I have to write a one page paper on, What is GIS? I'm going to use this entry as a brainstorm.

GIS is the study of spatial relationships. That's a complicated task so there are many aspects of it. GIS.com focuses on the geoprocessing. This is GIS as a decision support tool. Basically a front end to a database. But this definition certainly leaves things out.

From my usual little world, I only see a small portion of the entirety of GIS as well.  I don't do a lot of analysis. One thing I do is make maps. Maps are composed of Geographic Information. How best to convey this information is GI Science, not the totality, but a part.

Incidentally, one of my favorite things about my job is that there is an aspect of creativity. Even the most technical maps, perhaps them more so than others, require quite a bit of thought about how design, color, shape, etc. contribute to meaning. These are things I have never formally studied, but have to think about every day. You could start here to read more about this. I know I should. http://www.fes.uwaterloo.ca/crs/geog165/mapdesign.htm

Data collection is an aspect of GIS. Here are people getting creative on the wrong end of GIS. While it may seem mundane. Data collection really is the biggest obstacle to using GIS in many situations, because it costs a huge amount. This fact means that data sharing and collection methods are big aspects of GIScience.

Perhaps an overlooked aspect of GIScience is it's role as a unifying field. GIS applications span a lot of different fields. Obviously geography and geology, but also forestry, medicine, marketing. I mean any field that has a spatial component is might have a role for GIS. The layering aspect of GIS software is a metaphor for the role of GIS to layer thought from different fields, and develop new information from that layering. Weather and disease. Environment and planning. Anthropology and  forensic hydrology.

11:08:39 PM    

I'm up way to late. 

So cyborgs and the virtual class...  I became obsessed with vCards recently. At http://www.getvcard.com/ you can put your vCard up and have people subscribe to it. Not that anyone would subscribe to mine... Whenever you change your info, it tells the people. I also read about the specifications at http://www.imc.org/pdi/ as I mentioned in an earlier post. Is this a retreat into the virtual? I guess. Do I give a shit?

The real question is: Is technology good or evil? Is it possible for technology to be good or evil? Technology X can be used for good or evil by any value system. I'd say that pretty much makes it neutral.

I have to admit, the promise of technology does create the illusion that I can be more connected to others. This is clearly bullshit. Email and telephone etc..  don't substitute for the presence of the body. Or maybe I'm just a holdover to the old ways.  I can't get with it man. Well, I end up hating people anyway. I might as well hate them online, it's easier than doing it right to their face. Much easier to hate people online, much harder to love them.

 

10:36:57 PM