What is GIS? GIS is computer software that links geographic information (where things are) with descriptive information (what things are). Unlike a flat paper map, where "what you see is what you get," a GIS can present many layers of different information. To use a paper map, all you do is unfold it. Spread out before you is a representation of cities and roads, mountains and rivers, railroads, and political boundaries. The cities are represented by little dots or circles, the roads by black lines, the mountain peaks by tiny triangles, and the lakes by small blue areas similar to the real lakes. A digital map is not much more difficult to use than a paper map. As on the paper map, there are dots or points that represent features on the map such as cities, lines that represent features such as roads, and small areas that represent features such as lakes. All this information - where the point is located, how long the road is, and even how many square miles a lake occupies - is stored as layers in digital format as a pattern of ones and zeros in a computer. Geography Matters, PDF white paper from ESRI (319 KB) http://www.gis.com/whatisgis/index.html What GIS courses are offered at EMU? Please click this link GIS Education to learn more.

mdueweke@emich.edu