Think Tank Outlines Benefits of GIS to Government

Washington, D.C.-based think tank GovLoop has released a new report outlining the benefits of GIS to all levels of government.  GIS, it argues, is at the heart of best practices for governments in five strategic areas:  emergency management, citizen engagement, health and human services, environmental policy, and crime prevention.

GovLoop’s report is in the form of a guide that provides examples of best practices and resulting benefits to government.  These include: increased cost savings and efficiency (case study on using GIS to cut cost on fleet schedules), improved decisionmaking (especially through visualization of complex spatial phenomena), increased communication (“[maps] are a type of language that improves communication between different teams, departments, disciplines, professional fields, organizations, and the public”), better recordkeeping (especially on properties), and managing geographically.

The GIST certificate and MS programs at USC are designed to prepare students to take advantage of the growth in GIS applications such as those described in the GovLoop report.

The report is available for free download at: http://www.govloop.com/geographic-information-systems-guide.

GovLoop aims to inspire public sector professionals by serving as the knowledge network for government. It connects nearly 60,000 embers, fostering cross-government collaboration, solving problems and advancing government careers.