Chapter 22: GIS and Network Analysis

Both geographic information systems (GIS) and network analysis are burgeoning fields, characterized by rapid methodological and scientific advances in recent years. A GIS is a digital computer application designed for the capture, storage, manipulation, analysis and display of geographic information. Geographic location is the element that distinguishes geographic information from all other types of information. Without location, data are termed to be non-spatial and would have little value within a GIS. Location is, thus, the basis for many benefits of GIS: the ability to map, the ability to measure distances, and the ability to tie different kinds of information together because they refer to the same place (Longley et al., 2001).