Components of GIS
Topic: Remote Sensing, GIS and GNSS · NCERT: Class 12, Ch 4 "Spatial Information Technology"
Meaning
A GIS works only when five parts come together. Hardware is the computers, storage, scanners, printers and screens. Software has modules for entering and editing data, analysing it, and displaying and printing results. Data is the backbone: spatial data (where things are) and attribute data (what they are like). People run the system, from engineers to planners. Procedures are the set methods for handling data correctly.
Example
To map hospital coverage in western Uttar Pradesh, a team needs computers (hardware) and a program such as QGIS (software). It also needs hospital locations and district maps (data), trained analysts and planners (people), and fixed steps for checking the data (procedures).
Don't confuse with
- Spatial information technology: the wider field that includes remote sensing, GPS, GIS, digital cartography and DBMS. The components belong to one GIS.
Related concepts
- Database management system
- Computer assisted cartography
- Spatial information technology
- Geographic information system
- Spatial data
- Attribute data
- Point, line and area features
- Advantages of GIS over manual maps