Geographic
Information System (GIS) is a computer based information system
used to digitally represent
and analyze the geographic features present on the Earth's surface
and the events (non-spatial attributes linked to the geography
under study) that takes place on it. The meaning to represent digitally
is to convert analog (smooth line) into a digital form.
"Every
object present on the Earth can be geo-referenced", is the
fundamental key of associating any database to GIS. Here, term
'database' is a collection of information
about things and their relationship to each other, and 'geo-referencing'
refers to the location of a layer or coverage in space defined
by the coordinate referencing system. Work on GIS began in late
1950s, but first GIS software came only in late 1970s from the
lab of the ESRI. Canada
was the pioneer in the development of GIS as a result of innovations
dating back to early 1960s.
Much
of the credit for the early development of GIS goes to Roger
Tomilson. Evolution of GIS has transformed and
revolutionized the ways in which planners, engineers, managers
etc conduct the database management and analysis.
GIS
technology integrates common database operations, such as query
and statistical analysis, with maps. These abilities
distinguish GIS from other information systems and make it valuable
to a wide range of public and private enterprises for planning
strategies and managing infrastructure. |
