this class was about theory, about basic, fundamental concepts, SOME hands-on

• based on a national curriculum

• CONCEPTS - data model, data structure, topology

• TECHNIQUES - overlay, buffer, map algebra, statistics

• TOOLS - labs

WHY SPECULATE on Future? - May get something right!

• Most of tomorrow's systems are under development now. (UCGIS)

• Some of tomorrow's systems already exist, but are not diffused through the hierarchy of potential users.

  Speculating on GIS's future is valuable because of:

  • Planning for the purchase of hardware and software.

  • Expansion into new fields and application areas.

  • Geographic information science, a new science that is used to design future information systems.

  Geographic Information Science

  • The digital transition

  • A mature technology like word processors, spreadsheets

    • so easy a child could do it

  • An immature technology whose development requires significant advances in research

    • computer scientists, electrical engineers

  • A technology that requires a strong theoretical and conceptual framework that has not yet been developed

    • compare statistics, computer science

  Research Priorities for Geographic Information Science

  • Spatial Data Acquisition & Integration

  • Distributed Computing

  • Extensions to Geographic Representation

  • Cognition of Geographic Information

  • Interoperability of Geographic Information

  • Scale

  • Spatial Analysis in a GIS Environment

  • The Future of the Spatial Information Infrastructure

  • Uncertainty in Spatial Data and GIS-based Analyses

  • GIS and Society

  Compared to 10 years ago:

  • Acquiring data for a new GIS is no longer a major problem.

  • GPS has become a major source of new GIS data, and comes increasingly from integrated GPS/GIS systems.

  • Digital map images such as scanned maps and air photos are often used as a background image for cross-layer registration and update.

• Remote sensing will become an all-important source of GIS data as the cost of data falls and new sorts of data arrive.

• Data exchange will become more common and has been facilitated by exchange standards.

  Digital Earth

• A new wave of technological innovation

  • capture, store, process and display
  • unprecedented amount of data

• e.g., Landsat satellites

  • high-rez photo of the entire Earth
  • every 2 weeks for the last 20 years
  • drop in bucket

The study of the Earth requires many different levels of detail.

Global forecast simulations use resolutions in the 40 to 200 kilometer range.

10 kilometer resolution is characteristic of some atmospheric measurements from geosynchronous orbit.

1 kilometer resolution is characteristic of weather satellite Earth images from geosynchronous orbit.

30 meters is the resolution of a Landsat image.

Some recent low Earth orbit commercial and Earth resource satellites have resolutions approaching 1 meter.

A multi-resolution, three-dimensional representation of the planet, into which we can embed vast quantities of geo-referenced data.

• ... zoom in, using higher and higher levels of resolution, to see continents, then regions, countries, cities, and finally individual houses, trees, and other natural and man-made objects.

--The Digital Earth Vision as articulated in an address given at the California Science Center in Los Angeles by Vice President Al Gore

- not limited to moving through space, but can also travel through time. The time-line, which stretches off in the distance, can be set for days, years, centuries, or even geological epochs ...

• As prototypes became available, it would also be possible to interact with the Digital Earth in multiple places around the country with access to high-speed networks, and get a more limited level of access over the Internet.

A very visual Earth explorer that lets Scientists, both young and old, examine information about the Earth to learn how the forces of biology and geology interact to shape our home planet.

Looking at maps and data is a form of analysis in itself

A map of a certain place - combines what the data tells you with what you already knew about a place

Many years ago everything was on a flat plane

Paper maps were stacked on top of each other

Everything was at a uniform scale (area covered)

Everything was at a single level of resolution (detail)

We can now escape these constraints

More GIS Trends

• Improvements in the user interface have substantially altered GIS "look and feel."

• Basic data differences such as raster vs. vector may disappear as GISs become more flexible.

• Object-oriented programming and databases will continue to improve GIS.

• GIS software is now easier to install and maintain.

• Many GIS databases are now distributed over local or wide area networks.

• Multimedia and hypermedia will play a growing role in GIS, especially in help and training systems.

• Desktop mapping on a budget

• Real high end power

• GIS/GPS integration

• Rapidly maturing market with broad public acceptance and knowledge

• The Web: More than data delivery

  The Internet is driving an entirely new computing model and architecture. It is multi-tier, distributed, and network based. It demands scalable, component technology.

The Intergraph GeoMedia Architecture meshes perfectly with the emerging network computing architecture that maximizes the strengths of host systems (manageability, scalability) and client-server (rich user interface, open choice) while minimizing the weak

One of the major goals of network computing is to lower the total cost of ownership of technology; both on the client side and the server side. Pulling business logic into the network where it can be professionally managed is one facet. Contrast this inte

This multi-tier architecture is commonly drawn as a three-tier environment, but it might easily be even more than three tiers when necessary (for example in widely distributed, component-based solutions).

Web Mapping: What You Need to Know

• GIS / Projections / Relationships / SQL Databases

• VB / JavaScript / OLE Programming (object linking & embedding)

• Network Hardware, Software and TCP/IP

• Web Authoring / Graphic Art Design

• Communication Skills

• Your Web Users

. Who is accountable for the various components of an NSDI or GSDI and who will pay for it?

. What roles will partnerships play in fulfilling spatial information needs?

. To what extent should these activities be privatized?

. What are the potential risks and benefits of privatization?

. Can incentives be created to encourage wide spread spatial data use and sharing?

. To what extent can Defense and Intel data be utilized to support civilian initiatives such as GDIN?

. What new liabilities and responsibilities will arise?

. How will public policies on the right to privacy and public access affect spatial data activities?

Major investments in geospatial data capture and projects have been made.

Have we successfully quantified the economic and social impacts of these projects?

Will the use of geographic information be embraced by both the political process as well as the citizenry?

Election Planning Monitoring in South Africa

Societal Issue: Democratic Access

• open and democratic access to geospatial data is now possible!

• are the policies and funding in place to support this?

• If not, there is a real danger of major disenfranchisement

  • the right and the need to access these data.

• information haves and have nots.

Where to Go From Here

• Take GEO 580 and/or FOR 421/521

• Getting to Know ArcView

• Inside Arc/INFO

• GIS: A Visual Approach

• Keep surfing the web and reading the geography/GIS literature

• Get an internship or research project

• Go to conferences, workshops