1960 to 75 – GIS Pioneering

1960 to 75 – GIS Pioneering

The early 1960 to 1980s was really the time period of GIS pioneering.

The pieces were coming together with advancements in technology:

Map graphics as outputs using line printers.Advances in data storage with mainframe computers.Recording coordinates as data input.

These initial developments in the world of computing is what propelled GIS its next step forward. But what GIS really needed was a brilliant mind to put the puzzle pieces together.

Enter Roger Tomlinson – the father of GIS.

It was during Roger Tomlinson’s tenure with the Canadian government in the 1960s when he initiated, planned and directed the development of the Canadian Geographic System (CGIS). This was a key time in the history of GIS because many consider CGIS as the roots of Geographic Information Systems. CGIS was unique because it adopted a layer approach system to map handling.

Great discoveries and improvements invariably involve the cooperation of many minds. I may be given credit for having blaze the trail of GIS. But when I look at the subsequent development, I feel the credit is due to others rather than just myself.
-Roger Tomlinson

Because of the vast amount of territory Canada occupies, the idea for a Canadian Land Inventory was developed in 1964. But it wasn’t until 1971 that it became fully operational.

The Canadian Land Inventory used soil, drainage and climate characteristics to determine land capability for crop types and forested areas. It quickly recognized that accurate and relevant data was vital to land planning and decision making. Over the years CGIS had been modified and improved to keep pace with technology.

The CGIS wasn’t the only group adopting GIS:

The US Census Bureau were early adopters of some of the core principles of GIS. It was the pioneering work by the US Census Bureau that led to the digital input of the 1970 Census using the data format GBF-DIME (Geographic Base File – Dual Independent Map Encoding).

GBF-DIME became a file format that supported digital data input, error fixing and even choropleth mapping. Using this format, the US Census Bureau began to digitize Census boundaries, roads and urban areas. This was a huge step forward in the history of GIS.

The Ordnance Survey in the UK also started their routine topographic map development. To this very date, the Ordnance Survey is still producing many different GIS data products including every house, every fence, and every stream in every single part of Great Britain.

At this point in the history of GIS, it was in its pioneering stage. It was still on its training-wheels beginning to be fostered by only a select few national agencies around the world.