What is GIS?
GIS stands for Geographic Information Systems. Geographic Information Systems is a collection of hardware, software, geographic data, people and procedures for capture, management, manipulation, analysis, modeling and display of all forms of geographically referenced information for solving complex planning and management problems.

How Does a GIS Work?
A GIS stores information about the world as a collection of layers such as buildings, sewer lines, natural gas lines, aerial photography, or crime incidents. These layers have both spatial and attribute information associated with them.

Spatial information is information about the location, geometry of features, and the relationships between features (or relative location). For example, spatial information for a building in a building layer could be the x,y coordinate of the feature, or whether it's represented by a point, line, or polygon, and its location in relation to another feature.

Attribute information is information about the spatial features. Attribute information is stored in a table that is linked to that feature by a unique identifier. For example, attribute information about a building in a building layer might include owner name, value, and condition of the building.

Why is GIS Important?
GIS is used for the capture, management, manipulation, analysis, modeling and display of all forms of geographically referenced information for help in solving planning and management problems. GIS is also important because it be used to analyze patterns, relationships and trends. This information can then be used to make better and wiser decisions.

Each of the major issues that local governments face has critical geographic factors associated with them such as transportation issues, economic development, crime rate and customer service issues.

Union County GIS Pages

Union County Online GIS Application
If you have concerns or questions regarding Union County's online GIS application, please contact Cynthia Mabry.

If you have concerns or questions regarding the Monroe GIS webpages, please contact Jo Anne Manley, GISP , GIS Coordinator.