Editing Geographic information system (section)

==History and development==
While digital GIS dates to the mid-1960s, when [[Roger Tomlinson]] first coined the phrase "geographic information system",<ref>{{cite web|title=The 50th Anniversary of GIS|url=http://www.esri.com/news/arcnews/fall12articles/the-fiftieth-anniversary-of-gis.html|publisher=ESRI|access-date=18 April 2013}}</ref> many of the geographic concepts and methods that GIS automates date back decades earlier.

[[File:Snow-cholera-map.jpg|thumb|right|300px|[[E. W. Gilbert]]'s version (1958) of [[John Snow (physician)|John Snow]]'s 1855&nbsp;map of the [[Soho]] cholera outbreak showing the clusters of cholera cases in the [[1854 Broad Street cholera outbreak|London epidemic of 1854]]]]

One of the first known instances in which spatial analysis was used came from the field of [[epidemiology]] in the {{Lang|fr|Rapport sur la marche et les effets du choléra dans Paris et le département de la [[Seine]]}} (1832).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k842918/f353.image|title=Rapport sur la marche et les effets du choléra dans Paris et le département de la Seine. Année 1832|publisher=Gallica|access-date=10 May 2012}}</ref> French [[Cartography|cartographer]] and geographer [[Charles Picquet]] created a map outlining the [[Arrondissements of Paris|forty-eight&nbsp;districts in Paris]], using [[halftone]] color gradients, to provide a visual representation for the number of reported deaths due to [[cholera]] per&nbsp;every 1,000&nbsp;inhabitants.

In 1854, [[John Snow]], an epidemiologist and physician, was able to determine the source of a [[1854 Broad Street cholera outbreak|cholera outbreak in London]] through the use of spatial analysis. Snow achieved this through plotting the residence of each casualty on a map of the area, as well as the nearby water sources. Once these points were marked, he was able to identify the water source within the cluster that was responsible for the outbreak. This was one of the earliest successful uses of a geographic methodology in pinpointing the source of an outbreak in epidemiology. While the basic elements of [[topography]] and theme existed previously in [[cartography]], Snow's map was unique due to his use of cartographic methods, not only to depict, but also to analyze clusters of geographically dependent phenomena.

The early&nbsp;20th&nbsp;century saw the development of [[photozincography]], which allowed maps to be split into layers, for example one layer for vegetation and another for water. This was particularly used for printing contours&nbsp;– drawing these was a labour-intensive task but having them on a separate layer meant they could be worked on without the other layers to confuse the [[Drafter|draughtsman]]. This work was initially drawn on glass plates, but later [[plastic film]] was introduced, with the advantages of being lighter, using less storage space and being less brittle, among others. When all the layers were finished, they were combined into one image using a large process camera. Once color printing came in, the layers idea was also used for creating separate printing plates for each color. While the use of layers much later became one of the typical features of a contemporary GIS, the photographic process just described is not considered a GIS in itself&nbsp;– as the maps were just images with no database to link them to.

Two additional developments are notable in the early days of GIS: [[Ian McHarg]]'s publication ''Design with Nature''<ref>{{Cite book|title=Design with nature|last=MacHarg |first=Ian L.|date=1971|publisher=Natural History Press|oclc=902596436}}</ref> and its map overlay method and the introduction of a street network into the U.S. Census Bureau's DIME ([[Dual Independent Map Encoding]]) system.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Broome|first1=Frederick R.|last2=Meixler|first2=David B.|date=January 1990|title=The TIGER Data Base Structure|journal=Cartography and Geographic Information Systems|volume=17|issue=1|pages=39–47|doi=10.1559/152304090784005859|bibcode=1990CGISy..17...39B |issn=1050-9844}}</ref>

The first publication detailing the use of computers to facilitate cartography was written by [[Waldo Tobler]] in 1959.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Tobler |first1=Waldo |title=Automation and Cartography |journal=Geographical Review |date=1959 |volume=49 |issue=4 |pages=526–534 |doi=10.2307/212211 |jstor=212211 |bibcode=1959GeoRv..49..526T |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/212211 |access-date=10 March 2022|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Further [[computer hardware]] development spurred by [[nuclear weapon]] research led to more widespread general-purpose computer "mapping" applications by the early 1960s.<ref name="map_printing_methods">{{cite web |url=http://www.broward.org/library/bienes/lii14009.htm |title=Map Printing Methods |first=Joseph H. |last=Fitzgerald |access-date=9 June 2007 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070604194024/http://www.broward.org/library/bienes/lii14009.htm <!-- Bot retrieved archive --> |archive-date = 4 June 2007}}</ref>

In 1963, the world's first true operational GIS was developed in [[Ottawa, Ontario]], Canada, by the federal Department of Forestry and Rural Development. Developed by [[Roger Tomlinson]], it was called the [[Canada Geographic Information System]] (CGIS) and was used to store, analyze, and manipulate data collected for the [[Canada Land Inventory]], an effort to determine the land capability for rural Canada by mapping information about [[soil]]s, agriculture, recreation, wildlife, [[waterfowl]], [[forestry]] and land use at a scale of 1:50,000. A rating classification factor was also added to permit analysis.<ref>{{Cite web|title=History of GIS {{!}} Early History and the Future of GIS – Esri|url=https://www.esri.com/en-us/what-is-gis/history-of-gis|website=esri.com|language=en-us|access-date=2020-05-02}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{cite web |author=<!-- no author given --> |url=http://ucgis.org/ucgis-fellow/roger-tomlinson |title=Roger Tomlinson |publisher=UCGIS |date=21 February 2014 |access-date=16 December 2015|url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151217012639/http://ucgis.org/ucgis-fellow/roger-tomlinson |archive-date=17 December 2015}}</ref>

CGIS was an improvement over "computer mapping" applications as it provided capabilities for data storage, overlay, measurement, and [[digitizing]]/scanning. It supported a national coordinate system that spanned the continent, coded lines as [[Directed edge|arcs]] having a true embedded [[topology]] and it stored the attribute and locational information in separate files. As a result of this, Tomlinson has become known as the "father of GIS", particularly for his use of overlays in promoting the spatial analysis of convergent geographic data.<ref name="Tomlinson">{{cite web |url=http://www.urisa.org/node/395 |title=GIS Hall of Fame&nbsp;– Roger Tomlinson |publisher=URISA |access-date=9 June 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070714083049/http://www.urisa.org/node/395 |archive-date=14 July 2007}}</ref> CGIS lasted into the 1990s and built a large digital land resource database in Canada. It was developed as a [[Mainframe computer|mainframe]]-based system in support of federal and provincial resource planning and management. Its strength was continent-wide analysis of complex [[data set|dataset]]s. The CGIS was never available commercially.

In&nbsp;1964, Howard T. Fisher formed the Laboratory for Computer Graphics and Spatial Analysis at the [[Harvard Graduate School of Design]] (LCGSA 1965–1991), where a number of important theoretical concepts in spatial data handling were developed, and which by the 1970s had distributed seminal software code and systems, such as SYMAP, GRID, and ODYSSEY, to universities, research centers and corporations worldwide.<ref name="Fisher">{{cite web |url = http://www.gis.dce.harvard.edu/fisher/HTFisher.htm |title = Howard T. Fisher |first = Lucia |last = Lovison-Golob |publisher = Harvard University |access-date = 9 June 2007 |url-status = dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20071213234339/http://www.gis.dce.harvard.edu/fisher/HTFisher.htm |archive-date = 13 December 2007}}</ref> These programs were the first examples of general-purpose GIS software that was not developed for a particular installation, and was very influential on future commercial software, such as [[Esri]] [[ARC/INFO]], released in 1983.

By the late 1970s, two public domain GIS systems ([[Map Overlay and Statistical System|MOSS]] and [[GRASS GIS]]) were in development, and by the early 1980s, M&S Computing (later [[Intergraph]]) along with Bentley Systems Incorporated for the [[Computer-aided design|CAD]]&nbsp;platform, Environmental Systems Research Institute ([[Environmental Systems Research Institute|ESRI]]), [[Teledyne CARIS|CARIS]]&nbsp;(Computer Aided Resource Information System), and ERDAS&nbsp;(Earth Resource Data Analysis System) emerged as commercial vendors of GIS&nbsp;software, successfully incorporating many of the CGIS&nbsp;features, combining the first-generation approach to separation of spatial and attribute information with a second-generation approach to organizing attribute data into database structures.<ref name="wiki.osgeo.org">{{cite web |url=http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Open_Source_GIS_History |title=Open Source GIS History – OSGeo Wiki Editors |access-date=21 March 2009}}</ref>

In 1986, Mapping Display and Analysis System (MIDAS), the first desktop GIS product,<ref>{{Cite book|title=GIS for Environmental Applications A practical approach|last=Xuan|first=Zhu|year=2016|publisher=Routledge |isbn=9780415829069|oclc=1020670155}}</ref> was released for the [[DOS]] operating system. This was renamed in 1990 to MapInfo for Windows when it was ported to the [[Microsoft Windows]] platform. This began the process of moving GIS from the research department into the business environment.

By the end of the 20th&nbsp;century, the rapid growth in various systems had been consolidated and standardized on relatively few platforms and users were beginning to explore viewing GIS&nbsp;data over the [[Internet]], requiring data format and transfer standards. More recently, a growing number of [[List of GIS software#Open source software|free, open-source GIS packages]] run on a range of operating systems and can be customized to perform specific tasks. The major trend of the 21st Century has been the integration of GIS capabilities with other [[Information technology]] and [[Internet]] infrastructure, such as [[relational database]]s, [[cloud computing]], [[software as a service]] (SAAS), and [[mobile computing]].<ref>Fu, P., and J. Sun. 2010. ''Web GIS: Principles and Applications''. ESRI Press. Redlands, CA. {{ISBN|1-58948-245-X}}.</ref>