What Does ‘GIS’ Mean?

Many definitions of ‘GIS’ have been proposed, but they are rarely discussed in the peer‐reviewed literature. Most definitions in active use have serious limitations. Recent literature includes a variety of proposals to redefine GIS by changing the third word. This paper proposes an extended definition accompanied by a condensed form that contains the key concepts: ‘Geographic Information System (GIS) – Organized activity by which people measure and represent geographic phenomena then transform these representations into other forms while interacting with social structures.’