National Renewable Energy Laboratory

Dynamic Maps, GIS Data, and Analysis Tools

About NREL GIS

NREL's GIS team analyzes renewable energy resources to determine which energy technologies are viable solutions in the United States and inputs the data into a Geographic Information System (GIS).

GIS is a computer-based system used to manipulate, manage, and analyze multidisciplinary geographic and related attribute data. The GIS system is composed of hardware, software, data, and expertise. Using a GIS system allows the user to perform several tasks, including data capture, data management, data manipulation, data analysis, and presentation of results in graphic or report forms.

All information in GIS is linked to a spatial reference used to store and access data. GIS data layers can be recombined or manipulated and analyzed with other layers of information. The GIS allows researchers to identify relationships between features, within a common layer or across layers and data can be queried or manipulated based on tabular and/or spatial characteristics.