

Monte Carlo Simulation

Modeling spatial phenomena with simulation models

Morgan Freeman’s Voice

Enjoying the calm, soothing voice of Morgan Freeman as he delivers directions from your GPS navigation system

Mosquitoes-borne Illness

Identifying areas with high indices of mosquito infestation and interpreting the spatial relationship of these areas with potential larval development sites such as garbage piles and large pools of standing water

Motion Video

Capturing georeferenced video to assess anything such as the operational status of an industrial plant, bomb damage on a target, or length of a runway

Motor Vehicle Collisions

Correlating motor vehicle collisions with spatial attributes such as speed limits, guardrails, and on-street parking

Mountaineering

Climbing steep slopes in Google Street View

Movie Maps

Creating ultra-realistic 3D cities for big box office movies

Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis

Selecting highway routes using multiple criteria

Multimodal

Getting cars off the road for multi-modal options by studying cycling paths and walkability

NASA Earth Observatory

Exploring the causes and effects of climate change on our atmosphere, oceans, land, and life through the use of satellite data

NASA Ocean Color

Downloading chlorophyll-a concentrations and sea surfaces temperature data sets for studying the increasing risk from ocean acidification and hypoxia

NASA Visible Earth

Cataloging images and animations of our home planet in the electromagnetic spectrum from various sensors

NASA World Wind

Monitoring weather patterns, visualizing cities and terrain, tracking the movement of planes, vehicles, and ships, analyzing geospatial data, and educating people about the Earth with the cross-platform, Java-based NASA World Wind

Napolean’s March to Moscow in 3D

Visualizing troop movement, cities, base maps, and temperature in time slices using Esri’s CityEngine Napolean’s March to Moscow

National Addressing

Delivering parcels to a specific address, all speed in a single national database

National Bridge Inventory

Making a repository of bridges in a national-wide database

National Geographic Society

Preserving and protecting our planet as a global non-profit organization funding hundreds of projects each year

National Geospatial Data Asset Management

Managing geospatial data as a capital asset for effective sharing, and collaboration to support efficient and effective decision-making

National Marine Sanctuaries

Designating 12 areas of the marine environment as special significance to better understand marine ecosystems and their spatial, temporal, and functional relationships among creatures, environments, and human perturbations

Natural Area Coding System

Unifying the representations of geographic coordinates, area codes, street addresses, postal codes, map grids, and property identifiers of every location or area in the world

Natural Earth

Producing public domain data with beautiful cartography layers

Natural Resources

Mapping out natural resources like uranium, metals, stones, and gemstones

Nautical Charts

Plotting out the seamless, collarless, and dynamic mosaic of some 2,100 NOAA raster nautical charts at varying scales

Nearest Location

Resolving the nearest gas station, restaurant, or coffee shop using GPS-based positioning and geocoded business data

Needs of Services

Allocating the proper needs and inclusion of marginalized populations

Neogeography

Opening the floodgates for individuals to create their own maps, on their own terms and by combining elements of an existing toolset

Network Management

Visualizing complex spatial webs of utility networks as the foundation to manage the lifecycle of network assets for utilities

Network Signal Interpolation

Clustering geographically high and low network signals and interpolating results in cellular signal maps

Network Travel Costs

Determining travel costs from each origin to all destinations

Night-Day Boundary

Illustrating which parts of the Earth people are fast asleep and are wide awake with the night-day boundary map

Noise Map

Mapping sound levels in parks to show how visitors and wildlife interact with each other and park resources

Non-Address Delivery

Generating addresses for businesses and people without one using a 3×3 meter global grid system

Non-point Source Pollution

Modelling non-point source pollution like soil erosion and sedimentation which are often controlled by variables such as land use/cover, topography, soils, and rainfall

Normalized Difference Soil Index (NDSI)

Gauging soil water content from space using shortwave infrared, near infrared wavelength, and NDSI

North Korea

Mapping how far North Korea’s missile projectiles threaten other nations

Nuclear Power Risk

Conceptualizing nuclear power plant radioactive release with evacuation time and population exposed

Nuclear Waste Site Selection

Safeguarding people with proper nuclear waste disposal

OD Cost Matrix

Improving coordination amongst transportation providers when given multiple origins and multiple destinations

Observer Points

Calculating visibility through multiple observer points

Obstruction Evaluation

Securing safe take-offs and landings with the Federal Aviation Agency’s (FAA) vertical obstruction database

Ocean Salinity

Measuring sea surface salinity from space with Aquarius

Ocean Surface Current Analysis Real-time (OSCAR)

Delivering near real-time global ocean surface currents

Ocean Tourism

Getting out your towels and soaking some sun with tourist maps of the ocean

Ocean Use Planning

Outlining sustainable oceans through careful planning of ocean activity such as energy production, fishing, and shipping

Oculus Rift

Building realistic 3D environments with Esri CityEngine because virtual reality is all about location and a sense of place

Off-Beaten Tracks

Finding the off-beaten track for backpackers and marking its position with 3 words

Offshore Production

Mapping oil activity offshore including pipeline, significant oil and gas discoveries, and restricted zones

Oil Exploration

Planning and exploring drilling operations using 3D GIS to analyze the data and visually inspect the results

Oil Reserves

Measuring how much shadow is being cast of a floating roof’s oil tanks using geometry and high spatial resolution imagery

Oil Reserves Map

Laying out the top 20 oil-producing countries, with reserves in billions of barrels of oil

Oil Search

Magnifying the search for resources and extending beyond the core elements (Oil Search

Oil Spill

Degreasing oil spills by identifying the current direction and rate of oil movement

Old Weather

Tracking past ship movements and telling the stories of the people on board by studying weather patterns

Open Air Drug Markets

Uncovering the relationship between crimes and the location of open-air drug markets based on analogous crimes throughout other communities

Open Data

Opening up government (tax-payer) data through geospatial open data portals and data sharing strategies

Open Geospatial Consortium

Making quality open standards for the global geospatial community

Open Information

Reducing the need for telephone operators by having data displayed on a map

Open Sea Map

Sailing the big blue watery road with Open Sea Map

Open Source Geospatial Foundation (OSGeo)

Supporting the collaborative development of open source geospatial software, and promoting its widespread use

OpenStreetMap

Establishing open information as a free, editable map through volunteered input

Operations

Investigating interruptions in service and managing repair and maintenance work with the Autodesk Topobase infrastructure model

Operations Support Systems (OSS)

Ensuring that network functions properly including outages, billing, and testing through GIS shared services

Optimal Road Trip

Planning a road trip of the century across the United States using the shortest route for all major landmarks

Ordered Weighted Average (OWA)

Calculating the weighted average of a group of layers based on the order of values

Ordnance Survey

Drafting out maps as one of the largest producers of maps in the World

Ordnance Survey Geovation

Pioneering location innovation in the United Kingdom through Geovation

Organic Farming

Managing various sources of data for organic farming permits including tillage history, field inputs, crop rotations, and pest management measures on a field-by-field basis

Overfishing

Maintaining sustainable fish population levels with satellite monitoring of sea surface temperature and ocean colors (because they are indicative of specific fish species)

Oxbows

Mapping the evolving process of how rivers change in time and become oxbows

Ozone

Motivating the world to do its part by mapping the spatial distribution of ozone concentrations

Pacific Ocean

Opening Google Earth and realizing how the Pacific Ocean covers one side of the Earth in a global view

Pacific Ocean Blob

Mapping the extent of “The Blob”

Pangea

Drawing the different stages of the continental evolution from Pangea to the Earth we see today

Paratransit

Accessing rides through address entry and buffering points to find nearest routes

Parcel Dimensioning

Analyzing a property parcel shape to determine the area and dimensions of each identified parcel

Parcel Fabric

Editing zoning, dissemination areas, and land designation boundaries

Parking Availability

Orchestrating parking available by collecting the percent of spaces occupied versus search time

Parking Demand

Estimating parking demand and its fit with parking capacity with Python

Participatory GIS

Gearing towards decision-making from citizen input and geo-spatial technologies

Path Metrics

Calculates turn angles, step lengths, bearings, and time intervals for a point time series dataset using GME

Peaks and Summits

Detecting peaks and summits on a landscape to help model salinity with elevation such as depression areas have a higher salinity

Pedestrian Behavior

Discerning the movements of pedestrians and urban behavior throughout a plaza in Copenhagen

Permafrost

Assessing the impacts of permafrost freezing and thawing on utility lines

Personality Atlas

Assigning personality stereotypes to countries around the world based on a sample size of the global population’s perspectives

Philadelphia Redevelopment

Developing urban planning scenarios using a 3D swipe view

Piecing Together the Climate Change Puzzle

Combining various climate change data sets from various sources

Pigeon Mapping

Spying on enemies in World War II with the Bavarian Pigeon Corps

Pilgrimages

Setting foot on a pilgrimage and mapping the distances traveled

Pipeline Infrastructure

Surveying footprints and inventorying pipeline infrastructures like pump stations, tank terminals, and pipelines

Pipeline Route Selection

Optimizing route selection by taking a heuristic approach and multiple layers such as the environment, geo-hazards, and engineering

Pipeline Rupture

Responding to pipeline ruptures to better understand surrounds and impact zones such as privately-owned parcels and critical fume areas

Pivot Tables

Generate dynamic pivot tables in QGIS

Planet Hunters

Finding undiscovered planets with crowd-source-style online games

Plant Hardiness

Defining distinct boundaries in which plants are capable of growing as defined by climatic conditions

Plate Wizard Project

Reconstructing converging and diverging plates through geologic time

Polar Bear

Keeping counts of the most vulnerable populations of polar bears (due to climate change) by comparing two satellite images over time

Polar Ice Melt

Monitoring the polar ice melt using satellites like GOCE and GRACE that measures how much mass is on Earth

Pole Inventory

Pinning down with GPS accuracy utility poles

Pollution Modelling

Mapping air pollution sources and impacts on the environment and people

Population Disaggregation

Estimating per-building population through disaggregation of census blocks

Porous Puff

Calculating mass per volume of a solute at a discrete point into a vertically mixed aquifer with the ArcGIS Groundwater Tools

Potholes

Reporting potholes or automatically detecting them with LiDAR for infrastructure management

Poverty

Sizing up poverty with the FAO GeoNetwork socio-economic indicators

Power Distribution

Figuring out which distribution line could take down an entire network

Power Outages

Helping customers keep the lights on with assets and attributes such as poles and transformers in AutoCAD Map 3D

Precision Farming

Harvesting more bushels per acre while spending less on fertilizer using precision farming and software

Predicting Dinosaur Tracks

Getting the inside track on understanding exactly where dinosaurs once roamed the Earth with vegetation coverage, slope, aspect, and proximity to landslides

Predictive Policing

Patrolling Mapping clusters of burglaries or other crimes assigning more police in those locations using heat maps or Getis-Ord General G and point patterns

Preliminary Site Investigation

Searching ancient maps for buildings, cemeteries, roads, and fences as these sites present important clues to archaeological sites

President Assassination

Preventing assassinations by understanding the logistics of a past one

Principal Components Analysis

Reducing dimensions with Principal Components Analysis

Prism Maps

Drawing each boundary object as a raised prism, where the height of the prism is relative to the associated data value

Projection Art

Investigating our Earth by understanding map projections

Propagation of Noise in Urban Environments

Modelling 3D data to answer how urban citizens are harmed by noise pollution, and how to mitigate it with noise barriers

Property Appraisal

Appraising residential properties using Census data and finding your property online through interactive property assessment viewers

Property Appraisals

Supporting accurate property appraisals

Public Consultation

Visualizing the transmission line with towers in public using 2D and 3D environments

Public Health Informatics

Ensuring patients get the care they need with public health care informatics

Public Transportation Availability

Reviewing public transit availability in societies

QGIS

Pioneering the #1 option for open GIS software

QGIS Archaeology Tools

Computerizing the archaeological community with their record-keeping with the pyArchInit QGIS plugin

Quantarctica

Familiarizing yourself with the Antarctic with the free, open-source source collection of geographical datasets

Quarries

Capturing volumes of fill removal and forecasting future volumes extracted to understand quarry lifespans

Radar Interference

Calculating potential radar interference and conflicts between turbines and airport approach/landing surfaces with 3D analysis

Radio-Wave Propagation

Estimating the propagation of radio waves for a network with complex reflections and diffraction and line-of-sight

Rails-to-Trails Conservancy

Converting unused railways into paved multi-use paths

Railways

Tying railways together with CartoDB’s railway map

Rainfall

Illustrating rainfall in NOAA’s National Weather Service web map

Ranch Pasture Management

Collecting soil types, fence lines, roads, and other data for better management for more meaningful reports and maps

Real Estate Metrics

Choosing the right house to buy or build based on the distance to schools, parks, transit stops, and other geospatial metrics

Real-Time Collaboration

Collaborating in OpenStreetMap with multiple user entries

Real-Time Gas Prices

Crowdsourcing gas price updates at various gas stations on or along a route

Real-time Crop Yields

Shifting to real-time crop monitoring and targeted, automated responses with drones and precision watering sensors

Real-time Hazard

Using location intelligence to Identify areas of hazard in real-time

Real-time Lightning

Capturing real-time lightning strikes in a map with monitoring stations located around the world

Real-time Sensors

Monitoring carbon monoxide in real-time with GeoEvent Extension with set thresholds and alerts (Valarm Monitoring Company)

Real-time Snow Plows

Seeing the grid of snowplows in real-time in a municipal network and GPS

Reconnaissance Satellites

Spying on enemies with satellites

Recycling Centres/Drop-offs

Allocating recycling drop-off centers with data integration and quantification and assigning alternatives for vehicle routing

Redistricting

Encouraging citizen involvement through web-based applications for the redistricting process (Redistricting QGIS Plugin)

Reforestation

Recharging forests through tree planting planning on a map

Refugee Camps

Capturing the movement patterns of refugees through time

Remnant Rain Forest

Studying aspect data to find how remnants of rainforest are almost always found on east-facing slopes (with aspect) which are protected from the dry westerly wind

Retail Customer Segmentation

Segmenting markets by customer prototypes to improve the effectiveness of campaigns

Retail Site Selection

Inspecting space usage for available commercial space

Retail Store Movement

Detailing how customers move through retail stores, what they bought, rejected, and looked at

Reverse Geocoding

Geocoding in reverse; taking locations from a map and listing their addresses

Richter Scale

Depicting earthquakes on a 3D globe like spikes on a porcupine for each reading on the Richter scale

Ride Sharing

Providing optimal and dynamic ride sharing in urban areas

Right-of-way

Buffering proposed transmission lines which will be areas cleared for the transmission line

Rising Sea Levels

Identifying areas of risk as sea levels gradually rise from climate change

Risk of Extinction

Describing existing conditions of habitat and predicting risk of extinctions, the chance of recovery, and mitigation measures

Road Assessment

Taking measurements of pavement through aerial and mobile LiDAR

Road Asset Management

Using ground survey data showing assets on a roadway in Manifold GIS

Road Closures

Advising citizens of road closures visually on a map

Rollercoaster

Creating realistic a fly-through from interpolated paths using 3D animation capability in ArcGIS Pro

Roof Gardening

Assessing average temperatures by zoning, water availability, and position sheltering to identify buildings with the greatest potential for rooftop gardens

Routing Workers

Optimizing routes by seeing overlap which saves fuel costs

Runway Approach Zone Encroachment

Pinpointing obstructions in the approach zone of a runway using detailed elevation data to ensure no collisions FAA Safety Analysis

SCALGO

Understanding Earth’s hydrology as a function of topography using the SRTM DEM

SCIMAP

Identifying locations of diffuse pollution risk for polluted water and aquatic habitat using SCIMAP

SWAT Model

Testing the effectiveness of agriculture and environmental policies for pollution control systems in a given watershed like the mwSWAT Plugin in MapWindow

Safe Landings

Parachuting from the skies safely by evaluating the underlying surroundings of the area

Safe Routes to School Mapping Toolkit

Deciding the safest route to school

Safe Travel

Advising travelers where unsafe locations are on a map

Salinity

Inspecting salinity with electromagnetic surveys to find the electrical conductivity in soils and interpolating the results to find unknowns

Sanctuary Ecologically Significant Areas

Delineating remarkable, representative, and/or sensitive marine habitats, communities, and ecological processes as SESAs

Satellite Orbits

Gazing the sky for satellites and even programming satellites for image acquisition

Schematics

Representing a complex utility network in a simple schematics diagram with ArcGIS Schematics

Sea Ice Index

Bringing together data on Antarctica’s ice sheet surface, thickness, and boundary using passive remote sensing

Sea Ice Motion

Maintaining an inventory of sea ice extents snapshots from NOAA’s National Snow and Ice Data Center

Sea Level Rise

Collecting data to study sea level rise and climate change from the Jason-3 satellite

Sea the Animals

Tracking turtles, seals, porpoises, and turtles in time-animated web maps

Search and Rescue

Rescuing missing people by using small, highly maneuverable unmanned aerial vehicles (drones)

Search for Flight MH370

Crowd-sourcing the search for flight MH370 with satellite imagery provided by DigitalGlobe

Sedimentation Rate

Characterizing erosion and sedimentation with the Sediment Transport Index

Seismic Slope Stability

Modelling stability of slopes using geology and digital elevation models to understand the potential of seismically-induced landslide hazards

Self-Driving Vehicles

Sitting back and relaxing while Google’s autonomous car does all the work equipped with LiDAR, GPS, an inertial unit, and sophisticated software

Semi-variogram

Graphing the variance in measure with the distance between sampled paired locations

Service Areas

Identifying service areas from a fixed point along a network route to show response coverage for emergency vehicles

Sewer Network

Design sewer systems and their networks with right-of-way considerations and using the flow by gravity

Sex Offenders

Tracking past criminal offenders with GPS movement patterns in relationship to schools and other entities

Shadow Analysis

Diagnosing the amount of casted shadow in the pre-construction phase onto its surrounding using Bentley Map

Shale Gas Plays

Depicting current and prospective shale gas resource areas in shale basins from the Energy Information Association

Shallow Slope Stability (SHALSTAB)

Computing grid cells that are critical shallow groundwater recharge values

Shannon’s H Diversity Index

Measuring mathematically species diversity and richness in a community

Shared Mailboxes

Spreading mailboxes out to address demand and existing population with algorithms like location-allocation

Shared Operations

Responding to disasters with quickness and reliability using a Common Operating Picture and cloud services (Cloud GIS for Disaster Monitoring)

Shipping Route Shortcuts

Transporting goods through the Arctic passage because of melting ice in the North Pole

Shipping Routes

Stitching together shipping routes using the Satellite-based Automatic Identification Systems

Shipwrecks

Documenting the remains of shipwrecks, aircraft, hulks, lost anchors, and any other objects on the seabed through the SHIPS Project

Shortest Path

Generating the shortest, fastest, or least-costly route between any number of origins and any number of destinations, with any number of intermediate points

Shovel Test Pits

Logging transects, shovel test pits, and other recordings when they visit potential locations to conduct field investigations

Shuttle Radar Topographic Mission (SRTM)

Obtaining a global digital elevation model from InSAR

Sidewalk Inventory

Storing sidewalk data in a database with attributes like width, surface type, and clearing priority

Signal Expansion

Planning expansion by better understanding signal strengths in three-dimensional buildings

Sinkholes

Preventing risk by understanding landscape characteristics

Sinuosity

Measuring the degree of channelization and meandering for a given watercourse

Site Remediation

Removing contamination from a plot of land detailing risk exposure and an overview with maps

Ski Hill

Creating vicious triple black diamond ski runs using the steepest path

Sky View

Maximizing the portion of visible sky and understanding potential forest habitat

Sky View Factor

Considering the visible sky and topographic influences to estimate radiation balances, temperature, and evapotranspiration

Slope Parameters

Developing slope profiles such as convex and concave using 3D profile graphs

Smart Cities

Integrating urban development visions with GIS such as smart urban planning, smart utilities, smart transportation, smart public works, and citizen engagement

Smart Grids

Determining optimal locations for smart grid and real-time analytic components

Smog

Squinting your eyes to see through all of that smog

Smoke Signals

Using viewsheds to put yourself in Native Americans’ shoes when smoke signals were used

Snowfall

Knowing how much snowfall occurred where

Social Media Integrating

Finding all Flickr posts within 100 meters of property during incidents

Social Media Mapping

Monitoring social media by location

Society for Conservation GIS (SCGIS)

Assisting conservationists worldwide through community involvement and for the conservation of natural resources and cultural heritage

Socio-Economic Data and Application Center (SEDAC)

Serving socioeconomic and Earth science data as an information gateway between the Earth and social sciences focuses on human interactions in the environment

Soil Grid

Helping agriculture decision-making with ISRIC’s 1km scale soil property and class maps of the world

Soil Loss Equation

Measuring the average annual soil loss caused by rainfall and associated overland flow as defined by the United States Department of Agriculture

Soil Moisture

Estimating soil moisture from space with the SMAP and SMOS satellites

Soil Survey Geographic Database (SSURGO)

Making sense of soil parameters like conductivity in the United States

Soil Types

Modelling soil types through Jenny’s model involving climate, organisms, topography, material, and time

Solar Exposure

Harvesting light to assess the suitability of installing solar (photovoltaic) panels on roofs using 3D city models and geometric information such as the tilt, orientation, and area of the roof

Solar Irradiance

Harnessing the power of solar energy with the Global Horizontal Solar Irradiance

Solid Waste

Picking up after ourselves with geo-referenced garbage collection routes

Space Syntax Models

Gaining a better understanding of human behavior and connectivity through a graphic representation of space configuration in urban structures

Space Utilization

Augmenting NASA’s Langley Research Center by applying optimization algorithms to space utilization

Space-Time Cube

Binning data (netCDF) into a cube input and running statistics, trends, and hot spot analyses over time

Space-time GIS

Comparing scientific practice in the US and in China (Space-Time GIS

Spatial Autocorrelation

Testing whether the observed value of a variable at one locality is independent of the values of the variable at neighboring localities

Spatial Data Infrastructure

Connecting multiple users in separate departments for managing data, metadata, users, and tools

Spatial Data Integration

Intersecting the gaming world with rich, real-world, spatial data integration

Spatial Econometrics

Intersecting spatial analysis with economics

Spatial Regression

Building spatial regression to models for estimating the relationship between spatial variables

Spawning Sites

Drawing spawning site boundaries for migratory fish that are known to release eggs

Species Biodiversity

Gauging over time a decrease in biodiversity or an abundance of species (invasive or disturbance-increasing) using temporal GIS

Species Modelling

Running the Maximum Entropy Model (MAXENT)

Speed Limits

Defining speed limits in a road network with proper signage

Sports Stadiums

Viewing complex geometries like sports stadiums in 3D

Spy Glass

Time-travelling back to 1836 in New York powered by Esri

Stadium Security

Getting the big picture by giving police and emergency responders to track activities on a web-based geospatial platform

Stalking

Abusing GPS technology by stalking with a GPS receiver

Stamen Maps

Orienting yourself with Stamen’s terrain maps with hill shading and natural vegetation colors

Stereoscopy Tools

Creating stereo pairs from two aerial photographs with anaglyph and virtual-z mode

Stewardship of Land

Supporting Native American decision-making through GIS implementation

Stone Tools

Characterizing geographic features suitable for making stone tools and clay pottery such as lithic materials, water resources, stream hydrology with geologic controls like bedrock outcrops and drainage basin floodplains

Store Openings

Historicizing a company’s store openings

Store Placement

Guiding the placement of new stores by studying disposable income, population, or other variables to best serve the population

Storm Water Runoff

Conserving nearby resources such as water and flora by better managing runoff

Stormwater Pollution

Measuring stormwater pollution by estimating runoff and sources

Storytelling with Maps

Harnessing the power of story maps such as understanding the gap between minimum wage and high-income earners

Stratigraphy

Plotting boreholes, cross sections, and well logs

Strava Heat Map

Heating up the road with over 375 billion data points showing you exactly which routes other cyclists are taking

Stream Feature Extractor

Extracting stream features (wells, sinks, confluences, etc

Stream Order

Defining stream size based on a hierarchy of tributaries the Strahler Index (or Horton-Strahler Index)

Street Cleaning

Plowing geographic zones of a city

Street Repair

Inventorying and reporting repairs on streets

Street View Measure

Examining utility operations in street view and measuring distances (MM Plugin in ArcGIS)

Stress Monitoring

Correlating fish stresses from the local environment such as heat stress from the removal of trees along a stream

Subglacial Lakes

Mapping lakes under glaciers

Submarine Cable

Sketching out submarine cables that stretch across oceans

Submarine Routes

Routing twenty thousand leagues under the sea for submarine routes using 3D modeling

Subsurface 3D Utility Model

Viewing underground utilities in 3D

Subsurface Mapping

Mapping the subsurface through well-log data by drillers with standard lithological terms and a classification system

Subsurface Volume Calculation

Calculating depth values to determine the volume of material between the surfaces or between a subsurface layer and the ground level with Global Mapper

Subway Map

Simplifying maps for the reader to better understand such as the lines of a subway map in high contrasting colors

Sunrise and Sunset

Finding the perfect sunrise and sunset at any given location

Super GIS

Estimating the number of protestors at a Hong Kong rally by obtaining the average density of the crowd and estimating the number of protesters through aerial photo interpretation

Supply Chain

Finding which supply chains are vulnerable to better plan for interruptions (Boundless Supply Chain)

Supply and Demand

Identifying under-served areas and analyzing your competitor’s market

Surf Breaks

Sizing up wave heights from satellite radar altimeters in orbit

Surface Water Flow

Characterizing water flow to be identified as a high consequence for oil spill mitigation

Surui Tribe

Equipping the Surui tribe with geo-tagging equipment to put an end to the deforestation and cultural devastation in their section of the Brazilian rainforest

Sustainable Populations Counts

Counting polar bears and their geographic distribution by analyzing two satellite images over time

Sustainable Tourism Planning

Identifying conflicting interests in tourism and solving issues by examining suitable locations for proposed developments

Swimming Pools

Crowdsourcing the search for swimming pools from sponsored campaigns that compile public and private sector data for a variety of markets including education, public safety, and insurance

Swiss Alps Farming

Cultivating south-facing slopes in the Swiss Alps using aspect data because it shelters from cold and dry winds which is critical to successful crop growth

Swisstopo

Sculpting beautiful topography maps in 3D

Tactical Planning

Deploying troops and military equipment to combat zones intelligently by searching compressed and quick-loading reconnaissance imagery

Tangible Landscape

Experimenting with the potential impact of different building configurations with an easy-to-use 3D sketching tool

Tapestry Segmentation

Dividing U

Targeting Advertising

Positioning advertisements for target demographics using census data and the right location

Tax Collection

Increasing tax revenue by updating land and building property records, new construction records, and integrated departmental data into a single cadastral information system using Bentley Map

Tax Evaders

Catching tax evaders by recognizing areas of wealth such as swimming pools

Tax Havens

Sheltering tax through tax havens then putting it all on a map

Tax Parcel Viewer

Assembling tax parcels and zoning information with color schemes on a web viewer

Tele-medicine

Quantifying populations and health care available for patients and health care providers

Telemetry

Collecting GPS locations from collared mammals for storing, displaying, and analyzing their coordinates

Temperature

Mapping out the temperature with multi-dimensional NetCDF which includes dimensions of latitude, longitude, altitude, and time

Temperature Change

Measuring the effects of greenhouse gases as the main culprit of temperature change by mapping temperature at levels above the Earth’s surface

Tennis Analytics

Dominating your tennis opponent with in-depth spatial analytics

TerraClip

Clipping data like you’ve never clipped before

Terrorism Search

Finding Osama Bin Laden using remote sensing imagery with biogeographic theory (distance-decay theory and island biogeography theory)

Texture Classification

Digging up the dirt on soil texture through the USDA soil texture classification

The Financial Times

Utilizing tools like Mapbox to create elegant base maps with all the right details

The Thünen Model

Distributing the production themselves in space incorporating costs of transport and factor mobility

Thematic Mapping

Thematic mapping of poverty with equal intervals, quantiles, natural breaks, and unique schemes

Time Zones

Representing time zones around the world

Tissot Circles

Characterizing distortion from map projections (Indicatrix Mapper QGIS Plugin)

Topographic Position Index

Classifying the landscape into slope position and land-form category

Topographic Ruggedness Index

Estimating terrain heterogeneity which is useful for predicting which habitats are used by species

Topographic Wetness Index

Combining slope and upstream area to give you the relative measure of wetness as the first place where the ground saturates, begins to pool, and generates runoff

Toponymy

Giving each place, park, river, and feature of interest a name

Topoview Slider Publishing maps with a slider style map to see how an area looked before development and how it changes over time

Tornado Alley

Finding patterns of historical tornadoes in Tornado Alley

Tornado Warning Siren

Safeguarding residents with effective siren coverage in tornado alley

Tourism Dollars

Tracking the exports of purchased goods and services using desire lines

Tourist Map

Plotting out landmarks in tourist maps

Toyota Vehicle Crowd Sourcing

Piecing together hyper-precise and up-to-date maps using the Toyota vehicle’s GPS and camera

Trade Area

Delineating the geographic area where a certain percentage of a store’s customers live

Traditional Knowledge

Preserving cultural beliefs and their associated location in a spatial database

Traffic Congestion

Alleviating traffic congestion by making the best possible use of the existing transportation network and gathering data to improve decisions for modifying the network

Traffic Sign Deterioration

Assessing the effects of air pollutants on traffic sign deterioration

Traffic Violations

Collecting and mapping traffic incidents to assess if units should be spread out or concentrated in certain locations

Traffic Ways

Seeing the world as only traffic ways

Trail Planning

Valuing cells to pave out a path that accumulates the least ‘cost’ from a source to a destination

Trajectories and Magnitude

Using vectors (U and V) to depict nautical wind speed and direction

Transit Ridership

Collecting statistics on how many passengers ride transit in a given neighborhood

Transmission Line Design

Considering slope, soils, and land use for factoring into transmission line design

Transmission Line Monitoring

Monitoring overhead transmission towers with active and passive satellite data

Transportation Master Plan

Planning future highways and roads by looking at the growth of communities and traffic demand

Travel Mode Detection

Detecting travel mode (walk, car, bus, subway, and commuter rail) from a multi-modal transportation network using GIS and GPS in New York City

Travelling Salesman

Constructing efficient journeys that visit any number of points on a network in no particular order

Tree Encroachment

Reducing the risk of falling trees with LiDAR in search of dead and dying trees near utility lines

Tree Lines

Drawing tree lines in the Canadian Arctic

Triangulation

Using trigonometry to measure the angles in a triangle formed by three survey control points

Trip Generation/Production

Estimating the number of trips that are produced or originate in each zone of a study area

Trip Planning

Adventuring around for your next road trip with pit stops and offbeat using suggested sites

Tsunami Damage

Identifying high-risk areas for tsunami damage

Turbine Visibility

Discerning visibility of wind for potential changes on a landscape, such as the effects of adding wind farms, or the addition of a new building to an urban area

Turn Restrictions

Adding restrictions to U-turns in a network dataset

Tycho

Mapping Tycho, the youngest moon crater

UFO Sightings

Speculating UFO sightings with proportional symbols with over 90,000 reports dating back to 1905

UPS Parcel Delivery

Seeing every driver in near-real-time to study the safety and find shorter routes

UPS Telematics

Monitor performance and safety of package cars Safety including seatbelt usage, speed, and whether or not a door was shut

US Army Corps of Engineers

Delivering vital public and military engineering services keeping geospatial information in mind

USGS Earth Explorer

Opening up satellite data to the world for free

UV Exposure

Exposing the risks of harmful UV rays with birth rates

Underground Utilities

Penetrating the ground with radar for precise locations of underground gas, water, electrical, and telephone utilities

Undersea Environmental Impacts

Assessing potential impacts of the undersea environment as oil and gas activity increases

Underwater Grasses

Diving into the ocean with satellite imagery and delineating their extents

Underwater Street View

Submarining as if you’re underwater in Google Earth’s underwater street view

Underwriting

Accelerating underwriting by sharing enterprise geographic data with risk factors, customer interaction, and economic conditions

United Nations Peacekeeping

Employing the necessary humanitarian aid and developing peace in war-torn countries

Unlawful Landlords

Capturing thermal signatures of illegal tenants in sheds because renting out sheds is illegal in London, England

Upstream/Downstream

Finding the origin of water from a specific point

Uranium Depletion

Mapping depleted uranium and preventing it from getting into the wrong hands

Urban Model Development Feasibility

Evaluating multiple land use scenarios; testing and refining transportation plans; producing small-area concept plans, and modeling complex regional issues with Envision Tomorrow (Envision Tomorrow)

Urban Traffic Air Pollution

Recording urban traffic air pollution and quality through 3D visualization in planar and non-planar views

Urban and Regional Information Systems Association (URISA)

Solving challenges in local and national governments through GIS and other information technologies

Ushahidi Haiti Project

Plotting out crisis reports during the Haiti earthquake for humanitarian/tech workers aid with crowdsourcing

Utility Pole Replacement

Obtaining all the information when replacing utility poles and other business operations (Asset ID, construction date, overhead/underground conductor, and conductors it supports with the number of wire and cable segments

Utility Poles

Inventorying utility poles with important attributes like overhead/underground, number of lines, and date of construction

Vegetation Encroachment

Overlaying LiDAR data with transmission to see where and how much vegetation is encroaching

Vegetation Erosion

Finding the dominant vegetation types dependent on aspect and enhancing erosion modeling using aspect and vegetation to see how slopes will erode over time along with precipitation, temperature, and growing periods

Vegetation Indices

Using remote sensing vegetation indices like NDVI, CTVI, NRVI, and PVI to monitor vegetation change throughout time

Vegetation Potential

Analyzing tree growth & distribution of vegetation with west/east-facing and aspect data

Venus

Mapping the altimetry, shaded relief, and geology of Venus

Versatile Soil Moisture Budget

Simulating soil moisture conditions of cropland areas taking into account evapotranspiration, rainfall, runoff, and other factors

Vertical Point Profile

Viewing the vertical profile of 3D LiDAR points to better understand tree structure and height

Vessel Tracking

Plotting automatic identification system (AIS) points on a map in real-time

Viewshed

Understanding the impacts of how a transmission line would look using viewsheds

Virtual Arctic

Exploring the Arctic in Google Street View without getting out of your chair

Virtual Reality

Simulating military and training in a 3D environment using GIS data

Virtual Travel

Seeing your destination before physically being there

Vital Records

Recording of events, such as births and deaths that are maintained by public health agencies

Volcanic Ash

Rendering volcanic ash clouds in 3D for their dispersion of spillages underwater

Volcano Activity

Monitoring thermal emission from the volcano’s summit in Iceland using Landsat’s Thermal Infrared

Volunteered Geographic Information (VGI)

Harnessing tools to create, assemble, and disseminate geographic data provided voluntarily by individuals (Citizens as Sensors

Voronoi Diagram

Discovering that Mataveri Airport in Easter Island is the most remote airport in the world with the Voronoi airport proximity map

Voting Patterns

Reviewing how electoral districts voted at the polls

Vulnerability to Natural Hazards

Deselecting hazard-prone land for more resilient communities through smart land planning

Wa-Tor Predator-Prey Simulation

Simulating ecological predator-prey populations with randomness and rule-based responses

Walgreens Prescription Mapping

Mapping and analyzing influenza based on the prescriptions customers are making to respond to the need of users more efficiently

Walkability

Mapping out hot spots and cold spots with walkability and kernel density

Walkshed

Calculating walking times using Tobler’s hiking function based on slope (QGIS Walking Time Plugin) Walkshed Web GIS

War Maps

Familiarizing oneself with the enemy defenses and territory by mapping strategic attacks

Waste Collection

Defining areas of waste collection, and finding suitable rounds of service when given a waste or transfer station

Water Distribution

Tracking flow, pressure, and chemical concentrations for nodes, valves, pipes, and tanks in a water distribution modeling software

Water Flow on Mars

Hillshading the Mars Digital Elevation Model to augment legibility and understand where rivers may have flowed and oceans flourished

Water Main Breaks

Knowing exactly where water lines and shut-off valves are located, prior to work

Water Retention Capacity

Determining water retention capacity for a different type of soils and topographic characteristics

Water Shortage

Modelling water shortage in California

Water Stress

Balancing the ratio of local withdrawal (demand) over the available water (supply)

Water Wells

Developing constraints for water wells such as quality, quantity, stressed aquifers, and contamination for drinking

Water Yields and Scarcity

Estimating water yields and scarcity at a sub-watershed level to calculate hydroelectric potential to the year 2100

Wave Heights

Replicating ocean waves by factoring size, choppiness, and wind

Wave Reduction

Curtailing wave energy by mapping and building up coral reefs and other coastal habitats as a nature-based solution

Waze Real-Time Driving

Saving time and money on your commute as drivers share real-time traffic information and road alerts with each other with Waze

Weather Anomalies

Tracking weather events in a spatial database such as snow in the Sahara desert of southern Algeria

Weather Stations

Obtaining the latitude and longitude positions of weather stations around the world

Weather Warnings

Feeding out live warnings with physical locations from National Weather Service

Weeds

Storing weeds and herbicide dosage in a database to manage effectiveness and control measures

Well & Volumetric Data Visualization

Creating powerful, fast, customized 3D models with a fusion of geologic data, GIS data, well/borehole data, and point cloud data

Wendy’s Restaurant

Prospecting optimal locations for a Wendy’s restaurant

Wetland Inventory

Delineating wetlands by types and function

Whale Tracker

Studying the movement and migration patterns of whales around the Hawaiian Islands

Whale Tracking

Stalking pigmy killer, sperm, beaked and false killer whales in the Pacific Ocean with online mapping applications

What-if Scenarios

Determining higher likelihood events based on historical data and spatial analysis

Wikimapia

Describing the world in online, editable maps and mashups with free data available for you to experiment with and create unique applications

Wildfire Rescue

Saving lives through real-time wildfire satellite monitoring

Wildfire Simulation

Automating the spread of wildfire in time using the 3D virtual workspace of Capaware

Wildlife Tracking

Logging the species richness of marine mammals like whales, seals, walruses and narwhals, and seabirds or waterfowl in the Arctic

Wind Farm Noise

Assessing the population and number of affected buildings affected by the noise of a wind farm

Wind Farm Site Selection

Selecting suitable wind farms by understanding wind power, transmission capacity, road access, and developable land

Witchcraft Accusers

Gathering the geographic location of the accusers and accused during the Salem witch trials to show inter-family feuds were a strong case for the trials instead of hysteria among young girls

World Animal Protection

Becoming more resilient to future disasters

World Bank Economic Statistics

Slicing and dicing raw financial data from the World Bank

World Economic Outlook

Projecting the future economy and key macroeconomic indicators with the World Economic Outlook

World Languages

Mapping the world’s languages through social media and micro-blogging platforms

World Power Types

Seeing how much of the world is being powered by fossil fuels, nuclear and renewable sources

World Religions

Mapping the intricate details of religions internationally

World Trade Center

Responding to terrorist attacks including real-time data delivery, victim tracking, facility and resource vulnerability, data availability, implementation, environmental exposure, and air monitoring (World Trade Center GIS Response)

World Traffic

Helping drivers get to destinations efficiently with traffic conditions around the world

World’s Busiest Airports

Surfing the world’s top 25 busiest airports with the Esri Global Crossroads Story Map

Yellowstone

Putting all the pieces together in a GIS database at Yellowstone National Park including its geologic past, geyser recharge, and seismic activity

Zip Code Maps

Splicing the nation with geo-located zip/postal codes and Mapping them out

Zonal Statistics

Summing, averaging, or finding the range, minimum or maximum in a given range

gvSIG Viewport

Panning along a linear pipeline corridor in 3D with an overview viewport to know the location in public consultation

qgSurf

Interpreting geomorphological analyses based on their surface and orientation