Multi-cultural Aspects of Spatial Knowledge

Journal of Geographical Sciences, 2014

people to recognize, understand and simulate entire geo-environments. Therefore, exploration of the GIS language's functions in contemporary geographical developments is becoming increasingly important. Similarly, construction of the conceptual model and scientific systems of the GIS language will promote the development of the disciplines of geography and geographical information sciences. Therefore, this paper investigates the prospects of the GIS language from the perspectives of digital technology, geographical norms, geographical modeling and the disciplinary development of geography.

Some possible issues for further discussion: GIS and Society versus Critical GIS As was evident in the debate at and following the 1998 UCGIS Summer Assembly in Park City, Utah, there remains a major intellectual tension between the various themes identified in Chapter 10. It may well be profitable to determine whether the umbrella approach provided in the chapter has been superseded by events and progress since it was written. On the other hand it may well be beating a dead horse, and contributions such as the special issue of Cartographica mentioned by Eric Sheppard have made redundant discussion of whether these themes need to be further refined. Digital Earth, etc. The advent of Google Earth, Microsoft's Virtual Earth and other geobrowsers has major implications for how we interact with geographical information in a number of domains, across social groupings and across cultures. GIS and Society has clearly become mainstream. For example, Jeremy Crampton supervised a wide col...

2009

GIS and Theoretical Geography Cognitive Categories and Experiential Realism Categories Perception, Cognition, and Schemata Some Geographical Examples Models of Space Models of Geographic Space What is the ’Objective’ Geometry of Geographic Space?

2019

In order to support a discussion on the above topics, a basic theoretical framework proposed by Brodeur et al. (2003) was presented (Figure 1). This framework establishes five conceptual levels of abstraction in the path from physical reality to the digital representation of geographic information. This graduation is divided into two main parts, namely, a conceptual and an implementational realm. The former is inherently human and springs from our cognitive models of reality. The latter is formal, i.e. it refers specifically to the representation of geographic concepts and dynamics as computational ontology. In accordance to this framework, it can be argued that, within the conceptual realm, the interplay between physical and socio-cultural aspects dynamically produces and reproduces conceptual representations. If the ontology of GIS should mirror these representations, and if the dynamics and

International Encyclopedia of Human Geography, 2009

Alternative Representations Different approaches to portraying geospatial information to address a particular task. Critical GIS Social theoretic issues that underlie geographic information science and systems. Geographic Information and Society A relationship between geographic information use and a context within a society. Geographic Information System (GIS) A combination of database management capabilities for collecting and storing large amounts of geospatial data, together with spatial analysis capabilities to investigate geospatial relationships among the entities represented by that data, plus map display capabilities to portray the geospatial relationships in two-and three-dimensional map form. Participatory GIS Members of community group(s) directing the use of GIS to address community outcomes. Public Participation GIS Members of a community responding to local government request to participate in the governance process of that community. Social Construction Influences from society directing development and use of geographic information systems. Society A community, nation, or broad grouping of people having common traditions, institutions, and collective activities and interests, or more specifically an enduring and cooperating social group whose members have developed organized patterns of relationships through interaction with one another. Spatially Integrated Social Science Social science explicitly recognizing a spatial component that improves understanding in the science.

Geoforum, 1992

This essay seeks to critically conceptualize the term geocultural space and the emerging field of study with which it is associated by exploring the various ways in which such space is currently being mapped by researchers using digital humanities tools and methods. In drawing together intersecting interests in Geographic Information Systems and spatio-cultural narratives and experiences, this work defines an interdisciplinary field of research that is gathering momentum as geolocative technologies that shape and reshape the ways in which we perceive and experience the world become increasingly prevalent in academic life and in the cultural mainstream. Since the " spatial turn " 1 in cultural theory in the late 1980s, Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Geographic Information Science are no longer the preserve of geography departments; rather, digital mapping projects exist within such otherwise disparate disciplines as literary and cultural studies, history, health sciences, media studies and marine biology, to name just a few. Many of these projects are either using digital mapping tools to engage with notions of geocultural space or are creating digital artefacts that have implications for the ways in which geographic and environmental spaces are culturally understood. Although researchers undertaking digital mapping may be based in institutes and faculties between which there is little opportunity for dialogue or sharing ideas and techniques, GIS arguably establishes a bridge between research in the sciences and the humanities. Interdisciplinary research of this nature rests not only on shared research methods, it also necessitates thinking through the implications of such work in terms of what geocultural space is and how it may be conceptualized.

Proceedings, 5th International Symposium on Spatial …, 1992

The conceptualization of the use of geographic information systems (GIS) is being considered here as a question of metaphor selection. The paper claims that understanding the use of a system as such, independently of specific tasks, is always done in terms of some familiar domain of experience and is consequently metaphorical. In order to distinguish this understanding from task-specific metaphors, the term "paradigm" is used. A paradigm can be conscious or can implicitly underlie the design and use of a GIS, but it always has profound psychological, economical and organizational consequences. Some relevant paradigms are analyzed and their current or potential role for GIS is discussed.

Despite the many alternative insights produced within human geography since the height of the spatial science tradition of the 1960s and those within geographic information systems (GIS) itself, we still observe in our classrooms, hiring committees, and textbooks a dominant and singular understanding of GIS that fixes its meaning in ways that marginalize ''non-GIS'' geography. We are concerned about the effect that this valuation of GIS and devaluation of its others might have on the discipline of geography. In what follows, we report on our examination of the dominant discourse of GIS across a variety of sites in numerous academic, commercial, and educational sources where we found it to be repeatedly performed in ways that give particular meaning and power to ''GIS.'' We identify four characteristics attributed to GIS by and through this widespread discourse. We then discuss the effect of this discourse and, in particular, what it might mean to the discipline of geography. Finally, we suggest an exploration of ''heterodox GIS'' as a discursive strategy that we should deploy in our classrooms, departments, and beyond, as well as a political project aimed at destabilizing a singular and orthodox GIS. Such strategies should not strive to undermine or negate GIS but, rather, should aim to negate the notion that GIS is a single thing, linearly progressing, inherently expanding, and universally applicable.

Topoi-an International Review of Philosophy, 2001

I have in front of me on my desk a road atlas of Europe, opened at the page showing the area of southern Europe spanned by the cities of Lyon, Marseille, and Torino. What a wealth of information the map provides! At the bottom of the page is a uniform pale blue expanse representing the Mediterranean sea, but above this, where the land begins, all is a riot of words, symbols, and patches of colour. The mountainous areas of Savoie and Haute-Provence are picked out by irregular patches of light grey shading giving a suitable impression of uneven topography. Certain individual mountains are indicated by means of little triangles annotated with their heights in metres. There are many wooded areas indicated by patches of pale green, and rivers represented by winding blue lines. As it is a road atlas, these natural features merely serve as a background to the enormous number of man-made features that are depicted. There are cities, towns and villages in abundance: most of them are shown as circles of various sizes, but the larger cities are represented as expanses of yellow indicating, at least approximately, the true shape and extent of the built-up area. And there is, of course, an intricate web of roads, from the motorways shown as bold yellow lines bordered in red, to a succession of lesser roads in red, yellow, or white, their thicknesses varying to indicate their relative importance. In addition to all this, of course, there are conventional markings such as administrative boundaries, grid-lines, and a great many names.