"Therefore, GIS meets the requirements for making operational the methodological approach outlined in the previous section.
In the first place, it enables the location of economic activity and other geographical constraints to be quantified in a
consistent and comprehensive way, to provide what one might call a "controllable description" of the geographical aspects
of the phenomena being studied. By this phrase we mean that the investigator can analyze the extent to which specific geographical
constraints apply to different data layers: for example, how proximity to transportation infrastructure affects different
types of industrial plants. In addition, the precise plants affected in different ways can be identified individually, so
the impact of the constraints on their decision making and their productive activities can be investigated more specifically.
Not only does geography matter, but GIS makes it much easier to determine the precise extent to which it matters in varying
locations. This is a crucial point. The mathematical theory behind GIS gives a sound basis for the analytical operations it
can perform. These analytical operations are designed to address precisely the kind of factors that nonspatial economic analysis
must disregard because of its very assumptions, never mind its methodology. GIS is therefore an ideal complement to adjustment
theory, providing comprehensive rather than partial investigation of processes of regional economic development." (584)
