A GIS is powerful because it brings together tools for working with geographic data in many different ways. For instance, with a GIS you can...
Display geographic information in the form of maps, charts, and tables
Design simple to sophisticated "what-ifs" in the form of database and map queries
Investigate patterns, relationships, and details about places at different scales and in different map projections
Perform statistical analysis and database functions
Add data sets of your own creation and join data from outside sources to existing geographic areas
Create your own geographic areas for mapping and analysis
Link photos, video, text, and graphics to specific geographic locations for multimedia presentations
Lay out and print a map, chart, table, and graphic images
Export maps, charts, and tables for use in other software packages
Like any other sophisticated software application, a GIS such as ArcView requires time to master. However, as with other software packages, you do not need to know how to use every function at any given time, especially at the start.
As you begin to use GIS, some of the things that you will want to do are:
Make a map
Explore a map display
Query a map display
Add personal data to a map
Print a map
Create a map for a report or slide presentation
For example, suppose you want to know where earthquakes occurred in 1995. Using a GIS, you could create a map showing countries and oceans of the world and then add data from the National Earthquake Information Center showing the location of major earthquakes occurring in the first half of 1995.
You easily can change this map to show only those earthquakes that meet a certain condition, such as displaying only the highest magnitude earthquakes. You also could create a map of this same information in a different map projection, or a report of how many earthquakes occurred in each country. A GIS helps you explore a single piece of information in many ways. A GIS also helps you combine many pieces of information about a single topic or place.