What is GIS? Learn what it is and how to use it

Maps have been used for thousands of years, but it is only within the last few decades that the technology has existed to combine maps with computer graphics and databases to create geographic information systems or GIS. The themes in the above graphic are only a small example of the wide array of information that can view or analyze with a GIS.



GIS is used to display and analyze spatial data which are tied to databases. This connection is what gives GIS its power: maps can be drawn from the database and data can be referenced from the maps. When a database is updated, the associated map can be updated as well. GIS databases include a wide variety of information including: geographic, social, political, environmental, and demographic.

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