Principles Of Geographic Information Systems Used For Earth Observation Data

The term ``Geographic Information System (GIS) appeared in the 1960'sas a result of the extension of database systems to all types of geographic data.GIS is a decision-making tool which provides geographic knowledge. Itrepresents a rapidly expanding field which covers various disciplines suchas cartography, geography, statistics, remote sensing and other disciplinesdealing with the analysis of located data. A large number of GIS applicationsinvolve all types and all scales of spatial management (urban planning,environment, etc.). Its use with spaceborne Earth observation data isintroduced here.