TY - JOUR T1 - MAPS: A GIS for land resource management in Montana JF - Journal of Soil and Water Conservation SP - 450 LP - 453 VL - 45 IS - 4 AU - G. A. Nielsen AU - J. M. Caprio AU - P. A. McDaniel AU - R. D. Snyder AU - C. Montagne Y1 - 1990/07/01 UR - http://www.jswconline.org/content/45/4/450.abstract N2 - Ageographic information system (GIS) can be an effective tool for land A use planners, engineers, researchers, agricultural producers, resource consultants, and others who need information about land resources on a regular basis. Storing land resource data in a GIS provides the capability to (a) easily retrieve information, (b) produce information tailored to different needs, (c) display and discover information through manipulation of large data bases, and (d) identify and assess variables for predictive models (22). As a tool for summarizing, manipulating, and presenting an ever expanding land-attribute data base, the Montana Agricultural Experiment Station at Montana State University developed a computer-based GIS. The Montana Agricultural Potentials System (MAPS) is an operational, statewide GIS that displays any combination of almost 200 climatic, physiographic, land use, and soil attributes on Albers equal area maps at several scales. System format MAPS stores and manipulates data in raster (grid) format on a VAX 8550 mainframe computer. Several of the FORTRAN system programs are modified from the Land Use Mapping … ER -