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Periodically through history, cartography has been invigorated by shifts in environmental conception and advances in technology. Current forces for change are information systems thinking, emphasis on visualization, and the electronic technology of computers and telecommunications. When these forces are harnessed for environmental applications, the result is an automated geographic information system (GIS) that integrates data bases, mathematical analysis procedures, and graphical representation methods. Maps serve geographic information systems as a source of input data, a framework for spatial analysis and modeling, and an output medium. Cartography and geographic information systems influence each other, but mapping may get the best of the relation. GIS technology promises to transform cartography by changing what gets mapped, what form maps take, who makes and uses maps, and how maps are used. We can also expect a better tailoring of maps to user needs and characteristics. In the process, all involved will have to pay closer attention to the nature of cartographic representation.

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