Geographical information systems applications in Turkey: The case of Eskişehir

In the world the 20th century is known as a period in which technology has developed rapidly and has included in every aspect of human life. Technology continues its adventure in the 21st century to develop further and to improve its status of being an indispensable part of life day by day. It is now impossible to sustain daily life without navigation, satellite, map, geography information systems, which are one of the services offered by the advancing technology to people. Geographical information systems (GIS), whose foundations were laid in the 19th century, continued its development throughout the 20th century and reached a very advanced level in the 21st century, provide great convenience for administrators in the state administration and for people in professional business life or ordinary life. Geographical information systems are utilized in infrastructure services, municipal services, environmental management, natural resource management, education services, management services, property services, health services, defense services, agriculture-forest management, trade-industry services, tourism, transportation services and many subjects not listed here. Today, GIS acts as a very useful device in the management of administrative units such as countries, regions, provinces, districts and villages. It is possible to say that GIS applications are very useful material in terms of public administration, good management and governance. In this study, firstly, the place of GIS in world history, then which and the contents of GIS applications have been used in Turkey and finally the application of the Provincial Investment Tracking System (ILYAS) in Eskişehir, which is one of the current GIS applications, are discussed. Keywords: Application, Eskişehir, Geographical Information System, Technology, Urban Information System