Download Rediscovering the World through Geographic Information Systems

Geo 507
Virtual Seminar in Geographic
Information Science
Mondays, 3:00-3:50 p.m.
Wilkinson 127
1 credit
Geographic Information
Science (GISci)
Integrates and advances technology
from…
• geographic information systems (GIS)
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automated mapping, web mapping
remote sensing
global positioning systems
distributed computing
mobile computing
Remote Sensing
New high-res satellite
imagery will enable us to
measure, in even greater
detail, physical phenomena
that change continuously
over time and large areas.
Image courtesy of Rutgers U. - 1999 UCGIS Congressional Breakfast
Mobile and field computing impacts both how
we collect geospatial data…and how we use data
in the field...
Image courtesy of Rutgers U. - 1999 UCGIS Congressional Breakfast
Robotic vehicles for data collection
in the field - on land...
Image courtesy of Rutgers U. - 1999 UCGIS Congressional Breakfast
… and at sea
• on the order of tens of meters to meters
• features the size of a beer can!
Distributed computing is changing how we enter, manage
and use spatial information ...
Image courtesy of Rutgers U. - 1999 UCGIS Congressional Breakfast
Map Servers - “Web GIS”
Urban planners use 3-D analysis to evaluate urban land use ...
Image courtesy of Rutgers U. - 1999 UCGIS Congressional Breakfast
and to recommend continuous green space strategies...
Image courtesy of Rutgers U. - 1999 UCGIS Congressional Breakfast
GISci Parsed
• Geographic: having to do with the surface of the
Earth (and the near-surface)
• Geographic information:
– composed of primitive tuples <l,a> where l is a
location in space-time and a is some general
property, class, measurement, feature, person,
structure…
– <,a> where  is some region whose
definition is widely known
– information --> spatial dependences and
cross-dependences
GISci (2)
• The science behind the systems
• Fundamental issues arising from the
systems
• The science that is done with the
technology
• Systematic study of geographic
information using scientific methods
GISci (3)
• The digital transition
– practices, arrangements, institutions
developed in the paper map era must now
respond to the massive shift to digital
representation and handling
– e.g., the Flat Earth Society
– the horseless carriage
Discovery
• Does discovery mean being there at
all?
– there is no more geography
• Hollywood and the Internet can take you there
• “Digital Earth”
– a “camera” pointed at a sunlit Earth
– a virtual, immersive world
Building the Digital Earth
• Access to data
– what is available about this place
• Tools for visualization
– 4-5 orders of magnitude of zoom
– user-centered
– beyond the visible
– analysis, modeling, simulation
Research Challenges
• Representation
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infinite complexity in the real world
spatio-temporal continuity, dynamism
an infinity of themes
must be useful, efficient
• The digital computer
– finite capacity
– binary alphabet
“To find ways to express the infinite complexity
of the geographical world in the binary
alphabet and limited capacity of a digital
computer”
Research Challenges ...
• Uncertainty
– no representation can be complete
– what the data indicate about the world
– what the user believes the data indicate
about the world
• Simulation
“To find ways of summarizing, modeling,
and visualizing the differences between
a digital representation and real
phenomena”
Research Challenges ...
• Cognition
– Human perceptions of space
• GIS technology
– learned in Upper Division or Graduate
School
– the “Spatially Aware Professional”
“To achieve smooth transition between
cognitive and computational
representations and manipulations of
geographic information”
UCGIS - www.ucgis.org
University Consortium for Geographic
Information Science
– research the issues that emerge from the use of the
technology - in areas such as scale, accuracy,
representation
– evaluate, reflect on, work to improve the technology
– work to improve GIS practice
~70 institutions,
govt., industry
UCGIS - www.ucgis.org
• science motivated by practice, observation,
practical need
• national consensus about the nature of that
science
• Cross-disciplinary linkages
www.geo.orst.edu/ucgis
geography.uoregon.edu/gis/ucgis/
UCGIS Research Priorities
• Cognition
• Extensions to
representation
• Acquisition and
integration
• Distributed and mobile
computing
• Interoperability
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Scale
Uncertainty
Spatial analysis
Future of the spatial
information
infrastructure
• GIS and society
New UCGIS Themes
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Data Mining & Knowledge Discovery
Visualization
Remotely-Acquired Data
Geospatial Ontology
Analytical Cartography
25 additional “short-term” challenges
UCGIS Education Priorities
• DISTANCE EDUCATION
– 1996 Virtual Seminar
(UCSB)
– 1998 Virtual Seminar
(OSU)
• Emerging Technologies
• “MODEL CURRICULUM”
• Accreditation and
Certification
• Supporting
Infrastructure
• Access and Equity
• Professional Education
• Alternative Curricular
Design
• Graduate GIS Education
• Learning with GIS
Syllabus,
Assignments