Geographic Information Systems and the New Landscape of Political Technologies

One of the most interesting and least understood of the software applications in political campaigns is so-called geographical information systems, or GIS. It is technology that allows campaigns to systematically look at their constituencies in new ways, through multilayered and colorful maps. Through a combination of cartography and demographic research, GIS allows candidates and political campaigns to access voters in a multimedia context that can be put together with the most advanced techniques from marketing and demographics to create a sophisticated form of mapping technology with direct applicability to political campaigns. This article is a review of GIS software applications in political campaigns, with particular attention to its use in the 1992 presidential election by the Clinton campaign.