With GIS technology, people can compare the locations of different things in order to discover how they relate to each other. It can include information about the sites of factories, farms, and schools, or storm drains, roads, and electric power lines. It can include information about the landscape, such as the location of streams, different kinds of vegetation, and different kinds of soil. The system can include data about people, such as population, income, or education level. Many different types of information can be compared and contrasted using GIS. The location can be expressed in many different ways, such as latitude and longitude, address, or ZIP code. GIS can use any information that includes location. GIS technology is a crucial part of spatial data infrastructure, which the White House defines as “the technology, policies, standards, human resources, and related activities necessary to acquire, process, distribute, use, maintain, and preserve spatial data.”

By relating seemingly unrelated data, GIS can help individuals and organizations better understand spatial patterns and relationships.

A geographic information system (GIS) is a computer system for capturing, storing, checking, and displaying data related to positions on Earth’s surface.

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