GISs automate the making of these types of maps and the combining of many maps to create new information. Seventy-three percent of those agencies not using GISs plan to use them in the near future. For those agencies using GISs, habitat mapping was the most common use. Other applications included land use inventory, vegetation mapping, species distribution estimation, preferred habitat definition, and land development planning. The intent of this chapter is to provide wildlife managers and wildlife management students an overview of the technology of GISs.
Many universities offer graduate and undergraduate courses in GISs.
Various books, journals, and other publications are listed in this chapter for those wanting to further explore the use of GISs in wildlife management and research.