Chapter 1 - Text Book Flashcards
What problems do GIS solve?
problems that involve the aspects of location
these sorts of problems are called Geographic Problems
For example delivery services solve geographic problems when they choose a route
What are the three bases for distinguishes Geographic Problems
Scale, purpose and time scale
Geographic Problem 1 : Scale
Scale or Geographic Detail
For example the scale of a building or the scale of a problem that is being dealt with (like covid-19)
Geographic Problem 2: Purpose
Sometimes the problems are practical like costs or emergency regulations
When the purpose of GIS is to create knowledge or test hypothesis it is argued that GIS is not distinct in its methods as its used by a range of people like academics and the government.
= design vs normative use
What is GIS able to do with a single collection of tools?
GIS is able to bridge the gap between curiosity-driven science and practical problem solving
Geographic Problem 3: Time Scale
Time scaled are mor complex than maps or what we can comprehend. For example geophysicists look at things that are longer than the average human life
Why is Geographic Information mulit-dimensional ?
Because two coordinates must be specified to define a location e.g. x and y or longitude and latitude
GIS is voluminous, explain
a geographic database can store a LOT. E.g. it can easily reach a terabyte in size
Why is Geographic Information so time consuming?
although the information is static , the process of updating it is complex and expensive
To display geographic information as a map takes large amounts of data
Geographic Meaning
The Earths surface and near surface
Spatial Meaning
Any space, not only the Earths space
Other than the Earth, where can GIS methods be applied?
The Cosmos, other planets and the human body. There is even an example of GIS being applied to genome sequences in DNA
Geospatial meaning
Implying a subset of spatial applied specifically to both the earths surface and near surface
Why is geographic information so important?
Because almost every decision ever is made using it and it is especially used to
make difficult decisions
What do Information Systems help us do?
They help us manage what we know by making it easy to store, access and retrieve, manipulate and synthesize and apply to solutions of problems
1 megabyte
6 zeros
Single dataset in a small project databse
1 gigabyte
9 zeros
Entire street network pf a large city or small country
1 terabyte
12 zeros
Elevation of the entire earth taken at 30m intervals
1 Petabyte
15 zeros
satelliet image of entire earth at 1m intervals
1 exabyte
18 zeros
A future 3d representation of the earth at 10m intervals
What is data
Data can be numbers, text or symbols without context or bias
data is the most mundane kind of information and wisdom to the most substantive
Information meaning
Can be narrow or broad
Narrow: Can be treated as devoid of meaning, which means it is basically like data
Broad: there is a degree of selection, organization, and preparation for a purpose
its costly to produce but once digitilized it is cheap to reproduce
it is also easy to add information to information through merging and processing
What is GIS better at sharing?
It is better at sharing data and information rather than knowledge
Knowledge
Knowledge is information with added context, experience and purpose
When you read something and understand it, it goes from information to knowledge
Codified Knowledge
Knowledge is codified if it can be written down and transferred with relative ease to others
Tactic Knowledge
Tactic knowledge is slow to acquire and hard to transfer
Because of its nature it is often a source of competitive advantage
How are knowledge and information different (3 ways)
1)knowledge needs a knower (it is related to people) whereas information can exist independently
2)Knowledge is harder to transfer between people whereas information is easy and quantifying knowledge is harder
3)Knowledge needs more assimilation. , we digest it rather than hold it. While we may hold conflicting knowledge , we cannot have conflicting information.
Evidence
Is considered the halfway between knowledge and information
It can be considered a multiplicity of information from different sources related to specific problems
Wisdom
is the top level of a hierarchy of decision making infrastructure
Decisions made with all the information with an awareness of the consequences
What are Geographic Information Systems?
Computer based systems used for storing and processing geographic information
What are Geographic Information Systems used for?
They are used as tolls to improve efficiency and effectiveness of handling information about geographic objects and events.
For example, storing vast amount of geographical information in databases, conducting analytical operations in a fraction of the time it would take to do it by hand and automating the process of making useful data
What are the requirements of the GI scientific method
Transparency of assumptions and methods so that other GI scientists know how the results were reached and how they can add to it
Objectivity to avoid bias , intentional or not
The ability of any other qualified scientist to reproduce the results
Methods of validation using the results of the analysis (internal validation) or other information sources (external sources)
Knowledge about how the world works is…
more valuable than knowledge about how it looks because it can be used to predict
How does knowledge about how to world works and how it looks differ?
Mainly in their level of generality
Whilst places can look very different how processes effect different places is more complex
Idiographic Geography
The description and features of a landscape
Nomothetic Geography
Seeks to discover the general processes
How does GIS combine Idiographic and Nomothetic Geographies
It reflects real life attributes (like slopes) and the probability of mass movement under pressure (general process)
Therefore accommodates both types of data
Classification
The simplest form of general information
widely used in geographic problem solving
classifying data - like what kind of land is grass and what is not
Rule Sets
Another form of general information
Rules that determine an outcome - e.g. what part of the forest can be destroyed
Law
things that are almost considered certain to predict human actions
lots of errors do tend to occur when using this ‘general information’
What does solving problems in GIS typically involve
It involves several conponents and stages
Objective
Objective (GIS problem solving)
What the person aims to achieve - e.g. to minimize or maximize
minimize costs or greatest profits
maximizing quality of life and minimizing environmental impacts
sometimes objectives are both easy and hard to measure
sometimes measured through surveys and questionnaires
usually a problem will have more than one objective
What is the basic definition (because it keeps changing ) of GIS
A collection of software tools ( sometimes brought by a vendor) to carry out certain well defined functions (GIS software), digital representations of the real world in the form of a dataset (GIS data), people who advocate for the use of these tools for a variety of purposes (the GIS community), and the activity of using GIS to solve problems ( doing GIS)
Everyone has a ..
different definition of GIS. This depends on the context of who you are (e.g. the general public its a map making software or scientists its a tool for revealing what otherwise would be invisible with geographic information)
Explain the ARC GIS’s
ARCGIS is a brand name for a variety of diverse types of GIS
ArcINFO -high end information system
ArcView -using for viewing and analzying mapping data
ArcGis Engine - software that developers can embed in their applications
ArcGis Mobile - a simple version available on a phone
There are other versions
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Does GIS have well defined component parts?
Yes , despite its complexity
The most fundemental part is the Network
Network component
Allows for communication and data sharing amidst big groups of people
This would not be possible without the Network component of GIS
Internet Component (network)
The internet was designed to be a network between computers. Has developed into society’s mechanism for information exchange.
The internet has had a massive effect on the development of technology over the past 20 years
1.4 billion people across the planet use the internet
Is core to most aspects of GIS , as a result the days of standalone GIS are basically over
What is the main effect that the web has had on GIS
That it allows collabortation
For example , Web2.0 allows two-way collaborations between users and websites
AJAX-enabled websites
they work better with first generation GIS where the users click/ pan/ zoom and wait for the map to load
API’s
Are available from a variety of websites , both spatial (google maps) and non spatial (facebook) and provide a variety of functions to third party applications
e.g the ability to add point or lines to a google map
you need a high level of technical proficiency but it is now easy to download
What are the 6 components of GIS
Network
hardware
Software
Data / Database
Management / people
Procedures
Hardware
The machiene itself that is used to access GIS , e.g. a desktop of a phone
Software
Is what runs locally within the machiene e.g. a web browser or microsoft
in recent years GIS software packages have become quite sofisticated and can handle all the requierments of a standard GIS project
Commercial software is rarely open sourced
Data / Database
e.g a 3D representation of the real world
They consist of a digitalrepresentation of certain aspects of the earth or near earth surface, usually with the purpose of answering a scientific query
Management / people
An organization that makes sure that GIS runs and updates as it should
people - the people that use it to answer geographic questions. Can be of varying skill
open source
Data that is readily available to the public
What is the Software Industry
The most conspicuous part of the GIS sector
GIS is worth over $1billion in software terms
