Earlier this month at the 2025 Illinois Professional Land Surveyors Association (IPLSA) conference, I had the opportunity to present What is GIS? in Springfield, Illinois. The session aimed at breaking down the fundamentals of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and showing just how much this technology does beyond simply making maps. My goal was to help attendees understand the real power of GIS in infrastructure planning, data management, and decision-making across industries.