**8. Summary**

This chapter gives an overview of the aims, benefits, and the possible issues of creating a GIS from cave survey data focusing on the data types on both the input (surveying) and output (modeling) side. The most widespread data types are listed and explained along with the functionalities of the system components. The here presented approach highlights that in cave investigations one does not use simply one program to process the data, but many of them (worksheet editors, map editors, and modeling tools). Although, in strict sense, not all of the used component programs have GIS capabilities, using them in a common project connects them into an information system which has to fulfill three functionalities: processing, storing, and representation. This chapter explains how these functionalities are handled in the case of new and archive data processing.

It is very crucial, and the chapter emphasize it in several ways that the archive data is precious despite of its poorer quality in spatial resolution compared to the data of recent surveys. The huge amount of archive data is lost if it is not processed and incorporated into a common information framework of the GIS. One should not forget the environmental impact of a scientific study when deciding about a new survey instead of data-mining the archives. In some cases, the type of cave management may also has changed since the time of an archive survey (e.g., the cave has been opened to the public), and some parts of the cave cannot be surveyed any more in its original, natural form. Without building such an information system from the archives, modeling and the related studies must rely only on the contemporary data.

The chapter can help cave investigations in two ways: for those who are already familiar with surveying it draws attention to the importance of procedures like data management, quality control, or automation; and for those who work with the data as beginner users, the paper can shed lights to the various tasks related to cave surveys.
