Re Presenting Gis

Geographical information science is now recognised as a multi-disciplinary subject that receives interest from the technical and socio-theoretical ends of the research spectrum. Re-Presenting GIS brings together in one cohesive volume the concepts and concerns of both schools of thought and looks at GIS from a theoretical and practical perspective. The increasingly widespread use of Geographical Information Systems (GIS) has meant that a version of ‘geography’ has been exported to many other disciplines and walks of life where this technology has been found to be useful. In the analysis of geographic information, ‘geography’ is often short hand for the spaces and distances used to explain or model some phenomenon. Typically, it is the usefulness of this, in turn almost entirely a consequence of the phenomenon of spatial autocorrelation, which explains the evident popularity of GIS. The academic underpinning of GIS, Geographical Information Science is not merely a technical subject; it poses difficult theoretical questions on the nature of geographic representation and whether or not there exist limits on the ability of GIS to deal with certain objects and issues. This book attempts to synthesize the different strands of debate between technical GIS issues and social-theory of GI Science representation by looking at the conceptual and applied aspects of the subject in one cohesive volume. This is the first book to present the debate surrounding technical GIS and theory of representation from an ‘inside’ GIS perspective. The chapters have been split into three distinct sections exploring objects, time and space; their interaction with each other and with GIS Re-presenting GIS is aimed at: advanced students (undergraduate and postgraduate) taking courses in GIS academic researchers in GI Science and Computer Science with interests in the modelling of spatial information and practitioners involved with GIS who need an accessible guide to current thinking in GI Science research. The Workshop that gave rise to this book was organized with the generous assistance of the UK Economic and Social Research Council, under its Research Seminar series. The editors wish to express their gratitude. 'Geographical information science' is not merely a technical subject but also poses theoretical questions on the nature of geographic representation and whether there exist limits on the ability of GI systems to deal with certain objects and issues. This book presents the debate surrounding technical GIS and theory of representation from an 'inside' GIS perspective. Chapters are authored by leading researchers from a range of fields including geographers, planners, ecologists and computer scientists from Europe and North America.