Geographic Information Systems

Geographic information systems (GIS) are designed to provide the necessary information for monitoring and decision-making in areas like overpopulation, environmental security, environmental pollution, traffic congestion, security risks, depletion of natural resources, etc.

A GIS is an information system (hardware, software, communication system, and databases) devoted to the acquisition, management, analysis, and visualization of all kinds of spatially referenced data. Users can create interactive queries (user created searches), analyze spatial information, edit data, maps, and present the results of all these operations.

In general, GIS applications have greatly changed the way spatial information is handled, and they represent a multibillion euro industry. The range of potential application fields for GIS is tremendous. It can be used for resource management, asset management, environmental impact and disaster assessment, urban planning, cartography, criminology, geographic history, marketing, and logistics, to name a few.