What is a Geographic Information System?

A Geographic Information System (GIS) is a state of the art tool designed specifically for integrating, analyzing and mapping various types of spatial information. GIS is computer-based and allows for the storage, management, analysis, and display of geographic and associated attribute data. In other words, descriptive information (attribute data) can be linked to geographic features (spatial information) by means of a tabular data-set that can be displayed as a graph, report or as a map.

A geographic feature may either be a point location, a linear feature such as a stream or roadway, or a polygon feature, which defines the boundary of a parcel or area of land. Each geographic feature (data-set) is represented as a separate layer on a map that can be placed over other layers. An immediate benefit of having a GIS is that once the data is in the computer it can be used for many different applications. GIS allows the user to understand the relationship of the information from a spatial or geographic point of view.