(GUI) a graphical method used to control how a user interacts with a computer to perform various tasks —note 1. instead of issuing commands at a prompt, the user is presented with a dashboard of graphical buttons and other functions in the form of icons and objects on the display screen; the user interacts with the system using a mouse to press an icon button to perform the function —note 2. other GUI tools are more dynamic, and can involve moving an object on the screen to invoke a function, e.g., a slider bar is moved back and forth to determine a value associated with a parameter of a particular operation, such as setting the scale of a map This definition last updated 10/27/2008