Geographic Information Systems
How We Use GIS
Components: There have been many attempts to describe what makes up a Geographic Information System. Most professionals agree there are five main components in a GIS. They are Hardware, Software, Data, Procedures and People. People are the most important component in a Geographic Information System.
Analysis: People design and implement geographic information systems using hardware, software and data to develop procedures. Procedures perform analyses which take into account sources of data and spatial relationships between data items. We call this geo-spatial analysis and it is designed to analyze data and arrive at useful answers to geo-spatial questions. A collection of procedures then, combine into GIS applications which provide an efficient means of performing effective geo-spatial analysis.
Output: The product of GIS analysis is a set of processed data which can be written in a list or converted to a chart in a printed report. Typically, however, the resulting dataset from performing GIS analysis is displayed graphically in the form of maps. The key to GIS is the fact that the maps themselves are not stored in the system, there would be far too many of them. Instead, GIS processes are stored allowing the user to run the process and retrieve new data for each map request. Doing so results in greater flexibility in customizing maps and regular trips back to the original data insures that the latest information available is being processed and represented on the map.