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Geographic information systems and spatial analysis

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Abstract

Geographical Information Systems (GIS) are capable of acquiring spatially indexed data from a variety of sources, changing the data into useful formats, storing the data, retrieving and manupulating the data for analysis, and then generating the output required by a given user. Their great strength is based on the ability to handle large, multilayered, heterogenous databases and to query about the existence, location and properties of a wide range of spatial objects in an interactive way. The lack of analytical and modelling functionality is, however, widely recognised as a major deficiency of current systems. There is a wide agreement in both the GIS community and the modelling community that the future success of GIS technology will depend to a large extent on incorporating more powerful analytical and modelling capabilities. This paper discusses some major directions and strategies to increase both the analytical and modelling capabilities and the level of intelligence of geographic information systems.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Economic and Social Geography, Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration, A-1090, Vienna, Austria

    Manfred M. Fischer

  2. Department of Economics, Free University, De Boelelaan 1105, 1081 HV, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Peter Nijkamp

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  1. Manfred M. Fischer
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  2. Peter Nijkamp
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Fischer, M.M., Nijkamp, P. Geographic information systems and spatial analysis. Ann Reg Sci 26, 3–17 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01581477

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