Tourism and Geographic Information System (GIS) – Mapping & Promoting Places

 

GIS is very encompassing. Various industries can use GIS in different ways; to help them answer a spatial inquiry, to expand the reach of their business, and even to communicate and engage with the public. And in recent years, we’ve been seeing how government agencies are also starting to use GIS to improve public service and develop innovative ways to promote public engagement. The tourism industry is one of the primary segments of the government that can benefit a lot with the help of GIS. One of the basic functions of GIS and mapping is answering where things are. And this is very helpful especially for industries like tourism wherein, people are always interested to know where the beautiful sceneries are, how to get there and almost all questions, big or small, about a certain place.

Maps and tourism are inseparable. Maps perform a valuable function throughout the entire tourism process. They are a source of inspiration and daydreaming about future travel destinations. Maps may be used by tourists in the decision-making stage, to visualize and imagine potential destinations, as they provide valuable information about climate, culture, vegetation, and terrain, for example. They may be used in the trip-planning phase, to decide how to travel to, from and within the selected destination, where to stay, which attractions to visit, and even which neighborhood or regions to avoid. They are used during travel, to assist with navigation and orientation. And maps may be used after traveling, to remember places visited, or to help with post-trip visualization and reminiscence.

Furthermore, it is proposed to give training to Assistant Directors (ADs) Tourism so as to map important and necessary destinations speedily, like hospitals, hotels, tourist places, bridges, archaeological sites, service stations etc. of Gilgit-Baltistan. As per the views of GIS expert five hours training is more than sufficient to train ADs to learn and to add destinations in Google Maps. Moreover, it is suggested to buy GPS, which amounting to Rs. 50,000/ each, to find the exact and correct latitude and longitude of the destinations.