Geographic Information System (GIS) versus Cartographic Software (CAC)

We can roughly sub-divide the software relevant for cartographiy into two groups:

GIS programs generally provide a huge potential to store, manage and analyse referenced and interconnected data. In contrast to GIS, CAC software is mainly used for high quality visualisation of given spatial information. To achieve this, CAC users work with user-friendly graphic software with a large number of special functions and tools.

GIS and CAC visualisation of spatial information example

Discover the difference between GIS and CAC visualisation of spatial information by rolling over the following example with your mouse.
A. GIS visualisation of spatial information (Land use in Rafzerfeld).
B. CAC visualisation of the same information.

map source: student work IKA, ETH Zurich