Geographic Information Systems (GIS) are computer systems designed to store, retrieve, analyze, and display geographic data. Simply put, GIS combines layers of information about a place to give you a better understanding of that place. What layers of information you combine depends on your purpose—finding the best location for a new store, analyzing environmental damage, viewing similar crimes in a city to detect a pattern, and so on. The LebGIS system is a collection of hardware, software, and people.
- GIS is about finding patterns.
- GIS answers the questions of location such as where, why, and how.
- GIS solves problems and makes decisions.
- GIS sees patterns and trends that spreadsheets alone won’t portray.