A minority of geologists and other geoscientists have been using computers for manipulation of spatial data since the 1960s. During the 1980s, advances in computer hardware, particularly processing speed and data storage, catalyzed the development of software for handling spatial data. The emerging capabilities for graphical display played an important role in this development. One of the significant products of this period of rapid technological change was GIS. The impact of GIS has been widely felt in all fields that use geographic information, in resource management, land-use planning, transportation, marketing, and in many applications in the geosciences and elsewhere. The majority of large geological organizations are now using GIS, and the handling of spatial data of all types by computer is widespread.This chapter introduces GIS by describing what GIS means, the purposes and functions of GIS, how GIS relates to other kinds of software for spatial data handling, and presents a typical geological application. <...>
