Over the last fifty years, new technologies have dramatically changed how planetary surfaces may be observed from a distance. The resulting art and science, coined as remote sensing, was founded on principles of mathematics, astronomy, computer science and engineering, and nurtured by geography and a host of interrelated disciplines. In particular, digital geographic information systems (GIS) have had a profound impact on remote sensing over the last few decades. Recently, sophisticated applications of GIS and remote sensing known as spatial decision support systems (SDSS) have been developed to help solve complex environmental problems ranging from hazardous nuclear waste site management to understanding healthy forest conditions that protect against insect infestations. A continuing goal for remote sensing and GIS is to become more economical, reliable, and efficient across multiple disciplines. Remarkably, many of the same tools used for spatial decision making on earth are also used to study other planetary bodies. It should therefore be possible to improve the study of these multiple disciplines by integrating their spatial decision making tools with a single powerful computer.