Geographic Information Systems for managing the ecosystem and living resources of the White Sea

An efficient tool for studying the ever changing natural environment is the Geographic Information System (GIS). GIS is intended for the collection, systematization, storage, processing, analysis, assessment, and display and distribution of data, and thus for the provision of information and knowledge about spatially and temporally-varying phenomena (Tikunov, 1991). GIS is used for the solution of a broad spectrum of scientific and practical tasks that are, in some way or another, related to spatially distributed data. GIS is very frequently used for decision-making support, in part because a thematic map is a very efficient way of displaying diverse and extensive data required to support decision making.