Geographic Information Science
The Bigger Picture:
GISystems vs. GIScience
GISystems need a theoretical foundation.
GIScience:
The field that seeks to redefine geographic concepts and their
use in the context of geographic information and the digital age [NCGIA
1996].
Several motivations:
- Scientific
- Technological
- Societal
GIScience, a multi-disciplinary field
- The supporting sciences of GIScience:
Geography, computer science (e.g., databases, graphics, HCI,
AI), cartography, geodesy, mathematics, statistics, cognitive science, psychology,
linguistics, etc.
- The user communities of GISystems:
Geography, city and urban planning, emergency response, environmental
monitoring, business, transportation, etc.
The interesting questions in GIScience
How do we:
- conceptualize geographic worlds?
- capture geographic concepts?
- represent geographic concepts?
- store, access, and transform geographic concepts?
- explain and analyze geographic phenomena?
- visualize geographic concepts?
- use geographic concepts?
All seven questions have significant database aspects.
[ Title | Introduction
| Cognitive Foundations | Formal
Models and Computational Implementations | GIS
Research Community ]
Last updated on June 5, 1996.
[ Max J. Egenhofer |
NCGIA Maine |
Department of Spatial Information Science and Engineering ]