What are 'GIS dashboards' used for?

GIS dashboards are primarily used for visualizing and analyzing real-time data. They serve as interactive interfaces that allow users to monitor, interpret, and explore spatial information in dynamic formats. Dashboards aggregate data from various sources, presenting it in a way that is easy to understand at a glance, often using charts, graphs, and maps. This real-time capability is particularly crucial in scenarios such as emergency management, urban planning, and environmental monitoring, where timely data visualization can lead to better decision-making and responses to changing conditions.

The capability to provide live updates and immediate insights distinguishes GIS dashboards from other tools that might generate reports or store data. While generating administrative reports, tracking software updates, and storing large datasets are important aspects of GIS and geospatial data management, they do not capture the primary function of dashboards, which is to provide an interactive platform for real-time data visualization and analysis.