| Geographic Information Systems |
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GIS stands for Geographic Information System, though sometimes it is also used as an acronym for Geographic Information Science. In a nutshell GIS is the science and technology involved in acquiring, integrating, analyzing, managing, visualizing geospatial data and information. The analysis is often facilitated by computer programs (tools and models). At its simplest GIS is used to generate maps that can display extremely diverse information about a particular geographic region, and to answer simple questions based on the distribution of input data.
Earth system science requires a quantitative exploration of the connections among all components of the Earth system. GIS working on modern day computers operates with hardware and software that allows handling large volumes of disparate global data. With this advanced computational capacity, it is possible to carry out spatial analyses, run global models, and visualize large data sets to show the connectivity between the different components of the Earth system.
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A GIS provides an environment to integrate diverse geospatial data sets and computer models for analysis and visualization, making it possible for us to study the Earth as a system | < Prev | Next > |
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