Lecture 1

© 2008 Dept Geography UFSLaboratory for Teaching and Research in GIS

Introduction to Geographic Information Systems

GIS224

Lecture 1



Opening Definitions

Data – numbers, text, symbols Sea surface temperature, soil

type, population numbers

Information – differentiated from data

implying some degree of selection, organization, and preparation for particular purpose, or

data given some degree of interpretation

Geographic Information(map, digital form)

Information about places on Earth’s surface

Geographic versus spatial

Geographic refers to Earth’s surface and near surface

Spatial refers to any space (more general)

Knowledge about where something is

Knowledge about what is at a given location

Can be very detailed or very course

Can be relatively static or change rapidly

Can be very sparse or voluminous


Information Systems

Help us to manage what we know

Make it easy to organize and store, access and

retrieve, manipulate and synthesize, and apply

solution of problems

Examples of Information Systems


Geographic Information Technologies

Technologies for collecting and dealing with

geographic information

– Cartography – Mapping – surveying

– Remote Sensing

– Global Positioning System (GPS)

– Geographic Information System (GIS)


What is GIS?

GIS stands for “Geographic Information

Systems”

– Special kind of “information system”

– Uses special information about what is where on

the Earth’s surface


What does a GIS look like?

How would I know one if I saw one?

Two distinct meanings of the question “Is this a GIS?”

1. GIS is a real application including hardware, data, software and

people needed to solve a problem (a GIS application)

2. GIS is a type of software sold by a software developer

GIS hardware like any other computer with perhaps some extra

components.

What is important is the kind of information that’s stored.

In addition, a GIS includes tools to do things with this information.

– Special functions that work on geographic information


Spatial is Special

Almost all human activities and decisions involve a

geographic component

Technical reasons why geographic information is

special [Longley et al. (2001)]

– Multidimensional (at least 2 coordinates to define a location)

– Voluminous

– Often must be projected onto flat surface

– Requires special methods of analysis


GIS Software Vendors

ESRI – http://www.esri.com

Intergraph – http://www.intergraph.com

Autodesk – http://www.autodesk.com

Clark Labs – http://www.clarklabs.org

…….

http://www.esri.com/

http://www.intergraph.com/

http://www.autodesk.com/

http://www.clarklabs.org/


What is GIS used for?

Why go to all this trouble and expense?

Who needs to know what is where?

Few of the most important uses:– Utility companies

– Transportation

– Farmers

– Planning

– Forestry


Why Does GIS Matter?

“Almost everything that happens, happens somewhere.

Knowing where something happens is critically

important.” Longley et al. (2001, 6)

Because location is so important, it is an issue in many

of the problems society much solve


Geographic problems

Problems that involve an aspect of location– Information used to solve the problem

– Solutions themselves

Classifying geographic problems– Spatial scale

– Intent or purpose

– Temporal scale

Examples– Location of a new highway

– Management of forests

– Precision agriculture


Systems, Science, Studies

What does it mean to be “doing GIS”?

What’s the “S” in GIS– Using the tools and helping to build the tools of geographic

information systems (GISystems)

– Studying the theory and concepts that lie behind GIS and other geographic information technologies (GIScience)

– Study the societal context of geographic information – legal context, issues of privacy, economics of geographic information (GIStudies)

Wright, D.J., M.F. Goodchild, and J.D. Proctor. 1997. GIS: Tool or Science?, Annuals of the Association of American Geographers, 87(2): 346-362.


Geographic Information Science

Term coined in a paper by Goodchild (1992)Goodchild, M.F. 1992. Geographic Information Science. International Journal of Geographical Information

Systems, 6:31-45.

Studies the fundamental issues arising from geographic information; body of knowledge that GISystems implement and exploit

Address questions:– How does a GIS user know that the results obtained are accurate?

– What principles might help a GIS user to design better maps?

– How can user interfaces be made readily understandable by novice users?

Other terms meaning same as GIScience

Evolved significantly over the past 10 years– Research journal renamed

– UCGIS – http://www.ucgis.orgIn 1996, UCGIS institutions held an assembly to identify the most important research

topics

– International Conference on GIScience - http://www.giscience.org

http://www.ucgis.org/

http://www.giscience.org/


Scholarly Journals Emphasizing GIS Research

International Journal of GIScience (formerly International Journal of GISystems)

Cartography and GIScience (formerly American Cartographer and Cartography and GISystems)

Computers and Geosciences

Computers, Environment and Urban Systems

Photogrammetric Engineering and Remote Sensing

Transactions in GISystems

Geographical and Environmental Modeling

Geographical Analysis

GeoInformatica

Annals of the Association of American Geographers

Journal of Geographical Systems (successor to Geographical Systems)


Disciplines of GIScience

Traditionally researched

– geographic information technologies

– digital technology and information

– studied Earth

– worked to integrate knowledge from different

disciplines within context of Earth’s surface

– studied nature of human understanding and its

interactions with machines


Next

Spatial awareness – your learners’ licence

for GIS

Documents

Lecture 1