Abstract: Physical space and social space constitute the dual space of human society. With the rapid development and popularization of information and communication technology (ICT), information space has grown into the third space, which constitutes the ternary space of human society together with physical space and social space. Smart cities are the intelligent transformation of cities under the condition of ternary space. Its basic engineering logic is to establish the mapping from physical space and social space to information space, and then feedback physical space and social space through information space to optimize the urban system and solve the urban problems. Geographic information system (GIS) is a technical science that depicts and expresses physical space and social space from the perspective of space. Establishing the intrinsic relationship of ternary space through GIS will be the logical basis for the construction of smart cities. Firstly, the GIS technology requirements of smart cities is analyzed from four aspects: Digitization, intelligence, visualization and openness. Then, a GIS framework for smart cities is proposed, the core of which is shielding complex heterogeneous data downwards and enabling diverse applications upwards. Finally, the key research contents that need to be focused on is discussed, including unified urban data platform construction, digital twins and visualization, two-way synchronized spatial intelligence, and open platform services.