Geographic Information Systems (GIS) have been experiencing a steady and unprecedented growth in terms of general interest, theory development, and new applications in the last decade or so. GIS is an inter-disciplinary field that brings together many diverse areas such as computer science, geography, cartography, engineering, and urban planning. Database Issues in Geographic Information Systems approaches several important topics in GIS from a database perspective. Database management has a central role to play in most computer-based information systems, and is expected to have an equally important role to play in managing information in GIS as well. Existing database technology, however, focuses on the alphanumeric data that are required in business applications. GIS, like many other application areas, requires the ability to handle spatial as well as alphanumeric data. This requires new innovations in data management, which is the central theme of this monograph. The monograph begins with an overview of different application areas and their data and functional requirements. Next it addresses the following topics in the context of GIS: representation and manipulation of spatial data, data modeling, indexing, and query processing. Future research directions are outlined in each of the above topics. The last chapter discusses issues that are emerging as important areas of technological innovations in GIS. Database Issues in Geographic Information Systems is suitable as a secondary text for a graduate level course on Geographic Information Systems, Database Systems or Cartography, and as a reference for researchers and practitioners in industry.

The authors explore and explain current techniques for handling the specialised data that describes geographical phenomena in a study that will be of great value to computer scientists and geographers working with spatial databases.

Geographic information systems represent an exciting and rapidly expanding technology via which spatial data may be captured, stored, retrieved, displayed, manipulated and analysed. Applications of this technology include detailed inventories of land use parcels. Spatial patterns of disease, geodemographics, environmental management and macroscale inventories of global resources. The impetus for this book is the relative lack of research into the integration of spatial analysis and GIS, and the potential benefits in developing such an integration. From a GIS perspective, there is an increasing demand for systems that do something other than display and organize data. From a spatial analytical perspective, there are advantages to linking statistical methods and mathematical models to the database and display capabilities of a GIS. Although the GIS may not be absolutely necessary for spatial analysis, it can facilitate such an analysis and moreover provide insights that might otherwise have been missed. The contributions to the book tell us where we are and where we ought to be going. It suggests that the integration of spatial analysis and GIS will stimulate interest in quantitative spatial science, particularly exploratory and visual types of analysis and represents a unique statement of the state-of-the-art issues in integration and interface.

Geographic Information Systems: Concepts, Methodologies, Tools, and Applications is a collection of knowledge on the latest advancements and research of geographic information systems. This book aims to be useful for academics and practitioners involved in geographical data.

Presents strategies for application development, interface design, and enabling Web-based access. Includes numerous case studies and examples from the private and public sectors. Provides information on integrating legacy MIS systems and planning for future developments in database design.

With the onslaught of emergent technology in academia, libraries are privy to many innovative techniques to recognize and classify geospatial data?above and beyond the traditional map librarianship. As librarians become more involved in the development and provision of GIS services and resources, they encounter both problems and solutions. Integrating Geographic Information Systems into Library Services: A Guide for Academic Libraries integrates traditional map librarianship and contemporary issues in digital librarianship within a framework of a global embedded information infrastructure, addressing technical, legal, and institutional factors such as collection development, reference and research services, and cataloging/metadata, as well as issues in accessibility and standards.