Abstract: Objective Big data is changing the world,and also posing challenges for GIS.The volume,velocity,and variety of these data challenge the data management ability of GIS,while the veracity and value is-sues of big data challenge spatial analysis theory and methods.Thus,as a tool focusing on spatial datamanagement,analysis and visualization,GIS has to make necessary adjustments and changes to meetthe big data requirements.This paper discusses the challenges based on the 5Vproperties of big data,and then,analyzes three characteristics of future GIS in the big data era,which are:①scalable data management,②data-driven modeling and data mining,and③ geo-computational visual analytic.