1. From paper maps to geomatics: GIS definitions

1.1 A brief history

In order to better assess the benefits of a geographic information system, we need to highlight the main drawbacks of paper mapping:

• from a structural point of view, paper is not perfectly dimensionally stable;

• the amount of information a map can contain is limited, mainly for reasons of legibility;

• Once produced, the paper map is a fixed document, and it can even happen that maps are out of date as soon as they are published;

• it is difficult to extract accurate information, especially given the eye's power of separation;

• no quantitative analysis can be carried out between two thematic...