What is GIS?

A GIS, or geographic information system, stores, analyses and maps data tied to places. Wikipedia defines it as "integrated computer hardware and software that store, manage, analyze, edit, output, and visualize geographic data". It holds shapes, such as points, lines and polygons, with attributes attached, and answers spatial questions: what lies within, next to or across what.

In a timber business

The shapes that matter, such as stands, blocks and property lines, only become useful for business questions when they share identifiers with the business records. A stand number in the GIS has to be the same stand number on the contract, the load tickets and the payments. Where identifiers drift apart, a map and a ledger can disagree about the same stand without anyone noticing.

Coordinate systems

Data exchanged between systems also has to agree on its coordinate system. The GeoJSON standard, RFC 7946, published in 2016, fixes one: "a geographic coordinate reference system, using the World Geodetic System 1984 (WGS 84) datum". Its authors removed the option to use others, because using different coordinate reference systems "has proven to have interoperability issues". A boundary in one system read as another can land metres away.

Precision matters less than people think. The standard notes that "6 decimal places (a default common in, e.g., sprintf) amounts to about 10 centimeters", which it called "well within that of current GPS systems" in 2016. More digits add file size, not accuracy. Boundary error in forestry usually comes from how a line was surveyed or digitised, in metres.

What it isn't

A GIS is more than a map viewer, and it isn't a forest inventory, though it often holds one. Maps used only for display need none of the linking above.

What to check

Check that every stand, block and property has one identifier used in both the GIS and the business systems, and that shapes are updated when boundaries change. When exchanging data, state the coordinate system.

Quarri for forest management is built around how a forest operation runs, from the cruise to the settled account.

Quarri is an AI-native data platform for the timber supply chain. It connects buying, production, sales and inventory for forest management, sawmill, wood products and pulp, paper and packaging operators.