Definition and History of GIS Flashcards
Integrates spatial and attribute information which stores information about where something is with information about what something is
Geographic Information
A framework for gathering, managing, and analyzing spatial data
System
A system of hardware, software and procedure to facilitate the management, manipulation, analysis, modeling, representation and display of geo-referenced data to solve complex problems regarding planning and management of resources
Geographic Information System
5 Questions a GIS can answer
Give at least one
- LOCATION…What is at…?
- CONDITION…Where is it…?
- TRENDS…What has changed since…?
- PATTERNS…What spatial patterns exist…?
- MODELING…What if…?
Involves the identification and study of issues relating to the use of GIS, those that affect its implementation and those that arise from its application
GIScience
How is GIScience different from GIS?
Give at least one
- GIS answers the “what” and “where” while GIScience is concerned with the “how”
- GIScience conceptualizes how to store spatial information, how to collect data and how to analyze it
- GIScience is concerned with how to build better Geographic Information Systems
What company is this tagline from?
“The Science of Where”
ESRI
To view technology as part of a broader discipline that promotes geographic thinking, offers alternatives for better decisions and provides strategies that are useful to the society
GIScience
Who said this quote?
‘it is our brand… reflects our commitment to geoscience and to innovating the great technologies that harness it so that our customers can continue to create maps that run the world’
Jack Dangermond
What is geomatics’ vision?
To master individual technologies and geographic data collection techniques with focus on the synergies obtained from when properly combining digital technologies from different disciplines
How is Geomatics different from GIS?
- GIS emerged as a tool to respond to land use planning and decision making
- Geomatics is a scientific term in response to the modern data acquisition techniques, and its main focus is on products, services and tools involved in the collection, integration and management of geographic data
A photogrammetrist who was credited for creating the term “Geomatics” or “Geomatique” in French in the mid-1980s
Michel Paradis
In 1854, spatial analysis began when cholera hit the city of ________
London, England
British physician ________ began mapping outbreak locations, but he also located roads, property boundaries and water lines
John Snow
- Many thought the disease was propagating through the air, however, John Snow noticed how cholera cases were commonly found along one of the 1)________________
- It was a major event connecting geography and public health safety and this also marked the start of 2)________ (the study of the spread of disease)
- water lines
- epidemiology
GIS evolved into using computers in the year ________
1968
- ________________ first coined the term “GIS” in his paper “A Geographic Information System for Regional Planning”
- In 2014, he passed away and will always be remembered as the ________________
- Roger F. Tomlinson
- “Father of GIS”
Stages of GIS Development
Before 1960 – ________________
- maps were simple but none of this was done on computers
- all mapping was done on paper of sieve mapping (use of transparent layers on light tables to identify overlap)
- calculating areas was next to impossible, data was coarse and often inaccurate and measuring distances was cumbersome
The GIS Dark Ages
Stages of GIS Development
1960 to 1975 – ________________
▪ advancement in technology
▪ Roger Tomlinson initiated, planned, and directed the development of the Canadian Geographic Information System (CGIS)
▪ CGIS adopted a layer approach system for mapping
▪ many consider CGIS as the roots of GIS the idea for a Canadian Land Inventory (CLI) was developed in 1964 but it wasn’t until 1971 that it became fully operational
GIS Pioneering
Stages of GIS Development
1975 to 1990 – ________________
* in mid-1970s, Harvard Laboratory Computer Graphics developed the first vector GIS called ODYSSEY GIS
* in 1982, ARC/INFO for minicomputers was launched and in 1986, PC ARC/INFO came in with the production of the Intel microcomputer
GIS Software Commercialization
Stages of GIS Development
1990 to 2010 – ________________
* ingredients were ready for the infiltration of GIS:
1. cheaper, faster and more powerful computers
2. multiple software options and data availability
3. the launch of new satellites and integration of remote sensing technology
* GIS users didn’t know how to take full advantage of GIS technology
* companies were hesitant to adopt GIS software
* slowly, GIS was being introduced to classrooms and companies
* software able to handle both vector and raster data
* global positioning system led to great innovative products like car navigations and unmanned aerial vehicles
User Proliferation
Stages of GIS Development
2010 to onward – ________________
* advancement in computer technology
* GIS data has become more ubiquitous
* range of commercial GIS software products seem endless
* GIS users building their own GIS software in an open, collaborative way – open source
* open source is becoming mainstream
The Open Source Exploration
