This technology helps businesses and organizations better understand a location or community, contextualize local and global issues, assess and mitigate risks, and ultimately make smarter decisions about how to move forward. If a client is looking to expand their footprint into new locations, for example, our GIS team can do a deep dive into potential relocation sites in order to get a detailed picture of the communities that will be impacted most. Beyond this commercial application, though, and beyond its ability to communicate demographic data, the ability of GIS to tell a story of historical patterns and relationships is one of its most profound implications.
The way we use GIS can have great impact on the way we visualize, understand, and address issues of racial discrimination and bias, for example. GIS has shown to be a powerful tool in showing the impact of government policies and programs on specific segments of the population. From tracking police violence, to mapping the ways in which schools have been and continue to be segregated in the U.S., or making new visual representations of historical policies and practices that have disproportionately impacted communities of color, the application of this data can be a crucial tool for addressing ongoing social inequities. As we move forward, it is important that we continue to ask ourselves how we can use spatial analysis tools to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion.
While the discipline of geographic information science stretches back to the 1960s, in the last two decades (particularly since Google technology helped mapping reach a wider audience), GIS has shown itself to be a powerful tool with wide-ranging applicability and tremendous business value across a number of industries. With our expanded digital technology services, Ichor will continue to explore how GIS can help inform equity-based strategies and initiatives, while providing deep insight into the key issues impacting the businesses and communities we serve.