158 Copyright © 2017, IGI Global. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of IGI Global is prohibited. Chapter 6 DOI: 10.4018/978-1-5225-0937-0.ch006 ABSTRACT Geographical Information Systems (GIS) are the systems that store location based data and analyze them. In this study, GIS is defned and its importance and functions are described. Usage of GIS in marketing area is explained in details and fnally number of academic publications about GIS in general and in marketing literature for decades are analyzed through fve diferent and some of the mostly used databases in social sciences, which are Ebsco, ProQuest, Sage, Springer and Science Direct. Since the importance and usage of GIS in marketing applications and literature increases, however its ratio in total GIS literature is not sufcient yet. INTRODUCTION Information that is required in marketing activities is gathered through some tools and geographic infor- mation systems are one of them. Its usage raises as its importance are realized in marketing activities. By means of geographic information system (GIS), collecting tremendous data, storing them in database, updating when required, analyzing, drawing visible maps based on analyses, accessing the necessary information obtained as a result of analyses are possible. A GIS is essentially a digital map linked to a database management system which can be used for the purposes of displaying and querying information, carrying out spatial analysis and assisting in the decision making process. Although GIS’s emergence is not so old, its usage spreads rapidly in many different areas such as geography, criminology, archeol- ogy, education, tourism, management and marketing. With combination of geography and marketing disciplines result in emergence of a study area which is called geomarketing. Geomarketing is a recent discipline that combines the geographic visualization and analysis with marketing techniques, aiming at more efficiently attaining the ultimate goal of organizations. Important marketing activities such as segmentation, positioning and research can be performed more effectively through geomarketing. These Geographic Information Systems and Its Applications in Marketing Literature Dursun Yener Istanbul Medeniyet University, Turkey