Libraries of The Claremont Colleges Workshops

GIS is comprised of computer applications that allow you to visualize large amounts of complex, spatial data by creating and combining layers of customized maps. If you can imagine, GIS allows you to wipe a landscape clean of its jumble of topography, rivers, environmental damage, wildlife, streets, buildings, telephone lines, and people, and then add this information back as separate layers in any combination so that you can see patterns and relationships that would have been difficult to notice otherwise. GIS can mine data from spreadsheets or relational databases, and combine it with visual data such as CAD files, graphics, and images to create "intelligent maps" on which different types of analysis can be performed.