Geographic Information Systems Overview

Have you found yourself driving down the street in a large city looking for a particular street and can’t find it? Ever try to stop for help and find the people don’t speak English? Or maybe you feel lost trying to find a particular landmark, only to be confused by maps and directions that were given to you? Unfortunately, this happens nearly everyday by someone somewhere. However, this doesn’t have to be the case now that geographic information systems have been invented. Many cars being manufactured today include a GIS in their vehicles. This makes traveling so much easier because the GIS will guide you every step of the way so you won’t have to feel lost or confused. Exactly what is GIS? How is it useful to us when we travel? How do we recognize GIS in your vehicles that have one? And why is it based on geography? To answer these questions you first need to know what a GIS looks like in a vehicle. A GIS is basically a sophisticated mapping system. However, it goes beyond just showing maps. It can also provide problem-solving in relation to showing a map. A GIS is viewed by one of three ways:

 

·        Database view: A GIS is not your ordinary database. It is a database of the whole world or geodatabase as some call it. It is often referred to as an information system that is based on geography. The best way to describe it is a database that returns results in a geographic format.

·        Map view: A GIS is a set of intelligent maps that has many features that correspond to the earth’s surface. At any time a user can bring up a map and construct it for a certain area of interest. This area than is used to query a database for further analysis and editing of the information. GIS creators refer to this as revisualization.

·        Model view: A GIS is also a set of tools that help to transform information from existing data to create new data that the seeker and use. This is called geoprocessing. The user takes information from existing data and analyzes is to determine appropriate responses and write the results in a new dataset. This in turn helps the user by creating a model that will answer his question.