Cities use GIS to connect infrastructure risks across physical and digital networks

The reported applications extend GIS beyond isolated asset maps to cross-network dependency analysis, stormwater project oversight and cloud-based recovery. The article brings together existing initiatives rather than announcing a new deployment or product.

Infrastructure managers need to understand which failures could disrupt multiple essential services, not just which assets are exposed. Mapping dependencies can inform investment priorities, while project tracking and recoverable planning systems support continuity before and after disruptions.

An Esri article describes a shift from mapping individual assets toward understanding dependencies across infrastructure networks. In Houston, GIS and spatial knowledge graphs, supported by MITRE’s Project Homeland initiative, can help planners identify critical nodes where failures could spread between power, water, hospitals and emergency services. Los Angeles County’s Safe, Clean Water Program uses GIS to track hundreds of stormwater projects, combining natural water-capture measures with engineered drainage and storage. In North Carolina, the Durham-Chapel Hill-Carrboro Metropolitan Planning Organization moved infrastructure-management tools into a cloud-based GIS environment after a 2020 cyberattack, adding full-system backup and reducing local server-maintenance responsibilities. Together, these examples frame GIS as a tool for investment prioritization and operational continuity, rather than asset inventory alone. The article provides concrete applications but no quantified evidence of avoided cascading failures, and its broader resilience claims come from a technology vendor.

Evidence supplied by Esri.