Why GIS Matters Almost everything happens somewhere Knowing where some things happen is critically important Position of country boundaries Location of hospitals Routing delivery vehicles Management of forest stands Allocation of funds for environmental concerns

Why GIS Matters What are the distinguishing characteristics of geographic problems? 1. Scale of Inquiry 2. Intent or Purpose

Why GIS Matters What are the distinguishing characteristics of geographic problems? 3. Basis of Time Scale A) Operational, required for smooth functioning of an organization B) Tactical, medium-term decisions C) Strategic, long-term direction Transactional, databases that require updating

Spatial is Special Geography is Great! Geographic – Earth’s surface and near-surface Spatial – any space (including geographic) Geospatial – synonymous with geographic however, also has technological connotation

Why is Geographic Information Special? Multidimensional, need 2 coordinates X,Y Z

Why is Geographic Information Special? Voluminous, large databases

Why is Geographic Information Special? Sinusoidal Requires projection to flat surface Hammer-Aitoff Cylindrical Equal Area Behrmann

Why is Geographic Information Special? Unique (spatial) analysis methods

Managing What We Know Data, numbers, text, symbols, which in some sense are neutral and almost free context-free Degree of interpretation, given a “relation” to another data set Information, implies a degree of selection, organization and preparation for particular purpose

Managing What We Know Knowledge, information to which value has been added Interpretation based on context, experience, purpose Codified Knowledge, written down and transferable Tacit Knowledge, obtained little by little and complicated to transfer

Managing What We Know Evidence: between information and knowledge information that has been validated Wisdom: decisions made or advice given that is objective highly individualized

Information on the World Software captures and implements the general Database represents the specific Nomothetic: general or universal laws Idiographic: Individual or specific cases or events

Forms of General Knowledge Classifications Rule sets Laws Geographic laws are of much lower accuracy

Problem Solving Stages: 1. Objective 2. Tangible vs. intangible 3. Multi-criteria decision-making techniques