Since geographical information systems (GIS) first appeared, transportation scientists found them to be a natural aid, at first for representing the spatial and later the temporal aspects of transportation networks and infrastructures. As GIS developed, so did their use in transportation science and they became essential not only for visualisation but also to facilitate and speed up data management, algorithmic operations and decision making. This paper analyses the contributions and influence of GIS in transport science on the basis of three frameworks: geodatabase, geomapping, and geomodelling, all of which highlight the importance of location.