SEPTEMBER - 2023CIOAPPLICATIONS.COM8CXO InsightsIN MY VIEWMAY WINFIELD, GLOBAL DIRECTOR OF COMMERCIAL, LEGAL AND DIGITAL RISKS, BURO HAPPOLDG eographic Information Systems, or more commonly known as GIS, allow an increased awareness and understanding of our world by drawing on the various attributes and available data of a region or area. Diverse but vast volumes of collated data facilitate analysis of complex ecosystems at scale, thereby enabling more informed decision-making on critical events and generally throughout the lifecycle of a project.However, how is GIS implemented and used in practice? What are the practical challenges faced?Examples of Implementing GISGIS gives us the ability to provide insights from a project's very conception, by establishing baselines and high-level constraints to inform project planning and design. The information can be used to help to avoid negative environmental impacts - for example by enabling building locations and lighting designs that protect important wildlife sites, (turtle nesting beaches in one case) from lighting impacts from development. GIS can also identify opportunity areas for things like eco-tourism, helping to create more inspiring and environmentally-sustainable tourism destinations. Buro Happold has used GIS THE CHALLENGES OF GISto guide developments on a regional scale, such as the AlUla project in Saudi Arabia where it contributed to the regional planning of the site. (The AlUla Framework for Inclusive Community Development through Tourism was recognised and endorsed by the Leaders' Declaration at the recent 2020 G20 Riyadh Summit to facilitate the travel and tourism sector's recovery from the pandemic).Other application areas for the use of geospatial data collated in GIS processes, include The Smart Energy Digital Twins ­ Communiheat project in the UK (https://www.burohappold.com/projects/communiheat/). Buro Happold, with strategic partners, have developed a Smart Energy Digital Twin for a village made up of 700 homes to enable them to switch from fossil fuels to electric heating. This could become the blueprint for further millions of homes, thereby achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. The process involved using diverse datasets from different stakeholders and the result May Winfield
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