| Today, complex decisions based on the location of objects or events (such as, identifying the best site for a new shopping mall or the location of high-accident prone intersections) are being made through an advanced computer technology called Geographic Information System (GIS). The analytic power of GIS lies in its ability to link maps and databases together so that different scenarios can be examined through a what if-type questioning process. For example, a GIS may permit correlation of land use practices with temporal changes in the total percent cover of live coral in adjacent areas or aid in identifying areas prone to wildfires or flooding. |  |
GIS is being used to monitor traffic flow, analyze demographic studies for the U.S. Census Bureau, manage forests and agricultural land, track the spread of infectious diseases, monitor coastal erosion, stream pollution and the health of coral reefs, dispatch ambulances and emergency equipment over the shortest routes, conduct real estate sales and decide on land use and rezoning issues.
Each spatial feature of a GIS map is linked to information about that feature. A GIS manages information about these features in geographically-linked units called themes. Each theme contains related features possessing a common set of attributes.
A GIS is a powerful tool for organizing, integrating, displaying, updating, and analyzing geographic data. It is also an effective technology when applied to ecosystem assessment and management endeavors. GIS is being applied to a wide range of fields, including:
