what is "giscience"?
Geographic information
science (GIScience or GISci) includes the existing technologies
and research areas of geographic information systems (GIS), cartography,
remote sensing, photogrammetry, and surveying (also termed geomatics
in the U.S.). GIScience therefore addresses fundamental issues
in the use of digital technology to handle geographic
information; namely, information about places, activities, and
phenomena on and near the surface of the Earth that are stored
in maps or images.
GIScience includes questions
of data structures, analysis, accuracy, meaning, cognition, visualization,
and many more, and thus overlaps with the domains of many traditional
disciplines (e.g., Earth science, mathematics, computer science,
physics, cognitive science, and ethics). However, GIScience is
not central to any of these, representing instead a new kind of
scientific collaborative that is defined by researchers from many
distinct backgrounds working together on particular sets of interrelated
problems.
The use of GIScience technologies (including, but definitely not
limited to GIS) has become pervasive throughout the scientific
community, natural resource management, government, industry,
and business. Even small advancements in geographic information
science are having broad effects in improving day-to-day tasks
throughout all sectors of society, allowing us to:
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track
and model the spread of pollutants or destructive biological
agents |
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provide detailed planning
for efficient and environmentally sound land development and
management |
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map the migrations
and territories of endangered animal and plant species |
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track depletion and
recovery patterns of fisheries, forests, soil erosion, and
ozone |
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navigate automobiles
and emergency vehicles along optimal routes through busy cities |
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inventory and manage
the physical facilities of utilities and city governments
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explore new ways to
visualize the human genome; carry out detailed epidemiological
studies of diseases |
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select optimal sites
for businesses and other facilities |
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safely and efficiently
guide airplanes and other vehicles as they progress along
their routes |
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a host of other applications |
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