Geo 507 Virtual Seminar in Geographic Information Science

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Geo 507Virtual Seminar in Geographic Information
Science
Mondays, 300-350 p.m.Wilkinson 1271 credit
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Geographic Information Science (GISci)

• geographic information systems (GIS)
• automated mapping, web mapping
• remote sensing
• global positioning systems
• distributed computing
• mobile computing

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Remote Sensing
New high-res satellite imagery will enable us to
measure, in even greater detail, physical
phenomena that change continuously over time
and large areas.
Image courtesy of Rutgers U. - 1999 UCGIS
Congressional Breakfast
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Mobile and field computing impacts both howwe
collect geospatial dataand how we use data in
the field...
Image courtesy of Rutgers U. - 1999 UCGIS
Congressional Breakfast
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Robotic vehicles for data collectionin the field
- on land...
Image courtesy of Rutgers U. - 1999 UCGIS
Congressional Breakfast
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and at sea

• on the order of tens of meters to meters
• features the size of a beer can!

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Distributed computing is changing how we enter,
manage and use spatial information ...
Image courtesy of Rutgers U. - 1999 UCGIS
Congressional Breakfast
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Map Servers - Web GIS
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Urban planners use 3-D analysis to evaluate urban
land use ...
Image courtesy of Rutgers U. - 1999 UCGIS
Congressional Breakfast
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and to recommend continuous green space
strategies...
Image courtesy of Rutgers U. - 1999 UCGIS
Congressional Breakfast
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GISci Parsed

• Geographic having to do with the surface of the
  Earth (and the near-surface)
• Geographic information
• composed of primitive tuples ltl,agt where l is a
  location in space-time and a is some general
  property, class, measurement, feature, person,
  structure
• lt?,agt where ? is some region whose definition is
  widely known
• information --gt spatial dependences and
  cross-dependences

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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70 institutions,govt., industry
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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/ucgis
• geography.uoregon.edu/gis/ucgis/

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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

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New UCGIS Themes

• Data Mining Knowledge Discovery
• Visualization
• Remotely-Acquired Data
• Geospatial Ontology
• Analytical Cartography
• 25 additional short-term challenges

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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