Comments on: Geographic Information Science After GIS http://www.gisblog.net/research/geographic-information-science-after-gis/ Geospatial Information Science - Trends, Tools & Technologies Thu, 04 Dec 2008 19:30:59 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.5 By: Martin Swobodzinski http://www.gisblog.net/research/geographic-information-science-after-gis/#comment-6480 Martin Swobodzinski Sat, 10 Feb 2007 01:07:56 +0000 http://www.gisblog.net/research/geographic-information-science-after-gis/#comment-6480 GIS. Sold to many as the savior from unemployment and an infinite source for research. Or at least to me and my fellow classmates in GIScience ‘back in the days.’ Despite this very intriguing view of the potential of GIS, we should open our eyes to reality and see GIS for what it is--a set of tools. This realization is nothing new to the broader GIScience community and it is no surprise to me that it reflects itself in the proceedings of current GIScience conferences. Yes, GIS was at the core of GIScience in its beginning stage, but the field evolved and extended far beyond GIS. That is not to say that there is no research left in respect to GIS. One example would be the efforts that are undertaken in the realm of PPGIS--addressing both technical and critical questions. Some might argue that critical approaches are not part of GIScience. I do not subscribe to this view. At the end, it all becomes a problem of semantics. What is GIScience? If one applies a broader definition, then the shift of GIS to the periphery of GIScience doesn't really change anything about the discipline itself. GIS. Sold to many as the savior from unemployment and an infinite source for research. Or at least to me and my fellow classmates in GIScience ‘back in the days.’ Despite this very intriguing view of the potential of GIS, we should open our eyes to reality and see GIS for what it is–a set of tools. This realization is nothing new to the broader GIScience community and it is no surprise to me that it reflects itself in the proceedings of current GIScience conferences. Yes, GIS was at the core of GIScience in its beginning stage, but the field evolved and extended far beyond GIS. That is not to say that there is no research left in respect to GIS. One example would be the efforts that are undertaken in the realm of PPGIS–addressing both technical and critical questions. Some might argue that critical approaches are not part of GIScience. I do not subscribe to this view.

At the end, it all becomes a problem of semantics. What is GIScience? If one applies a broader definition, then the shift of GIS to the periphery of GIScience doesn’t really change anything about the discipline itself.

]]> By: Patrick Maué http://www.gisblog.net/research/geographic-information-science-after-gis/#comment-6337 Patrick Maué Sat, 03 Feb 2007 23:27:45 +0000 http://www.gisblog.net/research/geographic-information-science-after-gis/#comment-6337 Perhaps a reason is that we are still in the transition from local GIS workstations to distributed (or centralised) GIS networks. But this development never really got off the ground. We are stuck in this transition, and we don't really know what we can expect from the future (and therefore many people decide to put not too much research efforts into it and prefer to wait). Just a guess ;) Perhaps a reason is that we are still in the transition from local GIS workstations to distributed (or centralised) GIS networks. But this development never really got off the ground. We are stuck in this transition, and we don’t really know what we can expect from the future (and therefore many people decide to put not too much research efforts into it and prefer to wait).

Just a guess ;)

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