Geographic Information Systems are structures of interrelated elements, specialized in the representation and analysis of data spatially referenced. They contribute to the understanding and evaluation of the spatial relationships between the data.
Data are heterogeneous in terms of sources and quality in general. A large part of the analysis preparation consists in the alignment of the available data with the data quality requirements.
GIS can be also seen as an integration technology in continuous evolution. It is sourced from multiple disciplines: Geography, Cartography, Remote Sensing, Photogrammetry, Surveying, Geodesy, Statistics, Operational Research, Information Systems, Mathematics, and Urban Planning.
GIS has derived key components from the IS/IT technologies, such as, spatial data bases, artificial intelligence and data science, or web oriented applications.
GIS has been defined more practically, by National Geographic “a set of tools for the input, storage and retrieval, manipulation and analysis, and output of spatial data”[1]
The key points to consider are related to the use case GIS tools may support. In this sense, and from a problem-solving perspective GIS[2] can be considered as:
- a special-purpose digital database in which a common spatial coordinate system is the primary mean of storing and accessing data and information.
- an interoperable technology
- “a decision support system involving the integration of spatially referenced data in a problem-solving environment[CS1] ”
This perspective of GIS as a decision support system will structure the articles and ideas of this blog.
[1] https://www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/geographic-information-system-gis/
[2] Jacek Malczewski, GIS and multicriteria decision analysis, 1999