Geographic Information Systems (GIS) for Livestock Science: applications 1 and case studies 2 3 Enrico STURARO * , Giampaolo COCCA, Elisa MARCHIORI, Maurizio RAMANZIN 4 5 Department of Animal Science, University of Padova. Viale dell’Università 16, 35020, 6 Legnaro (PD) – Italy. 7 8 Corresponding author: Enrico STURARO, viale dell’Università 16, 35020, Legnaro (PD) – 9 Italy, +39(0)49 8272641; +39(0)49 8272669; enrico.sturaro@unipd.it 10 11 SUMMARY: In the last years the use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) software has 12 been increasing in many scientific areas. Environmental science, ecology, biodiversity 13 conservation and geography are specific disciplines where GIS find fundamental applications. 14 Also in agriculture and veterinary science approaches using GIS are increasing, especially for 15 environmental sustainability and disease monitoring. Surprisingly only few papers using GIS 16 in livestock science have been so far published in journals of Agriculture, Animal and Dairy 17 Science, according to the ISI web of Science classification. 18 This paper offers an overview on GIS applications in livestock science, taking into account 19 pros and cons of different software and providing some examples taken from the recent 20 literature. 21 Key words: Environment, Geographic Information System, Livestock, Software, Spatial data 22 23 INTRODUCTION - During the recent years the accessibility to new technology like Global 24 Positioning System (GPS) and the advances in the field of cartography, remote sensing and 25 computer science have increased the availability of spatial data and the need for specific tools 26 handling with these information. Under this scenario, Geographic Information Systems (GIS), 27 have been designed and developed since the eighties specifically to allow visualization, 28 management and analysis of data having geographical reference (i.e. coordinates 29 information). Since GIS technology has applications across a wide range of disciplines, many 30 different definitions have been proposed. One of the most general describes a GIS as "an 31 organized collection of computer hardware, software, geographic data, and personnel 32 designed to efficiently capture, store, update, manipulate, analyze, and display all forms of 33