NOAA Coastal Services Center: Linking People, Information, and Technology
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The GIS Integration and Development Program

What is GIS

A geographic information system (GIS) is a compilation of hardware, software, and data that enables users to:

  • produce high-quality maps at a variety of scales
  • store and maintain a large quantity of geographically referenced information
  • visualize and simplify complex data
  • perform complex analyses on data
  • easily make changes to data

[screen grab of spatial data in GIS software]GIS helps streamline the process of analyzing a variety of data types. Data can be in the form of reports, maps, tables, or historical records. These documents can be located in a variety of places and in many formats. GIS can assist in bringing together all of these resources into one location for display and analysis. Another benefit of using GIS is that information and data can be shared by many users for all types of projects.

GIS is incorporated into many of our products to demonstrate its utility for coastal managers. More and more coastal managers are becoming familiar with this technology and are finding its functionality very practical in their jobs. Feedback from our partners has revealed that they are using GIS and need spatial data and applications of its uses.


Building Better Products with GIS

The majority of our partners use Environmental Systems Research Institute, Inc. (ESRI) software, so GIS I&D uses this product in our projects and for training. The program has three ESRI-certified instructors and offers a variety of GIS training courses tailored to the coastal management community.

GIS I&D uses the following ESRI software programs to develop, store, share, manage, and analyze spatial data:

  • ArcGIS is desktop software that helps users create, edit, display, and analyze spatial data and perform complex tasks. GIS I&D has built many ArcGIS and ArcView 3x applications that address a variety of coastal issues across the nation including the Community Vulnerability Assessment Tool (CVAT) and Electronic Navigational Chart Data Handler.
  • ArcIMS is technology that distributes GIS data over the Internet. Although ArcIMS and ArcGIS can be used to build interactive maps, users can also interact with ArcIMS applications using just their Web browser. To view an example of an ArcIMS application visit the Historical Hurricane Tracks Tool.
  • ArcSDE is a data management system that works with a database to manage and store spatial data. With ArcSDE, data can be efficiently stored and quickly accessed by many users for multiple applications. ArcSDE serves spatial data to both ArcGIS and ArcIMS systems.

GIS in Action

Visit the Data Uses and Applications section to see how we have incorporated these technologies into our products.

Visit the Data, Metadata, and Standards section to download data and learn more about metadata and data standards.

Visit the On-line Mapping and Software Tools section to interact with GIS maps on-line or download tools to enhance your GIS software.
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Updated on January 29, 2004