This is a completely new version of the highly successful Principles of Geographical Information Systems for Land Resources Assessment, first published in 1986. The new book provides a comprehensive and concise introduction to the theory and practice of Geographical Information Systems (GIS). It explains the theory and technical details behind GIS and provides all the information necessary to understand why spatial information data and the information systems based on them are important in the modern world.  ‘This new publication is up to date and provides comprehensive coverage of virtually all aspects of GIS. It is clearly written and technical where appropriate… it should be recommended for postgraduate courses and for all teachers of GIS.' David Walker, The Times Higher Education Supplement

1. Geographical Information: Society, Science, and Systems; 2. Data models and axioms: Formal abstractions of reality; 3. Geographical Data in the Computer; 4. Data input, verification, storage and output; 5. Creating continuous surfaces from point data; 6. Optimal interpolation using geostatistics; 7. The analysis of discrete entities in space; 8. Spatial analysis using continuous fields; 9. Errors and quality control; 10. Error propagation in numerical modelling; 11. Fuzzy sets and fuzzy geographical objects; 12. Current issues and trends in GIS; Appendix 1 Glossary of terms; Appendix 2 A selection of World Wide Web Geography and GIS servers; Appendix 3 Example data sets

Peter A. Burrough, Department of Physical Geography, Utrecht University; Rachael A. McDonnell, Hertford College, Oxford

[This second edition] builds upon the previous work in providing a very welcome basic, concise and more up to date introduction to the principles underlying GISs ... a osund and readable introduction to a complex subject. International Research in Geographical and Environmental Education, v. 9 no. 3, 2000