Relating to geography or to the geography of a specific region: Cathy received her geographic magazine every month which included the topography of specific regions of her country.

The computer hardware, software, and technical expertise applied to assemble and to analyze geographical data: The CIS is especially used for the correlation of databases with graphic displays in order to present information, and it is frequently employed in environmental studies.

The geographic information system is an organized collection of computer hardware, software, geographic data, and personnel designed to efficiently capture, store, update, manipulate, analyze, and display all forms of geographically referenced information which can be drawn from different sources, both statistical and mapped.

Geographic information systems are computer programs linking features commonly seen on maps, such as roads, town boundaries, and water bodies, with related information not usually presented on maps, for example, type of road surface, population, type of agriculture, type of vegetation, or water quality information.

The GIS is a unique information system in which individual observations can be spatially referenced to each other.

The geographic information system is a technology that is used to view and analyze data from a geographic perspective. The technology is a piece of an organization's overall information system framework.

The GIS links locations to information, such as people to addresses, buildings to parcels of land, or streets within a network, and layers that information to give a better understanding of how it all interrelates. The user can then choose which layers to combine based on his/her purpose.

There's more information at the Geographic Information System (GIS): Index

A

Geographic System, Part 1.

Geographic System, Part 2.

Geographic Information System, Mapping.

(GIS): Index.

The evolutionary development of plant or animal groups whose members all have similar general features and are able to produce young plants or animals together: A geographic speciation is an evolutionary change leading to the rise of new species resulting from the separations of biological populations into mutually exclusive geographic regions, thereby creating distinct gene pools.

Geographic speciation refers to the differentiation of populations of biological groups in various geographical isolations to the point where they are recognized as separate species.

The world-wide system of latitude and longitude used to define the location of any point on the Earth's surface or to designate both geodetic coordinates and astronomical coordinates: Geographic coordinates refer to the quantities of latitude and longitude which define the position of a point on the surface of the Earth with respect to the reference spheroid.

Theory was developed or formulated by the American geographer and geomorphologist, William Morris Davis (between 1884 and 1934) who modeled the formation of river-eroded landscapes.

This theory suggests that landscapes go through three stages of development (youth, maturity, and old age) and indicates that the rejuvenation of landscapes arises from tectonic uplift of the land.

In the "youthful stage", under the influence of tectonic uplifts, there appears a mountain relief, which is dissected through erosion (the washing out of rocks by rivers) into deep, narrow valleys and sharp-peaked ridges.

With the dissection by streams, the area would reach maturity and, ultimately, would be reduced to an old-age surface called a peneplain (gently undulating, almost featureless plain), with an elevation near sea level.

The model developed by Davis, though important in historical context, is currently considered only a first approximation.

Developments in the sciences of geology and geomorphology, especially the plate tectonics revolution of the 1960s and 1970s, have confirmed the preliminary nature of the model.

The physical character and distribution of natural resources on the face of the Earth: The fundamental differences between land and ocean, latitudinal differences in insulation, spatial variations in receipts of precipitation, and patterns of geological composition and deformation of the Earth's crust together provide the basis for the geographical distribution of resources which distinguish definite geographical patterns of resource availability throughout the world.

1. A computer system specialized for the storage, manipulation, and presentation of geographical information: A geographical information system is used for topography, political subdivisions, geology, vegetation, flood plains, etc.
2. A computerized system which relates and displays data collected from a geographic entityto in the form of a map: A geographical information system overlays existing data with new information and displays it in color on a computer screen. It is used primarily to conduct analyses and make decisions related to geology, ecology, land use, demographics, transportation, and other domains, most of which relate to the human use of the physical environment.

Through this process of geocoding, the geographic data from a database is converted into images in the form of maps.

1. A spatial distribution of a species (group of interbreeding organisms that do not ordinarily breed with members of other groups): The geographic range of rattlesnakes, for example, is only located in the Western Hemisphere, in North and South America.

Arizona provides a geographic range for 13 different species of rattlesnakes.
2. The total area occupied by a population: Mr Straight asked the students to find out what groups of lifeforms would apply to the definition of geographic range.
3. The extreme distance at which an object or light can be seen when limited only by the curvature of the Earth and the heights of the object and the observer: The geographic range of light is dependent on the height of the light itself, the height of the observer's eyes, and the refraction of the atmosphere.

An online inquiry or quest for information regarding geographical maps from various cmtributions: A geographical search is a procedure in which search areas are assigned by geographical areas or sectors.

A geographical search can also be described as an orderly arrangement of lines in which an area is defined in relation to one or more geographical points on the Earth.

An area based primarily on hydrologic boundaries adjusted as needed using a specified set of criteria to accommodate the inventory and analysis of natural resources: A geographic unit can vary in scale depending on the criteria used, the level of inventory and analysis needed, and the problems perceived. In all cases, geographic units incorporate both groundwater and surface water.