Michael F. Goodchild

Geographic Information Systems

Geographic information systems (GISs) are defined as software systems. In this article, the relationships between GIS and other activities having to do with geographic information are reviewed. The use of GIS in social and behavioral sciences is discussed as an increasingly essential component of the research infrastructure and as a tool for acquiring and communicating geographic knowledge. Examples are used to discuss the importance of GIS across the social and behavioral sciences. Sources of data are reviewed, and GISs are discussed from the perspectives of client–server architectures, the Internet, Internet-based services, data archives, and digital libraries. GIS use is intimately related to the role of space in scientific explanation. The article ends with a discussion on the future of GIS.

Geographical information science

Abstract. Research papers at conferences such as EGIS and the International Symposia on Spatial Data Handling address a set of intellectual and scientific questions which go well beyond the limited technical capabilities of current technology in geographical information systems. This paper reviews the topics which might be included in a science of geographical information. Research on these fundamental issues is a better prospect for long-term survival and acceptance in the academy than the development of technical capabilities. This paper reviews the current state of research in a series of key areas and speculates on why progress has been so uneven. The final section of the paper looks to the future and to new areas of significant potential in this area of research.

Crowdsourcing geographic information for disaster response: a research frontier

Abstract Geographic data and tools are essential in all aspects of emergency management: preparedness, response, recovery, and mitigation. Geographic information created by amateur citizens, often known as volunteered geographic information, has recently provided an interesting alternative to traditional authoritative information from mapping agencies and corporations, and several recent papers have provided the beginnings of a literature on the more fundamental issues raised by this new source. Data quality is a major concern, since volunteered information is asserted and carries none of the assurances that lead to trust in officially created data. During emergencies time is the essence, and the risks associated with volunteered information are often outweighed by the benefits of its use. An example is discussed using the four wildfires that impacted the Santa Barbara area in 2007–2009, and lessons are drawn.

Geographical data modeling

Data modeling is defined as the process of discretizing spatial variation, but may be confused with issues of data structure, and driven by available software rather than by a concern for accurate representation. We review the alternative data models available in spatial databases, and assess them from the perspective of accurate representation of geographical reality. Extensions are discussed, particularly for three dimensions and time dependence.

Foundations of Geographic Information Science

Geographic Information Science. The Nature and Value of Geographic Information. Communicating Geographic Information in Context. Pragmatic Information Content. Representational Commitment in Maps. Granularity in Change over Time. A Theory of Granular Partitions. On the Ontological Status of Geographical Boundaries. Regions in Geography. Neighborhoods and Landmarks. Geographical Terminology Servers. Placing Cultural Events and Documents. Geographic Activity Models.

Researching Volunteered Geographic Information: Spatial Data, Geographic Research, and New Social Practice

The convergence of newly interactive Web-based technologies with growing practices of user-generated content disseminated on the Internet is generating a remarkable new form of geographic information. Citizens are using handheld devices to collect geographic information and contribute it to crowd-sourced data sets, using Web-based mapping interfaces to mark and annotate geographic features, or adding geographic location to photographs, text, and other media shared online. These phenomena, which generate what we refer to collectively as volunteered geographic information (VGI), represent a paradigmatic shift in how geographic information is created and shared and by whom, as well as its content and characteristics. This article, which draws on our recently completed inventory of VGI initiatives, is intended to frame the crucial dimensions of VGI for geography and geographers, with an eye toward identifying its potential in our field, as well as the most pressing research needed to realize this potential. Drawing on our ongoing research, we examine the content and characteristics of VGI, the technical and social processes through which it is produced, appropriate methods for synthesizing and using these data in research, and emerging social and political concerns related to this new form of information.

Towards a general theory of geographic representation in GIS

Geographic representation has become more complex through time as researchers have added new concepts, leading to apparently endless proliferation and creating a need for simplification. We show that many of these concepts can be derived from a single foundation that we term the atomic form of geographic information. The familiar concepts of continuous fields and discrete objects can be derived under suitable rules applied to the properties and values of the atomic form. Fields and objects are further integrated through the concept of phase space, and in the form of field objects. A second atomic concept is introduced, termed the geo‐dipole, and shown to provide a foundation for object fields, metamaps, and the association classes of object‐oriented data modelling. Geographic dynamics are synthesized in a three‐dimensional space defined by static or dynamic object shape, the possibility of movement, and the possibility of dynamic internal structure. The atomic form also provides a tentative argument that discrete objects and continuous fields are the only possible bases for geographic representation.

Interoperating Geographic Information Systems

From the Publisher: Interoperating Geographic Information Systems is about efforts to improve the ability of GISs to interoperate, and has been assembled through a collaboration between academic researchers and the software vendor community under the auspices of the US National Center for Geographic Information and Analysis and the Open GIS Consortium Inc. It includes chapters on the basic principles and the various conceptual frameworks that the research community has developed to think about the problem. Other chapters review a wide range of applications and the experiences of the authors in trying to achieve interoperability at a practical level. Interoperability opens enormous potential for new ways of using GIS and new mechanisms for exchanging data, and these are covered in chapters on information marketplaces, with special reference to geographic information. Institutional arrangements are also likely to be profoundly affected by the trend towards interoperable systems, and nowhere is the impact of interoperability more likely to cause fundamental change than in education, as educators address the needs of a new generation of GIS users with access to a new generation of tools. The book is suitable as a secondary text for graduate level courses in computer science, geography, spatial databases, and interoperability and as a reference for researchers and practitioners in industry, commerce and government.

A Framework for the Areal Interpolation of Socioeconomic Data

Spatial data are collected and represented as attributes of spatial objects embedded in a plane. Basis change is defined as the transfer of attributes from one set of objects to another. Methods of basis change for socioeconomic data are reviewed and are seen to differ in the assumptions made in each about underlying density surfaces. These methods are extended to more general cases, and an illustration is provided by using Californian data. The implementation of this framework within a geographical information system is discussed.

Geospatial Cyberinfrastructure: Past, present and future

A Cyberinfrastructure (CI) is a combination of data resources, network protocols, computing platforms, and computational services that brings people, information, and computational tools together to perform science or other data-rich applications in this information-driven world. Most science domains adopt intrinsic geospatial principles (such as spatial constraints in phenomena evolution) for large amounts of geospatial data processing (such as geospatial analysis, feature relationship calculations, geospatial modeling, geovisualization, and geospatial decision support). Geospatial CI (GCI) refers to CI that utilizes geospatial principles and geospatial information to transform how research, development, and education are conducted within and across science domains (such as the environmental and Earth sciences). GCI is based on recent advancements in geographic information science, information technology, computer networks, sensor networks, Web computing, CI, and e-research/e-science. This paper reviews the research, development, education, and other efforts that have contributed to building GCI in terms of its history, objectives, architecture, supporting technologies, functions, application communities, and future research directions. Similar to how GIS transformed the procedures for geospatial sciences, GCI provides significant improvements to how the sciences that need geospatial information will advance. The evolution of GCI will produce platforms for geospatial science domains and communities to better conduct research and development and to better collect data, access data, analyze data, model and simulate phenomena, visualize data and information, and produce knowledge. To achieve these transformative objectives, col