In plain terms it can be seen as another form of cartography. In cartography, the maps are static, meaning one cannot really interact with them. These are the types of maps that may be on the walls of a classroom. A GIS, however, has the ability to create an interactive map where the user can manipulate the software, enabling the screen to change the display and analyze the data that has been mapped. The ability to analyze the data is what distinguishes a GIS from regular cartography.
Most maps are pictures of some aspect of the real world.
Through software tools, the GIS can analyze the data that is being used, in order to answer questions pertinent to that particular place mapped. The goals of the two separate sub-disciplines are different, where as the cartographer's goal is to create a map, a GIS analyst's goal is to also make a map but to go on further and perform some type of query or analysis with the map created. Although GIS performs the function of map making, it can also create tables, graphs, other databases and reports, which in turn, are mostly used to create another map, in part due to the map being easiest for the majority of people to identify with. In actuality a GIS enables the user to establish a relationship between data using the computer, which alone the user is unable to do. Maps also used for Analysis One major point to stress here is, that although GIS enables a user to more simply analyze data and the cartographer's map is not interactive, all maps can be used in some way for the purpose of analysis.