"Preface Geographical Information Systems (GIS) since its inception in the late 1960s have seen an increasing rate of theoretical, technological and organizational development. Developments in each decade of the last 50 years highlight particular innovations in this fi eld. The mid 1960s witnessed the initial development of GIS in combining spatially referenced data, spatial data models and data visualization. The early 1970s witnessed the ability of computer mapping in automatic map drafting and using data format. In the 1980s, computer mapping capabilities have been merged with traditional database management systems capabilities to generate spatial database management systems. Accordingly, the ability to select, sort, extract, classify and display geographic data on the basis of complex topological and statistical criteria was available to users. The 1990s saw map analysis and modeling advances in GIS, and these systems became real management information tools as computing power increased. During this decade, the Open GIS Consortium, aimed at developing publicly available geoprocessing specifi cations, was founded. Since 2000, with the advent of Web 2.0, mobile, and wireless technologies, GIS have been moving towards an era in which the power of such systems is continuously increasing in multiple facets consisting of computing, visualizing, mining, reasoning data. The latest changes in technologies and trends have brought new challenges and opportunities in GIS domain. Specifi cally, mobile and internet devices, Cloud computing, NoSQL databases, Semantic Web, Web services offer new ways of accessing, analyzing, and elaborating geospatial information in both real-world and virtual spaces"-- Provided by publisher.
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