187 Throughout the world, GIS plays a central role in sustainability efforts by providing a comprehensive ecosystem for integrating and visualizing diverse environmental data. It enables stakeholders to make informed decisions by mapping and analyzing various sustainability factors. With the use of GIS, information on land use, biodiversity, water resources, and energy consumption can be overlaid on infrastructure assets and analyzed to identify patterns, relationships, and areas for improvement. The white oak trees needed to make bourbon barrels have always been hard to find. White oak trees play a crucial role in bourbon production because of their unique cellular structure that permits an interactive exchange within the barrel, impacting the beverage’s color and flavor. Twenty years ago, finding the perfect white oak was as much an art as it was a science, relying heavily on the expertise and knowledge of experienced foresters. The introduction of GIS technology and a “bourbon barrel app” has significantly improved the process of locating these trees. The technology has empowered foresters to make better decisions about where to build a sawmill, based on factors such as the number and quality of local white oaks, available road and river transport, and the potential workforce. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has leveraged GIS technology to map its growth and quality of life over the past 50 years. The UAE’s Federal Competitiveness and Statistics Centre (FCSC) used GIS technology to measure the country’s progress from a predominantly oil-based economy to a more diversified one. The technology was used to modernize workflows and visualize the statistical indicators gathered for sectors such as health, education, the environment, and the economy. “We started by collecting detailed facilities datasets from ministries, like health and education facilities, and geoenabling statistics to map more than 70 national indicators,” said Marwa Elkabbany, the GIS expert with FCSC. The alarming rate of global pollinator decline has made habitat restoration a conservation priority, and Commonwealth Edison (ComEd) has been a longtime leader in doing its part by preserving native prairie habitats around its transmission lines. GIS technology has been instrumental in protecting the habitat of the endangered Hine’s emerald dragonfly. The company used GIS maps to guide the relocation of some of its electric transmission towers, ensuring that the insects were not harmed during their dormant period. “Everything is marked in GIS so that our crews know exactly where they can and can’t go,” said Tom Ringhofer, manager of transmission vegetation management at ComEd. Sustainability Organic Valley, a national organic food brand and cooperative, has developed personalized data-driven reports and images that indicate the health of each paddock where dairy cows graze. The company provides this crucial information to farmers for important management decisions, such as how fast or slow to rotate the cows or when to cut grass and make hay. “Many farmers have their standard rotation and adjust based on what they’re seeing, but it can be difficult and time consuming to visually cover all those acres,” said Phil Marty, GIS administrator at Organic Valley. Now, farmers complement conventional wisdom with insights from imagery to make datadriven decisions that have produced notable increases in pasture utilization. Starker Forests, a family-owned land company, has been using GIS technology for decades to map holdings. However, the company has recently moved to a more collaborative approach, sharing data about the forest and it's work. This transition was driven by changes in legislation, requiring forest landowners to share activities in near real time. “With the dashboard, the person responsible for each step can look and see when each process will be done for each unit so they can make sure a contractor is scheduled to move in when the prior work is finished,” said Rick Allen, reforestation forester at Starker. In addition to tracking the progress of its goals, Starker also uses GIS to monitor and report on actions the company takes for sustainability. It aims to improve tracking of sustainability metrics, such as seedling survival and growth, silvicultural treatments for young stands, and wildlife projects. This allows the foresters to identify areas for improvement and plan for future generations. “We identified early on that what we needed was more integration, moving from a culture of independent work by 12 people with 12 different workflows to a single repository where we can see the status of the forest and all our work,” Allen said. Increasingly, precision farmers use geoenabled smart devices and cloud computing to understand how no-till, cover crops, rotational grazing, and other sustainable practices contribute to better soil health, biodiversity, and CO2 sequestration. Incorporating the power of location intelligence into regenerative farm management practices helps farmers gain new spatial insights, improve critical decision-making, and create more balanced outcomes.
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