Designed to make the complexity of this rapidly growing high-tech field accessible to beginning students, this text provides a basic, non-technical and student-friendly introduction to GIS. It uses a ?learn-by-seeing? approach that features clear, simple explanations, an abundance of illustrations and photos, and generic practice labs for use with any GIS software. The Fourth Edition is updated with laboratory assignments for ArcView 8.

Every copy of the fourth edition of Getting Started with Geographic Information Systems comes packaged with free demo copies of ArcVIEW 3.1, providing users with a fully-functional 120-day limited edition version of this powerful software. The CD also contains lab exercises complete with data.

In addition, the text's website (http://www.prenhall.com/clarke) provides numerous resources for both instructors and students, including review exercises, PowerPoint presentations for instructors, and links for further exploration.