A revised definition of:
Geographic Information Systems
Proposed in Exploring GIS
The organized activity by which people
- measure aspects of geographic phenomena and processes;
- represent these measurements, usually in the form
of a computer database, to emphasize spatial themes, entities,
and relationships;
- operate upon these representations to produce more
measurements and to discover new relationships by integrating
disparate sources; and
- transform these representations to conform to other
frameworks of entities and relationships.
These activities reflect the larger context (institutions and
cultures) in which these people carry out their work. In turn,
the GIS may influence these structures.
Index from Here: | Back
to Social Practices presentation | version
française | I19 Position
Paper | Back to 460 Lecture
2 | Chrisman index page
Version of 7 April 1996