Nature of Geographic Information Systems

The purpose of this text is to promote understanding of the Geographic Information Science and Technology enterprise (GIS&T, also known as 'geospatial'). It explores the nature of geographic information.

To study the nature of something is to investigate its essential characteristics and qualities. To understand the nature of the energy produced in a coal-fired power plant, one should study the properties, morphology, and geographic distribution of coal. By the same reasoning, the author believes that a good approach to understanding the information produced by GIS is to investigate the properties of geographic data and the technologies and institutions that produce it.