About Geographic Information Systems

Major libraries in the United States have begun to provide Geographic Information Systems (GIS) services, and the University of Hawaii Library, in a pioneering move, decided to initiate GIS services on campus with the hiring of a Maps/GIS librarian earlier this year. GIS services here include finding and providing data, creating data consumable by the research public, educating the community about GIS and possibly providing a campus-wide leadership role that could bring the campus GIS community together.

The library has plans to provide a physical center/laboratory for the research community to learn about and use GIS software, help digitize maps, print out GIS products, including maps. Currently GIS software and laboratories are available if you were taking a GIS course or if you were a member of a department that is involved in doing research using GIS.

What is GIS?

There are far to many definitions of GIS to cull through, as GIS is different things to different people. Definitions range from GIS as a container for maps in digital form, a computerized tool to solve geographic problems, a "spatial decision-support system," a "mechanized" inventory of geographical features, a tool for discovering new information otherwise unavailable and a tool to mechanize operations on data that would be too laborious and time-consuming when "performed by hand" (Longley et al 2005).

Here is a more generic definition:

"An organized collection of computer hardware, software, geographic data, procedures and personnel designed to efficiently capture, store, update, manipulate, analyze, and display all forms of geographically referenced information" (ESRI 1995).

GIS is therefore much more than simply a piece of software, and actually a network of "things" working together to form a Geographic Information System.

Manoa MAGIS
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