ABSTRACT

This chapter reviews computer graphics hardware and software, starting with screen display technology and hard copy output technology for printers and plotters. It focuses on the subject of colour specification and methods of transforming between different colour systems that are used in computer graphics. The chapter presents interactive input devices which enable the user to control the running of a Geographical Information Systems (GIS). It then considers briefly the graphics software systems that programmers use to implement the graphical aspects of GIS and cartographic packages. The graphics software is able to direct graphic output to screen displays, to hard copy printers and plotters and to plot files or image files that can store graphical data for subsequent display. Flat-panel raster technology in the form of leds, electroluminescent and plasma panel displays is very widely used in portable computers. The most commonly used screen technology is that of the Cathode Ray Tube (CRT), operating in raster mode.