Abstract
GIS has developed by matching technological possibilities with problem-solving requirements. With each level of added complexity, the temptation is to specialize in the technology that is easy to explain to colleagues, to the detriment of breadth of knowledge with its ability to integrate GIS into larger systems. With only technical emphasis in GIS, one can mistake added data quantity and algorithm complexity (“map”) for the application (“territory”). With added breadth of knowledge comes increased understanding of both systems and domains, plus increased ability to innovate, communicate and advance both the individual’s economic usefulness and their public role. Undergraduate GIS training should establish outcomes that guide the student through increasing technical expertise, including the ability to speak effectively with non-GIS experts. This will provide degree holders with marketable skills for open-ended jobs and will be a valuable educational path for technical graduates looking to keep up with developments. Both graduates can continue to benefit from ongoing technical training offered in the workplace and through short courses. A broad GIS education adds value to any specialization that needs to examine spatial relationships. It allows making of increasingly sophisticated maps, without mistaking the technical output for the territory of the domain.
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Notes
- 1.
Like any complex non-patentable idea or invention, the origin of GIS is contested; in this case by – among others – the Harvard University Laboratory for Computer Graphics (http://news.harvard.edu/-gazette/story/2011/10/the-invention-of-gis/). Stories grow up around inventions and discoveries as well. Tomlinson’s particular claim is generally accepted, and the details are not important for our purposes in this paper. For those interested in backstories, see http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/unlikely-history-origins-modern-maps-180951617/
- 2.
Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Korzybski) attributes this phrase to Alfred Korzybski (1879–1950), who was a pioneer in general semantics; however I have not been able to verify this fact. Its disciplinary or philosophical origin does not seem to hinder the phrase’s usefulness in focusing geographical discussion.
- 3.
Geomatics was a term proposed in French in the early 1980s in The Canadian Surveyor (Paradis 1981). It has been used more in Canada than elsewhere, perhaps because of its bilingual origins and ease of use in two official languages. A Google search returned only one non-Canadian link within the top 50 hits. The origins of the term within the surveying community, however, have (perhaps unfairly) led to a connotation that Geomatics is most properly concerned with location itself, especially with high location precision and accuracy, rather than with attribute analysis and modelling. The two are closely related and in the author’s opinion should not be artificially separated by terminology. Within a GIS, location is empty without attributes, and attributes are orphaned without location.
- 4.
See http://www.npr.org/2011/07/26/137646147/the-gps-a-fatally-misleading-travel-companion for a media example and commentary from 2011.
- 5.
This is not to make a value judgement, as of course geographers concerned mainly with human phenomena have adapted GIS to their uses from the start, as explained by the involvement of census needs in early GIS topology definitions. However it remains true that the earlier adopters were, not surprisingly, concerned with land resources, since GIS had started for them and co-evolved with their needs.
- 6.
http://www.geekabout.com/2008-01-03-440/top-17-most-bizarre-sights-on-google-earth.html includes both data errors and common misinterpretations due to such things as image viewing angles.
- 7.
http://gisgeography.com/college-gis-certificate-programs-list-canada/ maintains what it calls an “exhaustive list” of college (preuniversity and technical bachelor’s) level GIS programs in Canada. This shows the extent of current offerings but is presented in a primarily advising/marketing format and does not mention the year of inception of each program. Those the author is directly familiar with became available in the early 2000s.
- 8.
American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing: http://www.asprs.org/Certification-Program.html
- 9.
Association of Professional Geologists and Engineers of Alberta: https://www.apega.ca/apply/exams/technical/courses/geomatics/
- 10.
Canadian Board of Examiners for Professional Surveyors: https://www.cbeps-cceag.ca/sites/default/files/C%205%20Geospatial%20Information%20Systems%20Study%20Guide_0.pdf
- 11.
Urban and Regional Information Systems Association: http://www.urisa.org/careers/gis-professional-certification/
- 12.
While writing this chapter, I was contacted by a reporter wondering why the new bus arrival times for the city’s transit system were so often wrong (by a whole minute sometimes!) and thinking it was some fault in the “GPS ” system. It took a while to explain that the fault, or rather uncertainty, was likely in the city’s traffic model that joined the location of the bus from GPS, the location of the call, and forecast the travel time using route speed limits. The reporter echoed a common impression that GPS could “see” everything in the future rather than model and predict it with attached uncertainties.
- 13.
I do not use the GIS term “query” here since it tends to cloud the issue for many students in my class. I limit “query” to the technical sense of point selection according to user criteria http://support.esri.com/en/knowledgebase/GISDictionary/term/definition%20query). I use the terms in this way purely to minimize misunderstanding in a GIS classroom.
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Acknowledgements
I would like to thank several people who have supported my teaching experimentation and critical thinking about practice. Dr. Greg McDermid of the University of Calgary strongly encouraged me to begin teaching outside of my more comfortable areas of remote sensing and associated raster GIS and to dive into the much broader and less wieldy areas of GIS in general. Dr. Lynn Moorman of Mount Royal University engaged in many years of discussions and co-teaching, starting with a K-12 teacher training course “way back” in the 1990s before it even seemed possible. Don McLaughlin of the Calgary Separate School District has been both a colleague in bringing GIS to elementary students and a GIS student in my courses and student project mentor. Finally, thanks go to a succession of Department Heads in the University of Calgary Department of Geography who fully supported teaching experimentation and participation in teaching and learning-enhancement programs, even when it limited my time for other important things.
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Hall-Beyer, M. (2019). “The Map Is Not the Territory”: Adding Value to Technical GIS Education. In: Balram, S., Boxall, J. (eds) GIScience Teaching and Learning Perspectives. Advances in Geographic Information Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-06058-9_5
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