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Geographic Information Systems |
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Imtiaz Ahmed |
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What is a geographic information system (GIS)? Discuss the main issues that need to be addressed by designers when implementing a GIS in organisations.
Information systems have become an integral part of society today. An information system is defined as: "a chain of operations that takes us from planning the observation and collection of data, to storage and analysis of the data, to the use of the derived information in some decision-making process."(Star, Estes, 1990)
There are many types of information systems such as decision support systems, management support systems, knowledge work systems etc. However, the specific systems we are concerned with in this essay are 'geographic information systems'. Links to other online GIS resources can be found in the citations listed on the last page of this paper.
Geographic Information Systems (GISs), in their automated form, originated in the 1960s. During these early days of technology, their use was limited to a small use of practitioners. GIS instruction was even more limited to a select few universities who were aware of the potential of these systems. Since then, the knowledge and use of these systems has increased at a relatively rapid rate.
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