GIS, in full geographic information system, computer system for performing geographical analysis. GIS has four interactive components: an input subsystem for converting into digital form (digitizing) maps and other spatial data; a storage and retrieval subsystem; an analysis subsystem; and an output subsystem for producing maps, tables, and answers to geographic queries. GIS is frequently used by environmental and urban planners, marketing researchers, retail site analysts, water resource specialists, and other professionals whose work relies on maps.
GIS evolved in part from the work of cartographers, who produce two types of maps: general-purpose maps, which contain many different themes, and thematic maps, which focus on a single theme such as soil, vegetation, zoning, population density, or roads. These thematic maps are the backbone of the GIS because they provide a method of storing large quantities of fairly specific thematic content that can later be compared. In 1950, for example, British urban planner Jacqueline Tyrwhitt combined four such thematic maps (elevation, geology, hydrology, and farmland) in one map through the use of transparent overlays placed one on top of another. This relatively simple yet versatile technique allowed cartographers to create and simultaneously view several thematic maps of a single geographical area. In his landmark book, Design with Nature (1967), the American landscape architect Ian McHarg described the use of map overlays as a tool for urban and environmental planning. This system of overlays is a crucial element of GIS, which uses digital map layers rather than the transparent plastic sheets of McHarg’s day.
The arrival of the computer in the 1950s brought another essential component of GIS. By 1959 the American geographer Waldo Tobler had developed a simple model to harness the computer for cartography. His MIMO (“map in–map out”) system made it possible to convert maps into a computer-usable form, manipulate the files, and produce a new map as the output. This innovation and its earliest descendants are generally classified as computerized cartography, but they set the stage for GIS.
In 1963 the English-born Canadian geographer Roger Tomlinson began developing what would eventually become the first true GIS in order to assist the Canadian government with monitoring and managing the country’s natural resources. (Because of the importance of his contribution, Tomlinson became known as the “Father of GIS.”) Tomlinson built on the work of Tobler and others who had produced the first cartographic digital input device (digitizer) and the computer code necessary to perform data retrieval and analysis; they had also developed the concept of explicitly linking geographic data (entities) and descriptions (attributes).
The two most common computer graphic formats are vector and raster, both of which are used to store graphic map elements. Vector-based GIS represents the locations of point entities as coordinate pairs in geographic space, lines as multiple points, and areas as multiple lines. Topographic surfaces are frequently represented in vector format as a series of nonoverlapping triangles, each representing a uniform slope. This representation is known as Triangulated Irregular Network (TIN). Map descriptions are stored as tabular data with pointers back to the entities. This allows the GIS to store more than one set of descriptions for each graphic map object.
Raster-based GIS represents points as individual, uniform chunks of the Earth, usually squares, called grid cells. Collections of grid cells represent lines and areas. Surfaces are stored in raster format as a matrix of point elevation values, one for each grid cell, in a format known as a digital elevation model (DEM). DEM data can be converted to TIN models if needed. Whether raster or vector, the data are stored as a collection of thematic maps, variously referred to as layers, themes, or coverages.
Computer algorithms enable the GIS operator to manipulate data within a single thematic map. The GIS user may also compare and overlay data from multiple thematic maps, just as planners used to do by hand in the mid-1900s. A GIS can also find optimal routes, locate the best sites for businesses, establish service areas, create line-of-sight maps called viewsheds, and perform a wide range of other statistical and cartographic manipulations. GIS operators often combine analytical operations into map-based models through a process called cartographic modeling. Experienced GIS users devise highly sophisticated models to simulate a wide range of geographic problem-solving tasks. Some of the most complex models represent flows, such as rush-hour traffic or moving water, that include a temporal element.