A GIS (Geographic Information System) is a technological framework designed to capture, store, manipulate, analyze, manage, and present all types of spatial and geographic data.
The key to GIS is that it links "tabular" data (such as the material type of a pipe or the power of a luminaire) with a specific geographic location (coordinates, lines, or polygons). This allows you to visualize patterns, relationships, and trends that would be invisible in a traditional database.
Beyond Google Maps: Layers and Analysis
It's a common mistake to confuse a basic map viewer (like Google Maps) with a professional GIS. A GIS allows you to work with superimposed layers of information:
- Base Layer: The background map (street map, satellite).
- Cadastral Layer: The official division of plots and properties.
- Infrastructure Layer: Your irrigation network, the electrical lines of a plant, or the lighting of an industrial park.
- Incident Layer: Hotspots where breakdowns are concentrated.
By crossing these layers, you can answer complex questions: "How many sodium vapor luminaires remain in the north sector of the industrial park?" or "Which irrigation network utility boxes are in a flood zone?".
Types of Data in a GIS
- Vector: Points (luminaires, utility boxes), Lines (cables, pipes), and Polygons (plots, buildings). Ideal for precise inventories.
- Raster: Images made up of pixels, such as aerial photographs, heat maps, or digital elevation models.
GIS + CMMS Integration in Maptainer
Traditionally, technical departments had two separate software systems: GIS (for maps) and CMMS (for tasks), which rarely communicated with each other.
Maptainer eliminates this barrier. We're not a CMMS that "sticks" a map on the side; we're a platform built on a native GIS engine.
- Interoperability: The inventory is imported from GeoPackage, Shapefile, GeoJSON, DXF or CSV; third-party WMS layers can be loaded (for example, the Spanish Cadastre), and the PNOA orthophoto is also available offline in the field app.
This fusion enables maintenance management with complete spatial awareness, optimizing routes and clarifying asset ownership.