Gist takes the functionality of Zoom a few steps further. It adds sketch-on-top (allowing users to create their own personal map layers), spatial analysis (including network tracing), ad-hoc queries, and the ability to customize the layout of printed maps.
Gist is an easy-to-use spatial analyst and map production application. It is intended to answer the most common questions asked of a GIS used for local government, asset management, or facilities management. Questions like
find all the wastewater pipes that are over 4” in diameter, made of cast iron, and within 500’ of a rail line
or
find all the parcels that have cottages and are on less than an acre of land
or
find all the vacant rooms on campus that are above the ground floor.
These questions may be created on an ad-hoc basis or may be recalled from a list of previously memorized questions.
Simple graphic drawing tools are available to sketch markups or place annotation on top of managed GIS data to create rich maps for staff reports, meetings, or to publish to a broad audience. These sketch tools may also be used to create new feature data such as proposed work or, in one recent example, airport safety zones.
Like Zoom and Avec, Gist may be installed on individual Windows PCs or may be served to any PC on a network when installed on a server.
Capabilities
- Contains all the functionality of Zoom.
- Creates sketch features with easy to use graphic tools. These sketch features may be saved, recalled, shared with other users, and promoted to be managed, enterprise data.
- Creates and modifies print layouts.
- Creates feature labels and luggage tags.
- Finds sets of features based on simple spatial and attribute criteria. This search criteria may be saved and recalled for common activities.
- Displays flow paths through utility networks (a.k.a. network tracing).
- Provides polygon overlay analysis, determining percentages of overlap between polygon layers.
- Uses an MDI user configurable and savable application layout so users may organize their workspace.