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GIS

Geographical Information Systems (GIS) capture, store, manipulate, analyse, manage and display spatial data.

What is GIS?

Geographical Information Systems (GIS) capture, store, manipulate, analyse, manage and display spatial data.
Using GIS in your planning

Geographical Information Systems are a great source of secondary data to help find topics and places to investigate. GIS can help you to choose a location, ask enquiry questions, and carry out contextualising research.
Using GIS in your data collection

Using GIS can help you plan both where and how you will collect your data. Smartphones or tablets can let you collect data into GIS in the field.
Using GIS in your data presentation

Using GIS you can quickly draw a range of maps from your data, making it easy to pick the most appropriate map for your project.
Using GIS to support your data analysis

Trends and patterns can be difficult to recognise, especially when a large number of data points are presented on a map. GIS software offers a range of tools to help make sense of the information that you have collected.
Using GIS to help you draw conclusions

When drawing conclusions, you will need to look for links between different sets of results, bringing primary and secondary evidence together. GIS allows you to overlay data sets onto the same base map and explore relationships within and between the different layers.
Using GIS to help you evaluate

Critically evaluating the accuracy, validity and reliability of your methods and conclusions is a demanding geographical skill. But GIS can help! By overlaying different data sources onto the same base map, such as primary data you have collected with published secondary data, you can easily compare the two sources.

FSC believes that the more we understand about and take inspiration from the world around us the more we can appreciate its needs and protect its diversity and beauty for future generations. Find out more

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