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geographic information system, GIS (s) (noun), geographic information systems (pl)
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

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geographical information system, geographic information system, GIS (s) (noun); geographical information systems; geographic information systems (pl)
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.

This entry is located in the following units: geo-, ge- + (page 11) grapho-, graph-, -graph, -graphy, -grapher, -graphia (page 37)