Many computer programs, such as spreadsheets, statistics packages or drafting packages can handle simple geographic or spatial data, but this does not necessarily make them a GIS. A true GIS links spatial data with geographic information about a particular feature on the map. For example, the outline that represents an agricultural field on a map doesn't tell you much about the field except its location. To find out the field's acreage or crop type, you must query the database. Using the information stored in the database, you could create a display symbolizing the agricultural fields according to the type of information that needs to be shown.

In short, a GIS doesn't hold maps or pictures - it holds a database. The database concept is central to a GIS and is the main difference between a GIS and drafting or computer mapping systems, which can only produce a good graphic output. All contemporary geographic information systems incorporate a database management system.

A GIS gives you the ability to associate information with a feature on a map and to create new relationships that can determine the suitability of various sites for development, evaluate environmental impact, identify the best location for a new facility, and so on.

A GIS is a very powerful tool that can be used to capture, store and analyze geographic data but it is not, by any means, a stand-alone system. You need several other very important components to make up a GIS:

Without well trained, competent personnel operating and supporting a GIS the system would not function. Skill in selecting and using tools from the GIS toolbox and an intimate knowledge of the data being used are essential to your success as GIS user. Just pressing a button is not enough.

Currently the GIS network within Winnebago County consists of numerous workstations, X-stations, PCs, printers and plotters. A server with 256 MB of RAM and 47.5 GB of disk space drives the system and connects the various pieces of hardware together.

In order to use a GIS in the most efficient manner it is important to run the most up-to-date version of the software that is available. At this time, Winnebago County is running ArcInfo and ArcView Version 8.1

The heart of any GIS is the database through which questions such as what a feature is, where it is, and how it relates to other features can be answered. The Winnebago County digital map library is designed to allow any user on the GIS network to view county wide geographic data from a common source. The map library also provides an efficient and secure means of maintaining the database.

Perhaps the simplest way to define a GIS is by listing the types of questions it can answer. For any application there are five generic questions that a sophisticated GIS can answer.

The first of these questions seeks to find out what exists at a particular location. A location can be described as a place name, zip code or address.

Using spatial analysis the second question seeks to find a location where certain conditions are satisfied (e.g., an unforested section of land at least 2,000 square meters in size, within 100 meters of a road, and with soils suitable for supporting buildings).

The third question might involve a combination of the first two and seeks to find the differences within an area over time.

You might ask this question to determine whether new development is a major cause of flooding among residents in an adjacent subdivision. Just as important, you might want to know how many anomalies there are that don't fit the pattern and where they are located.

"What if ..." questions are posed to determine what happens, for example, if a new road is added to a network. Answering this type of question requires geographic as well as other information.

.....simply a computer system for making maps, although it can create maps at different scales, in different projections, and with different colors. A GIS is an analytical tool. The major advantage of a GIS is that it allows you to identify the spatial relationship between map features. A GIS does not store a map in any conventional sense; nor does it store a particular image or view of a geographic area. Instead, a GIS stores the data from which you can draw a desired view to suit a particular purpose.