Geographic Information Science and Systems [Paperback]

Effective use of today’s vast geographic information (GI) resources requires more than just powerful technology for problem solving. It requires science to help us understand the way the world works, and to help us devise effective procedures for making decisions. Three previous editions have established this text as a defining multidisciplinary treatment of the scientific principles that underpin the use of geographic information technologies for problem solving. This extensively revised and updated edition provides a guide to the enduring scientific principles and information systems that support effective use of today’s GI. It also provides a primer on essential methods for analysis of GI, and the ways in which effective management of GI informs policy and action. 

FOREWORD x

DEDICATION xi

PREFACE xii

LIST OF ACRONYMS xiv

Introduction

1 Geographic Information: Science, Systems, and Society 1

1.1 Introduction: What Are GI Science and Systems, and Why Do They Matter? 1

1.2 Data, Information, Evidence, Knowledge, and Wisdom 9

1.3 GI Science and Systems 11

1.4 The Technology of Problem Solving 14

1.5 The Disciplinary Setting of GI Science and Systems (GISS) 16

1.6 GI Science and Spatial Thinking 30

1.7 GI Systems and Science in Society 31

Questions for Further Study 32

Further Reading 32

1 Principles

2 The Nature of Geographic Data 33

2.1 Introduction 33

2.2 The Fundamental Problem 34

2.3 Spatial Autocorrelation and Scale 37

2.4 Spatial Sampling 39

2.5 Sampling and VGI 42