# A Survey of GIS and IoT Integration: Applications and Architecture
## 4 Integrated IoT and GIS Architectures
### GIS and IoT Integration Architecture
#### 4.3.1 GIS in Processing Layer
Reference [170] presents a system based on IoT, web services, and GIS which is used to provide real-time Web Map Service (WMS). The system is capable of representing a web map of real-time outage status. The GIS server used in their study is responsible for providing and storing the required data in their web map and feature services. Reference [29] collection and geovisualization of big data from multiple sources like IoT devices and satellites are discussed through a City Geospatial Dashboard. GIS provides a road network model in order to represent the hourly link population and flow directions. As smart cities aspects becoming a great topic for researchers, GIS in [175] is used to provide the data input for the K-means clustering algorithm for optimizing a dynamic traffic network to analyze real-time traffic data. The studies [27, 127], discussed respectively in Sections 3.5 and 3.6, also used GIS as a data source. Visualization GIS has the capability of merging all kinds of data which has a spatial component. This leads to enabling the user to create layers of information and visualize them [178]. The study performed by [179] focuses on providing a method to facilitate the GIS-based fusion information which resides in building models and the information gathered by sensors. In that paper, GIS is used to represent the information provided by multiple resources such as IoT sensors, building models, and virtual sensors. Therefore, GIS plays the role of an integration platform, as well as a visualization one for the integrated information. As technology develops, more and more devices are being connected to the Internet and producing a huge amount of data [180, 181]. The integration of GIS and IoT can result in mapping recourses on digital layers. Several types of visualization of the collected and analyzed data on the map can be performed using GIS including, (i) visualization of moving observation (map service), (ii) visualization of stationary observation (map service), (iii) visualization of discrete observation (map service), and (iv) visualization of observations (feature service) [25]. With the development of urban landscapes, managing different aspects of a smart city has become a challenge [37, 38]. Reference [26] studies the use of real-time spatial analytics integrated with Information and Communication Technology (ICT) to face the challenges in smart cities. Nowadays many communities and organizations achieved cost savings and improvements in life quality by using the great functionalities of real-time GIS. Real-time GISs are used as a means of combining sensors from the environment and home to manage communities in an efficient and intelligent way by visual platform [171]. Based on IoT, GIS, and spatiotemporal analysis, Reference [140] examines the concentration and influence of toxic gases in the urban underground sewage pipe network of Chongqing City. Pipeline 3d visualization, real-time display of accident disposal, material distribution, and path visualization are some types of visualization provided in their study. Reference [173] proposes an information management (IM) solution using hybrid storage architecture based on a Virtual Reality version of WebGIS. This IM is used in the data-storage management of Building Information Models (BIM). A real-time monitoring plan of the pipeline covering gas, heat, and other types of underground pipelines in the campus is proposed by [174]. Besides real-time monitoring, locating the point of failure in the system is achieved through combining the monitoring data with geographic information. As mentioned in the previous section, GIS in [170] is responsible for displaying a web map of real-time outage status. Besides, GIS helps with displaying the rice disease regions on a map in [111] discussed in Section 3.5. Analysis (Other Functionalities of GIS)  
Geography can be considered an indispensable part of IoT since all physical objects occupy a room in space or time. The same can be true for the produced data by sensors.