What is Cloud GIS and how is it used by infrastructure companies?

Cloud GIS is a way of accessing, managing and sharing geographic information online, rather than relying entirely on GIS software and data held on individual computers or internal servers.

For infrastructure companies, this solves a big problem. Spatial information is needed by far more people than the specialist GIS team. Engineers, project managers, contractors, asset managers and other stakeholders may all need to see where assets are, understand a project area or interrogate information about a site – and a cloud GIS platform makes that information accessible through a web browser. Instead of sending large GIS files between teams, organisations can create shared maps containing the data relevant to a project, network or asset portfolio.

That might include existing infrastructure alongside Ordnance Survey mapping, aerial imagery, property information, environmental constraints, survey data or proposed works. Bringing those layers together creates a geographic view of the project that can be accessed by the people who need it.

For infrastructure and utility organisations, cloud GIS can therefore support:

• Asset and network management

• Project planning and coordination

• Access to mapping for non-GIS specialists

• Collaboration between internal and external teams

• Sharing project information across different locations

• Reducing duplicated datasets and disconnected project maps

It can be particularly useful on large infrastructure projects, where several firms may be working with spatial information at the same time. A shared online environment makes it easier for teams to work from a consistent geographic picture without requiring every user to become a GIS specialist.

Cloud GIS doesn’t replace desktop GIS in every situation. GIS professionals may still need specialist software for complex spatial analysis, data preparation and modelling. The advantage is that the results of that work can become much more accessible to the wider project team.

Idox Geospatial helps infrastructure and utility organisations make geospatial information easier to access and use, including through cloud-based mapping and managed data services. The objective isn’t simply to put GIS in a browser: it’s to make valuable spatial information available to more of the people making decisions about assets, networks and projects.

How Emapsite can help

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