History of GIS

History of GIS The history of GIS (Geographic Information System) dates back to the 1960s, when computer-based mapping systems were first developed for the military and intelligence communities. The development of these systems was driven by the need to analyze and manage large amounts of spatial data for military planning and decision-making. In the 1970s, the concept of GIS began to be developed for civilian applications, particularly in the fields of urban planning and natural resource management. The first commercial GIS software, called SYMAP, was developed in 1967 by Howard Fisher and associates at the Harvard Laboratory for Computer Graphics. In the 1980s, GIS technology became more widely available and affordable, and its use expanded into a wide range of fields and applications. The development of desktop GIS software, such as ARC/INFO and ArcView, made GIS more accessible to non-specialists, and the use of GIS expanded rapidly in fields such as environmental science, tr...