M F 1: Shuurman Chp. 2-3

Historically, there has been a large gap between GIS and human geographers.

• Geographers claimed that GIS could not create meaningful analysis. (p. 22)
• Human geographers believed GIS could not accommodate “intuitive” analyses (p. 23)

3 main concerns about GIS: (p. 23-4)

1.  The technological design has far-reaching effects.

2.  GIS is overseen by private sectors and solves corporate problems, not social issues.

3.  GIS is inaccessible to most people.

GIS is not “good” or “bad,” it is a part of a social process that evolves over time.  It simply reflects the social and cultural issues of the time.

Epistemology: the methods we use to study the world and the lenses they entail (p. 26)

Ontology: what something really is

The epistemological lens used to interpret the ontology of something greatly affects the interpretation.

Key point:  We have to be careful of how we represent the data we collect (how we represent it has to mesh with our intended audience, readability, etc).

Definition of positivism

• Observation precedes theory
• Statements must be verifiable

Pragmatism incorporates changes as necessary to accommodate new evidence or technical difficulties with GIS (p.30).

Key point:  GIS is not a culturally-independent process.

Scale is important to consider because as the scale decreases, details are lost (p. 43).

Key point:  Scale matters.  We must consider this in our projects, and perhaps use multiple scales for different parts of our class map.

Key point:  We must beware of how are data are collected and in what context they are collected.

Key point:  In order to transform data to a format you can use, the data must be refined through standardization and classification.  Information is lost during this process, so we must be aware of this. (p. 86)