While GIS has existed for several decades, general awareness and use of it has only occurred during the past ten years. GIS is a computerized system for using maps and information pertaining to the maps. A GIS is composed of hardware, software, data, procedures and personnel that work together to encode, store, display, and analyze geographic information. GIS store maps as a series of overlapping digital layers. The map layers can contain not only the spatial features, but also descriptive attribute information.
Users can view the map layers and query their attribute database.
Beyond simply displaying information, GIS can perform powerful overlay analyses. For example, digital layers of soils may be intersected with mapped land uses to yield areas susceptible to groundwater contamination. GIS can produce hardcopy maps for any area or scale. Hardware components consist of a variety of items coordinated around a central computer. A GIS system is typically supported from a PC platform, often from a networked server.