Post on 01-Jan-2016
Mondays, 3:00-3:50 p.m.Wilkinson 1271 credit
Geo 507Virtual Seminar in Geographic Information Science
Geographic Information Science (GISci)
• geographic information systems (GIS)• automated mapping, web mapping• remote sensing• global positioning systems• distributed computing• mobile computing
New high-res satellite imagery will enable us to measure, in even greater detail, physical phenomena that change continuously over time and large areas.
Remote Sensing
Image courtesy of Rutgers U. - 1999 UCGIS Congressional Breakfast
Mobile and field computing impacts both howwe collect geospatial data…and how we use data in the field...
Image courtesy of Rutgers U. - 1999 UCGIS Congressional Breakfast
Robotic vehicles for data collectionin 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– 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/ucgisgeography.uoregon.edu/gis/ucgis/
UCGIS Research Priorities
• Cognition• Extensions to
representation• Acquisition and
integration• Distributed and mobile
computing• Interoperability
• Scale• Uncertainty• Spatial analysis• Future of the spatial
information infrastructure
• GIS and society
New UCGIS Themes
• 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