Query: geographic information science   geography

title: Vague cognitive regions in geography and geographic information science
abstract: Cognitive regions are regions in the mind, reflecting informal ways individuals and cultural groups organize their understanding of earth landscapes. Cognitive region boundaries are typically substantially vague and their membership functions are substantially variable the transition from outside to inside the region is imprecise or vague, and different places within the region are not equally strong or clear as exemplars of the region. Methods for assessing and cartographically depicting cognitive regions, as with other vague geographic regions, have traditionally implied an inappropriate level of boundary sharpness and membership uniformity, such as when boundaries are mapped as precise lines. Research in recent decades has explored methods for assessing and depicting boundary vagueness and membership variability, either within or across individuals, but has still assumed homogeneity and regularity in the vagueness and variability. In this article, we present two studies that assess the cognitive regions of 'Northern' and 'Southern' California, and, for comparison, 'Northern' and 'Southern' Alberta. The first study uses a standard boundary drawing task; the second uses a novel task in which participants rate cells of a high resolution grid laid over an outline map. This technique allows us to assess and depict vagueness and nonuniformity that is heterogeneous and irregular across different areas. Differences in the conceptualization of 'Northern' and 'Southern' regions in California, as compared to those in Alberta, point to thematic influences on cognitive regions in California but not in Alberta. As is often true with cognitive regions, Northern and Southern California are about attitude, not just latitude.

title: Geographic information science II: Mesogeography
abstract: The 20th century witnessed the rise of social physics: the application of models and techniques developed for physical processes to social phenomena. Social physics left an enduring legacy in human geography via its stepchildren, spatial analysis and GIS, shifting geography from microgeography (description seeking) and towards macrogeography (law seeking) Social physics is back in the 21st century, and its renaissance with a concurrent rise in computational and data driven approaches to science and policy raises a wide range of concerns, including the claim that this is just macrogeography writ large: a single minded pursuit of social laws at the cost of treating people as particles and spatial context as abstract and sterile. I argue that this time is different: a more sophisticated social physics, spatial analysis and GIScience are emerging that emphasize heterogeneity and spatial context as key drivers of interesting behavior. I also argue that new social physics suggests another path to geographic knowledge somewhere in the middle: mesogeography a focus on how processes evolve in spatial context. I discuss GIScience techniques and approaches that can facilitate the quest for mesogeographic knowledge.

title: Geographic Information Science and technology as key approach to unveil the potential of Industry 4.0: How location and time can support smart manufacturing
abstract: Productivity of manufacturing processes in Europe is a key issue. Therefore, smart manufacturing and Industry 4.0 are terms that subsume innovative ways to digitally support manufacturing. Due to the fact, that geography is currently making the step from outdoor to indoor space, the approach presented here utilizes Geographical Information Science applied to smart manufacturing. The objective of the paper is to model an indoor space of a production environment and to apply Geographic Information Science methods. In detail, movement data and quality measurements are visualized and analysed using spatial temporal analysis techniques to compare movement and transport behaviours. Artificial neural network algorithms can support the structured analysis of (spatial) Big Data stored in manufacturing companies. In this article, the basis for a) GIS based visualization and b) data analysis with self learning algorithms, are the location and time when and where manufacturing processes happen. The results show that Geographic Information Science and Technology can substantially contribute to smart manufacturing, based on two examples: data analysis with Self Organizing Maps for human visual exploration of historically recorded data and an indoor navigation ontology for the modelling of indoor production environments and autonomous routing of production assets.

title: Cartography and geographic information science at Penn State
abstract: Current research in the Cartographic and Geographic Information Sciences at Penn State emphasizes map design, geovisual analytics, spatiotemporal pattern detection, spatial cognition, CyberGIS, geographic information retrieval, image analysis, and novel methods for geospatial education. Cartography and GIScience research and education at Penn State is organized through groups such as the GeoVISTA Center and the Peter R. Gould Center in the Department of Geography, the Institute for CyberScience, and the John A. Dutton e Education Institute. Recent achievements in these units have included advances in extracting geographic information from social media, novel methods for pattern analysis from event data, and the development of the first massive open online course in geography.

title: All Strings Attached: Negotiating Relationships of Geographic Information Science
abstract: Human geography has driven substantive improvements in methodologies and applications of Geographic Information Systems (GISs) yet Indigenous groups continue to experience erasure in geographic representations. GIS ontologies comprise categorised labels that represent lived contexts, and these ontologies are determined through the shared worldviews of those labelling spatial phenomena for entry into GIS databases. Although Western ontologies and spatial representations reflect Western understandings of human experience, they are often inappropriate in Indigenous contexts. In efforts to be represented in courts and land management, Indigenous groups nevertheless need to engage Western spatial representations to 'claim space' This paper examines what GISs are and do and shows that GIS technology comes with strings attached to the myriad social contexts that continue to shape the field of GIScience. We show that Intellectual Property Rights Agreements can sever and control these 'strings' the agreement between the Yorta Yorta Nation Aboriginal Corporation and university researchers reframes GIS from a technology of erasure to a technology of opportunity that enables Indigenous groups to define their own engagement. The visual and narrative outputs will contribute important understandings of the environmental crisis facing the Murray Darling Basin and connect older and younger generations through knowledge sharing. We conclude the application of GIScience is never simply technological but always has potential to empower particular communities. Applying GIS technology to new circumstances is an engagement of new relationships in the social praxis of technology transfer, where worldviews meet and negotiations are made over what exists and how we know.

title: The Validity and Usefulness of Laws in Geographic Information Science and Geography
abstract: My contribution to the session at the New Orleans meetings of the Association of American Geographers at which the ideas that appear in this forum were initially aired was as discussant, following

title: THE ROLE OF GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION SCIENCE IN APPLIED GEOGRAPHY
abstract: Applied geography has undergone remarkable changes in the last 20 years. Powerful new technologies have emerged that greatly improve the ability to collect, store, manage, view, analyze, and utilize information regarding the critical issues of our time. These technologies include geographic information systems (GIS) global positioning systems (GPS) satellite base remote sensing, and a great variety of remarkable software that allows for the analysis of the compelling problems. The issues include globalization, global warming, pollution, security, crime, public health, transportation, energy supplies, and population growth. Geographic Information Science (GIScience) has given rise to an essentially multidisciplinary approach to applied problems. No single person is expert in all of these areas. It is necessary to emphasize coordination and collaboration and to find the bridges that reduce the barriers between disciplines. In this chapter we briefly discuss the new technologies and the way in which they are being used to solve the critical issues. We then make suggestions for an applied geography future vis a vis the geographic information sciences.

title: Teaching geographic information science and technology in higher education
abstract: Book synopsis: Geographic Information Science and Technology (GISc&T) has been at the forefront of education innovation in geography and allied sciences for two decades. Teaching Geographic Information Science and Technology in Higher Education is an invaluable reference for educators and researchers working in GISc&T, providing coverage of the latest innovations in the field and discussion of what the future holds for GI Science education in the years to come. This book clearly documents teaching innovations and takes stock of lessons learned from experience in the discipline. The content will be of interest both to educators and researchers working in GISc&T, and to educators in other related fields. More importantly, this book also anticipates some of the opportunities and challenges in GI Science and Technology education that may arise in the next decade. As such it will be of interest to chairs, deans, administrators, faculty in other subfields, and educators in general.

title: Spatial thinking in geographic information science: a review of past studies and prospects for the future
abstract: In recent years, the relationship between geographic information science (GIScience) and spatial thinking has attracted much attention in English speaking countries. Nevertheless, vagueness remains concerning the concept of spatial thinking and its components. The aim of this paper is to review previous studies on the relationship between GIScience and spatial thinking, and to clarify the elements of spatial thinking and related terms. After discussing the basic elements of spatial thinking, it explores the relationship between GIScience and spatial thinking by dividing it into two aspects: the role of geographic information systems (GIS) in education on spatial thinking, and the role of spatial thinking in GIScience. Concerning the former, potential roles of GIS in spatial thinking education, particularly in geography and STEM disciplines, are suggested. Concerning the latter, the relationships between the body of knowledge on GIS education and the elements of spatial thinking are examined. Finally, the present situation and future prospects for studies on spatial thinking and GIScience in Japan are briefly discussed.

title: Volunteered Geographic Information and Computational Geography: New Perspectives
abstract: Volunteered geographic information (VGI) one of the most important types of user generated web content, has been emerging as a new phenomenon. VGI is contributed by numerous volunteers and supported by web 2.0 technologies. This chapter discusses how VGI provides new perspectives for computational geography, a transformed geography based on the use of data intensive computing and simulations to uncover the underlying mechanisms behind geographic forms and processes. We provide several examples of computational geography using OpenStreetMap data and GPS traces to investigate the scaling of geographic space and its implications for human mobility patterns. We illustrate that the field of geography is experiencing a dramatic change and that geoinformatics and computational geography deserve to be clearly distinguished, with the former being a study of engineering and the latter being a science.