Geography as War and Peace

Dr Andy EvansCentre for Spatial Analysis and Policy

The way we walk the world

• Our first response to anything is:

1.To class it into a coherent whole– Though not necessarily with any great

understanding of its boundaries

2.To slap one (or more) labels on it– That is, to position it within our knowledge

How does this fit into current GIS?

Current GIS uses standard forms (eg. polygons) and attaches labels to them.

But, often assumes:1. That there is a single recognisable object in

space2. That things being in the same space is enough

to recognise them as identical3. That the use of terms is universally recognised4. That it is easy to identify the right set of labels

for a problem

Young Gods

This is actually a pretty good representation of how a person holds a grip on the world.

This is fine where we a prepared to allow for an expert to rule our geographical worlds.

In the real world, there’s more than one person, and a lot of them believe they are the best expert on what things are.

Conflict

• Even if we accept there are experts, sooner or later there will be two who disagree on what makes up an object or what it means.

• Surprisingly we barely notice most conflicts we have with others over understandings.

– Our differences don’t matter– We resolve them invisibly

• But, when we do disagree…

So what?

• The trouble is, that we don’t realise that we no longer live in an expert-driven world.

• “Ordinary folk” are now the chief creators of geographical information and analysis.

• Geotagging• ManyEyes etc.• But, also, just the vast web.

Complex Stuff

• Are current data systems good enough?

• Celtic Onomastic Myths:– Geographical labelling held as a myth.

• Saami Joik:– A place-specific song, the purpose of which is to

maintain the existence of a space.

The

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When Good Geography Goes Bad

• Ultimately, this is a social problem and we need tools that enhance social solutions.

– Very difficult to see how one could automate the process of a Celtic Cynfeirdd arguing with a Saami Noaide.

– Equally, many more prosaic conflicts in ontologies and representations are social issues.

• What do people do when their understanding of spatial objects clash?

• They beat the living daylights out of each other.

• They negotiate.

Tools: a continuum

• Silent agreement where use-cases do not conflict, even though people’s understanding of the form and meaning of the objects do.

• Deterministic picking of the best form and ontology (or combination of ontologies where a representation can safely span them).

• AI picking of the best way to understand the objects in question.

• Social negotiation to pick the best way to understand the objects in question.

• Social negotiation to combine, resolve, and re-draft different understandings of space.

• The management of entrenched conflicts between different understandings of space.

Current GIS research

Current GIS research

A Geography of Belief

• We need to move from a “lone individual” model of concrete objects placed within expert frameworks.

• To a world of beliefs about objects and their uses in a negotiated social space.

• We have plenty of options for dealing with beliefs:– Dynamic doxastic logic– Bayesian techniques– Dempster-Shafer theory– Fuzzy Evidence sets– MCE