Accelerate Decision Making With GIS

Accelerate Decision Making with GIS

What Is GIS?

When people ask me what I do, and I say “GIS,” there is naturally a follow-up question – “What is GIS?” For those of you who are doing GIS, I know you have heard this question, and maybe, like me, you kind of dread the question. I generally take a big breath, pause, think, and then say something like – “Do you know Google Earth?” or “it runs the navigation unit in your car” Why that pause? Well, you are probably mulling in your mind, determining if you want to launch into a ten minute talk, discussing how layers of data are built into maps, but are still connected to information back in the database, how you use it to prevent flooding, optimize service locations, direct traffic, and on and one. At this point, if you went down that path, the person who asked you is looking at you with a blank stare. Then you take a big breath, pause, and say “Do you know Google Earth?” That’s when people smile and say – “yeah – that’s cool!” And in our professional lives, we tend to go with the “cool” factor too. But that cool factor really is the power of GIS exclaimed in a very simple way – people are responding to the power of GIS.

The title of this conference really can sum it up. GIS is a tool that accelerates and improves decision making!

How can GIS accelerate decision making? And just as importantly, how can it improve it as well? Let’s break this down.

GIS Improves Decision Making

I looked up decision making. Wikipedia writes that “decision making is a process leading to the selection of a course of action among variations.” If this is a simple decision, like whether to jump off a cliff or not, then GIS really doesn’t need to be applied. However, most decisions are complex, involving multiple factors. This is where GIS comes in to improve and simplify decision making by making the consequences of decisions easier.

In my experience, this requires relevant, accurate data. The better the data, the more accurately it is presented, the better the decision. I like to summarize this into the 4 phases of data:

Data Raw information – for example the number of people Information Transformed data, for example the number of people in poverty Intelligence Understood information, i.e. the changes in the number of people in poverty over time Wisdom Understood consequences, i.e. the impacts of specific projects on the number of people in poverty.

of 6 In my experience, especially in government, which is a data rich environment, it is very difficult to move from data all the way to wisdom.

GIS, besides its “cool” factor, is an important decision making tool because it can assist this transition from data to wisdom. GIS is not the only tool, but if used correctly, GIS provides a unique, powerful way to filter data and information to enhance decision making.

Obviously this unique filter is geography. GIS provides an added dimension to any decision. In the past, decisions were made upon variables such as “who”, “why,” “when”, and “how much.” GIS adds “where,” an incredibly valuable piece information. This is an added method for analyzing the various courses of action, and picking the one that works the best.

People like to see their information visually. It helps everyone understand problem and what you are trying to present. GIS, which is both visual, and intuitive, transforms data into wisdom, enhancing the decision making process.

GIS Accelerates Decision Making

GIS accelerates decision making through its clarity in the presentation of information. A map always presents information in a completely different way than the tables, charts, and reports that have been used in the past, providing a completely new picture of information to decision makers. This new picture allows comparisons and validation (or repudiation) of theories. So if decision making is a process of selecting a course of action among variations, then GIS can reduce the number of variations that folks need to look at by using a geographic filter to exclude some of the variations. Reducing the number of variations makes the decision that much faster and easier to make.

In order to consistently provide this capability, however, a number of current obstacles for GIS need to be overcome. In the County we are working to overcome them, and you will need to as well.

Accuracy and integrity

GIS, like any source of information, needs to present accurate information in order to enhance decision making. Decisions made on bad information are often worse than no decisions at all.

Accuracy requirements are accelerating, and moving more and more toward engineering standards. How many of you used the original TIGER file? Jagged lines, off by more than 200 feet in some places? When GPS first came out, it was within 10-20 meters of its real location. It would have to be “fixed” back at the office. But even with all of these issues, it worked very well! TIGER is a good example of this.

of 6 TIGER stands for “Topologically Integrated Geographic Encoding and Referencing” The key to TIGER’s success was in its first two words – Topologically Integrated. In short – it didn’t matter so much whether it was spatially inaccurate – it was all inaccurate in the same way, so information wasn’t lost. This is one of the reasons why I see TIGER as one of the main reasons for the success of GIS – it was accurate enough to enhance and speed up decision making.

Its accuracy flaws have become more and more pronounced, and caused more and more problems since its release in the 1990’s. Why? Because other data that was more accurate did not integrate with it. In many ways, this has led to the birth of companies and data sources such as Thomas Brothers, GDT, NavTEQ, and TeleAtlas, which have now become standard for most commercial applications.

As you create data, its accuracy and integrity are critical. Decision makers cannot think about spatial accuracy, they need to know that their decisions are based upon facts that are consistent. If accuracy is an issue, or needs to be dealt with during the decision making process, it will be much slower than it needs to be.

I will get back to some of the initiatives the County is working on in order to improve the accuracy of the data it uses and shares.

Speed up delivery

My mantra in my work as the GIO is “distribution, distribution, distribution.” You can have the most accurate, valuable, important GIS information, critical to the decision making process, but if it cannot be included when and where it needs to be, GIS will not be able to play its role in accelerating the process.

In the past, this was generally a technical issue. Floppy disks could not hold a parcel database, much less a 1.5 Tb aerial dataset – do you remember the issues with backup tapes, their formats, and readers? Now we have email, the internet, 100 Mb/second connections, CDs and DVDs . Basically, if you didn’t have the data already, you would have to figure out some other, less accurate method for providing decision support.

As well, computer systems are less complex. At first I used UNIX workstation, to PCs, and now to the internet via ArcIMS and ArcGIS Server. The best method for distribution is via web applications. Everyone already knows the buttons, and people expect not to need training before they use a program.

GIS is now entering the realm of true distribution via web services that combine services in a flexible, generic, way – think Google Earth, Yahoo Maps, and Mashups. You don’t even need to know where the information is coming from.

The days of a “map request” being put into a queue for processing are disappearing. Now the main thrust of GIS is to develop information for addition to “map services” that

of 6 provide a wide range of applications that are combined from different map services. This is a sea change in the way that GIS is presented.

A couple of examples I like to point out are http://housingmaps.com and http://chicagocrime.org

Being able to find the best data from the best source without needing a personal contact, license, and especially, being able to combine and provide that information over a medium (the internet) that does not require specialized software like MapInfo or ArcGIS puts the information in the hands of decision makers whenever and wherever they want it.

This flexibility in combining information on maps is the final method for using GIS to accelerate decision making. It no longer matters where the information is coming from, as long as it is kept up to date. Even the public is getting into the GIS data creation world, and this can become a huge resource for certain types of information. That is a topic for another day.

Data Sharing

What does this mean for GIS professionals? The days of “data silos” are really breaking down – whereas the days of “data sharing” are here. One of the County’s main problems is the inability to share data we want to share with agencies that need it because we are hindered by legacy licensing. Imagine what the public would say if emergency response to an earthquake was hindered by the fact that the County fire department did not have GIS data that the city fire department did. Would the fact that it was licensed really be accepted?

Summary

In summary - I have noted that “decision making is a process leading to the selection of a course of action among variations.” GIS can help accelerate the decision making process because it provides a unique filter, geography, that can reduce the number of choices in a course of action. It helps decision makers quickly move from data to information to intelligence to wisdom, increasing decision speed and accuracy.

What decision makers need from GIS is accuracy, consistency, and confidence in what it is showing. As well, sharing and distributing GIS information as freely and quickly as possible will reduce the cost, increase the value, and increase the speed with which GIS can be made part of any decision making process, accelerating decision making with GIS.

County specific projects.

I’d like to go through just a few of the projects that the County is working on that I think represent our thinking.

of 6 Enterprise GIS Repository

Inside the County we are building an Enterprise GIS Repository of County information in order to speed the distribution both internally and externally. A central point of contact for GIS professionals and the public to access the highest quality data, services, and expertise is an incredible simple and effective way to speed up the delivery of GIS data and technologies to decision makers, accelerating decision making.

See http://gis.lacounty.gov

Service Oriented Architecture

As a strategy, the Enterprise GIS Repository is being developed around the concept of services. Where good address information is great, providing a service to access the information is better. Our goal is that within 2 years the County will start providing a list of services tied to the support of decision makers that can be used to integrate with other services, including non-GIS services, to put information and intelligence in the hands of people who need it.

Los Angeles Regional Imagery Acquisition Consortium (LAR-IAC)

For those of you familiar with LAR-IAC, it was a countywide consortium, which at the end consisted of over 30 cities, 6 county departments, and 3 state and local agencies, to license high resolution digital aerial products (color, infrared, and oblique imagery, 3 elevation data types, and contours). The accuracy is exceptional, within 2 feet of the real location.

By collaborating, each partner received all 7 products for the price they would have paid in general for each one. A greater benefit is that this is the basemap for all of these agencies to align their data together – a method for data integration and sharing in the future.

Countywide Address Management System

A critical data layer is an address layer. The County’s goal is simple: to be able to find every address that exists in the County. Imagine the benefits for dispatching, mailing, planning, census counts, and many others.

With our success with the LAR-IAC, we are extending the notion of collaboration. The County has built a data model and editing system that is in the final stages of development. Once complete, we invite cities and other agencies to provide addresses and begin editing their address information inside of this system. Agencies will be able to download and use the data for their own use. This allows the County to focus on the Unincorporated Areas while cities, which have more expertise in their jurisdiction, focus on their own cities.

of 6 This will again move toward a single address layer that can be used across jurisdictions with confidence, speeding the delivery of address information and use of addresses in GIS.

Spatial Data Infrastructure

Both the State and the Federal Government are working to create a Spatial Data Infrastructure that will support the needs of emergency response, planning, and data integration. I am working to ensure that our information, where possible, is made a part of this infrastructure, to support collaboration with other counties and agencies, and to generate best practices and support the needs of the state and federal government.