A Geographic Information System/Spatial Information Management (GIS) is a collection of software and geographic data for capturing, managing, analyzing, and displaying all forms of geographically referenced information. In a conservative sense, it is a computer system that is capable of integrating, storing, editing, analyzing, sharing, and displaying geographically referenced information. In a more generic sense, GIS is a tool that allows users to create interactive queries (user-created searches), analyze the spatial information, edit data and maps, and present the results of all these operations.
GIS, as an information integration tool, has a wide range of application. The possibility of integrating spatial and alphanumeric data has made it widely applicable to a variety of fields. Recently, there has been a growing interest among organizations to use GIS to enhance the decision making processes, at both strategic as well as operational levels. GIS addresses many information needs of the decision makers. It helps them leverage their spatial data more efficiently, by visually bringing together relationships among customers, suppliers, and competitors.
GIS constitutes a powerful new technology that can address many of the information needs of the decision makers. In the manufacturing vertical, GIS is becoming more prevalent in both day-to-day and strategic decision-making activities. At present, manufacturers’ utilization of GIS has moved beyond logical needs of manufacturing such as site selection, material control, scheduling etc. With drastic improvements in the GIS related technologies and applications, GIS is becoming an integral part of the decision making process for the manufacturers.
Manufacturers have started to consider GIS as a mainstream technology for store planning and operations. Vertical specific solutions are expected to have a wider application and ease of use. Therefore, manufacturers’ interest in industry specific GIS solutions is increasing. Currently, availability of vertical specific GIS solutions from traditional and small vendors is on the rise.
The report by TechNavio Insights forecasts the size of the Geographic Information System (GIS) market in the manufacturing industry over the period 2008-2012. It segments the GIS market into various geographic regions (representing the market size for each of these regions). Further, it discusses the various GIS categories, key market trends, drivers and challenges of the Geographic Information System (GIS) market in the manufacturing industry, and profiles some of the key vendors of this industry.
