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3
GIS/GIScience Research Needs
N ational needs in GIS/GIScience span a wide spectrum of research
topics, ranging from applications through abstract theoretical
considerations in cartography, computer science, geography,
military science, philosophy, psychology, intelligence and security stud-
ies, and sociology, among other disciplines. Some of the dilemmas evoked
by GIS technology and its existing and proposed applications arouse seri-
ous public policy questions and debate. The suitability of existing organi-
zational arrangements to meet the demands inspired by GIS/GIScience
can be questioned with specific reference to college and university struc-
ture, research funding mechanisms, and research agenda setting.
PRACTICAL AND THEORETICAL CHALLENGES
Geographic information systems have revolutionized the ways soci-
ety handles geospatial information, allowing the automation of what were
previously tedious and inaccurate methods of map analysis, the construc-
tion of sophisticated simulations of real systems, and the visualization of
geospatial information in new and exciting ways. Much research is still
needed, however, to handle new and potentially powerful datasets, to
exploit research advances that have been made but not implemented in
ways that are easy to use, and to provide effective tools in support of
spatial decisions. In addition to enjoying new ways of collecting, viewing,
and manipulating more accurate and more precise geographic data, geo-
graphic information scientists continue to improve their capacities to cre-
ate higher-dimensional datasets by integrating data from multiple
43
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44 BEYOND MAPPING
sources. Maintaining or accelerating current rates of improvement in data
integration constitutes a major challenge, as does grappling with the re-
lated questions of access to data (who can have what, when, and where),
data preservation (what and how much to keep and how to organize what
is kept) and providing access to stored information.
The Mapping Science Committee's report Weaving a National Map
(NRC, 2003b) commented on several of the data characteristics envisioned
in the USGS plan for the National Map. The committee used the metaphor
of blankets and quilts to describe the complex nature of multiresolution
geospatial information that is inevitable in today's world. While organi-
zations such as the Bureau of the Census must work with uniform blan-
kets of a specified scale for the entire nation, local governments continu-
ously create quilts of extremely high resolution for property records and
infrastructure management. The committee identified this as a major is-
sue, noting that "the edge-matching problems caused by variable resolu-
tion will be severe and not always solvable" (NRC, 2003b, p.51). This is
the type of practical technical issue that is likely to be addressed by the
new Center of Excellence in GIScience that is being created by the Na-
tional Geospatial Programs Office (USGS, 2005). The research agenda for
this center is being created with assistance from the NRC's Mapping Sci-
ence Committee.
While GIS software has demonstrated its importance and functional-
ity in business and government applications that rely on the creation,
maintenance, and retrieval of spatially referenced information, applica-
tions in some scientific domains have been more challenging. For example,
atmospheric, hydrologic, and environmental scientists often need to
model dynamic processes that occur in three dimensions above or below
Earth's surface. The first "Environmental Modeling with GIS" meeting
was organized in 1993, and a series of scientific conferences have followed.
In order to meet the specialized needs of researchers in these communi-
ties, software vendors have expanded their tools for analysis, interpola-
tion, and flow modeling. They have also developed interactive tools that
enable a researcher to visually develop process models that link data in-
puts to procedures and output. These tools enable a hydrologist to create
a surface flow model that can run with standard GIS software and also be
shared with other colleagues for further refinement and evaluation.
Clearly, three-dimensional virtual globes such as Google Earth assist
with the visualization of these model results. They also provide an excel-
lent way to discover real-time data sources such as USGS stream gauges.
The challenge of extending existing GIS tools into complex dynamic en-
vironments is being addressed by a new GIS initiative at the Center for
Capacity Building in the University Corporation for Atmospheric Re-
search (UCAR) within the National Center for Atmospheric Research
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GIS/GISCIENCE RESEARCH NEEDS 45
(NCAR) in Boulder, Colorado. The main objective of this initiative is to
promote and support the use of GIS as both an analytic and an infrastruc-
ture tool in atmospheric research in order "to foster collaborative science,
spatial data interoperability, and knowledge sharing with GIS." A work-
shop in 2002 explored crucial issues related to integrating weather and
climate data with complementary information from the physical sciences,
social sciences, and related areas of the geosciences. A group of UCAR
and NCAR scientists and engineers have been exploring opportunities
for using GIS to enhance knowledge sharing and integration for research,
applications, and education (http://www.gis.ucar.edu/initiative.html
[accessed May 24, 2006]).
Some additional problems and questions for which more ideas and
more trained people are needed are
· Ways to map and analyze such dynamic phenomena as new road
construction, thunderstorm and hurricane development, or animal, hu-
man, and inventory movements in near real time;
· Developing real-time maps for handheld devices, including audio
capabilities;
· Testing possible relationships between disease outcomes and envi-
ronmental, demographic, and social indicators to predict the spread of
disease through human, animal, or plant populations;
· Refining navigational information for the sight impaired;
· Analyzing networks to identify choke points and critical nodes,
and the potential effects of removing or blocking selected links in a road
network or for evacuation during emergencies;
· Investigating why past data-sharing efforts failed and identifying
the types of institutions and mechanisms (e.g., mandates, incentives, regu-
lations) most likely to succeed given current interaction among federal,
state, local, and private organizations;
· Methods for analyzing vast repositories of geospatial data in search
of patterns and anomalies to uncover unknown associations between and
among attributes; and
· Portraying greater detail in response to (1) using voice or gesture
activation, (2) pointing and clicking (linking and brushing) on features of
an image that are linked to supplemental information (e.g., audio files), or
(3) zooming to a higher-resolution image.
Privacy Issues
Many geospatial datasets contain sensitive information and conse-
quently are restricted or licensed. For example, an insurance company's
database of property information is one of its most valuable and protected
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46 BEYOND MAPPING
assets, yet those data would be invaluable to emergency response organi-
zations during a fire or natural disaster. Other data, while extremely use-
ful to fire and police organizations, could be dangerous in the wrong
hands. Research is needed to identify both the technical advances required
to create systems for sharing restricted data and to formulate business
models that simultaneously support and constrict access to sensitive
datasets. In fact, the emergence of GIS/GIScience could be taken as a
stimulus for taking a fresh look at the entire concept of privacy relative to
geospatial data, rather than creating a set of ad hoc solutions.
Interoperability
Even though geospatial data are created for numerous purposes by a
variety of public and private organizations using different standards and
software, it is important to maximize the interoperability of data and soft-
ware. Many types of geographic data are created by a variety of public
and private sector organizations. For example, when anthrax spores were
detected in New Jersey postal facilities, state health officials scrambled to
identify building locations, potentially affected neighborhoods, and build-
ing floor plans for inclusion in the state GIS in order to facilitate analyses.
Databases used by state officials were often incompatible with local infor-
mation sources. The result was masses of datasets with no way to inte-
grate them quickly, accurately, or efficiently. The optimal benefits of these
data will be realized and the risks they pose for society will become more
evident when they can be accessed, integrated, and manipulated simulta-
neously by diverse organizations coordinating their activities.
GIS/GISCIENCE AND SOCIETY1
As with any new technology, one of the challenges facing societies
that employ geographic information systems is that of ensuring maximum
benefits while minimizing the risks of misuse. Geographic data can be
misused, either deliberately or through inadvertence, as often occurs
when individuals innocent of the principles of mapping portray data in-
appropriately. The collection of geographic data and the ability easily to
copy digital data can raise questions about who owns what data, for how
1The term "GIStudies" has been proposed to designate research on the uses to which GIS
and GIScience are put and investigations of the interactions between GIS/GIScience and
societies. Though not widely adopted, the distinction does identify a critical realm for scien-
tific and policy research, either independently or as a focus within the general topic of sci-
ence, technology, and society analyses (Forer and Unwin, 1999).
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GIS/GISCIENCE RESEARCH NEEDS 47
long, and for what purposes. Numerous questions regarding intellectual
property with respect to geographic data are being contested, and many
more will arise in the future as the use and value of geographic data in-
crease (NRC, 2004).
Geographic information systems and geographic information science
appear to be benign technologies, but some of their applications have been
questioned; as is true of any technology, GIS, though neutral in and of
itself, can be used for pernicious ends. GIS makes it easier for marketers,
for example, to pinpoint likely customers for purposes of advertising, but
the same data and techniques can be used to profile individuals and
groups for surveillance or for robbery. Because individuals can be pro-
filed by linking data to their places of residence, the collection and com-
parison of geographic information can result in the erosion of individual
privacy (Monmonier, 2002). At what appears now to be an extreme, GPS
chips can be embedded in animals, children, parolees, and rental cars,
making it possible to track their movements continuously, leading to the
possibility of forms of geoslavery, if some individuals acquire the capabil-
ity to control the movements or locations of others using monitoring tech-
nologies (Dobson and Fisher, 2003). Mapping viewsheds (the places that
can and cannot be seen from a specific point) on a battlefield or for sur-
veillance may be good or bad, depending which side of the war a person
is fighting on or a person's attitude toward general-purpose surveillance.
Applications that are highly beneficial in many situations could be omi-
nous in the hands of a totalitarian government (NRC, 1997). The country
needs GIScience professionals who have a sufficient background in the
policy and social sciences to be sensitive to the full array of positive and
negative applications their new technologies enable.
In the final analysis, the mapping sciences exist to provide society
with geospatial information, and their success in doing so must be the
basis of any measure of their value to society. The world of geographic
information creation has changed dramatically over the past few decades,
as a result of new technologies for sensing, acquiring, assembling, vali-
dating, disseminating, and using geospatial information. Many problems
and questions remain, however, and there are many ways the supply of
society's geographic information could be improved.
RESEARCH INFRASTRUCTURE
The country's research infrastructure for GIS/GIScience is poorly de-
veloped. There exists no core outside the few federal agencies that tradi-
tionally had national mapping responsibilities. Within the National Sci-
ence Foundation (NSF), the major source for basic science funding has
come from the Geography and Regional Science program in the Social,
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48 BEYOND MAPPING
Behavioral, and Economic Sciences Directorate, from various programs in
the Computer and Information Sciences Directorate, and from the Educa-
tion and Human Resources Directorate. No single NSF program has pri-
mary responsibility for geographic information systems and geographic
information science. The NSF implicitly recognized the need for coordi-
nation of GIS/GIScience in the appointment in late 1998 of a GIS coordi-
nator, but the position was not filled when the incumbent left the agency
shortly thereafter.
In 1999, the NSF sponsored a workshop on emerging research
themes in GIScience (Mark, 1999). The workshop clearly differentiated
two types of research associated with GIS: (1) scientific research using
GIS, and (2) research that advances GIScience. Both kinds of research are
often intertwined, as they frequently are in the discussions of the UCGIS.
In practice one might add a third kind of research: using GIS to imple-
ment the results of science in the formulation of policy, in spatial decision
support systems, for example. The workshop report identified four re-
search issues facing GIScience: (1) the integration of data, (2) analysis of
the relationship between data and scale, (3) the implementation of models
of process, and (4) usability. The workshop report also recommended that:
· NSF recognize GIScience as a coherent research specialty and es-
tablish a funding center for it as soon as possible;
· Both basic GIScience and research using GIS be supported by the
new unit to promote integration of these related research efforts;
· NSF establish an internal task force consisting of representatives
from all its directorates and the Office of Polar Programs, charged to meet
regularly and ensure that GIScience links to all relevant parts of the foun-
dation and benefits from their operations; and
· NSF appoint a multidisciplinary advisory panel of non-NSF per-
sonnel to assist in defining, implementing, and evaluating the new unit's
effectiveness.
Other federal agencies with potential interest in funding research in
the mapping sciences include the National Geospatial-Intelligence
Agency, the U.S. Geological Survey, the Bureau of the Census, and the
National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Many other agencies
have supported specific GIS applications, including the National Insti-
tutes of Health and the Department of Justice. Yet, no central, coordi-
nated office for funding the mapping sciences exists within the federal
government.
Nevertheless, funding opportunities for GIS/GIScience exist in nu-
merous government agencies. Mapping scientists have successfully col-
laborated with scientists from other disciplines to compete for major fund-
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GIS/GISCIENCE RESEARCH NEEDS 49
ing on projects in which geospatial data, technologies, and principles are
indispensable. Almost no funding for basic research has been forthcom-
ing from private corporations. The research conducted by private firms
has for the most part been kept as privileged data, shared only when eco-
nomic advantages are perceived. Examples of private/public funding ex-
ist in allied fields in Canada and Europe. ERTICO (Intelligent Transporta-
tion Systems and Services--Europe) is a not-for-profit, public-private
partnership whose mission is to implement intelligent transport systems
and services in Europe. ERTICO's projects are financed by annual fees
from its partners and by project funding from organizations such as the
European Commission. In the United States, a prominent example of pub-
lic-private funding is the collaboration between private companies and
the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The 1992 Prescription
Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA) authorizes FDA to collect fees from compa-
nies that produce human drug and biological products that FDA reviews.
Perhaps a similar scheme would work in the United States for fund-
ing GIScience research, with a nonprofit entity such as the Open Geo-
spatial Organization disbursing funds in support of a consensus research
agenda. The organization would need base funding from the federal gov-
ernment and from agencies and private firms interested in the results of
specific research agenda topics. One could even imagine that the non-
profit entity might be supported by modest taxes on location-based ser-
vices, such as one cent per month on every mobile telephone or a flat tax
on each GPS device. In the absence of this or some other form of aug-
mented funding, GIS/GIScience will continue to be more fragmented
than necessary.
EXECUTING RESEARCH AGENDAS
Since 1990, several groups have proposed no fewer than 11 overarch-
ing research agendas for GIS/GIScience (Table 3-1). The lists of commis-
sions of the International Cartographic Association (http://www.icaci.
org/en/commissions.html [accessed 24 May 2006]) and the International
Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (http://www.isprs.
org/tcwg.html [accessed 24 May2006]) provide insights into current re-
search practice in these specialties within the mapping sciences. The most
recent agenda prepared by the UCGIS lists a comprehensive set of long-
and short-term major topics (Sidebar 3-1); the National Research
Council's Mapping Sciences Committee has also put forth a list of re-
search priorities for the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA)
(Sidebar 3-2).
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50 BEYOND MAPPING
TABLE 3-1 Proposed GIS/GIScience Research Agendas, 1988-2005
Date Proposed By
1988 David Rhind (1988)
1989 National Center for Geographic Information and Analysis (1989)
1992 National Center for Geographic Information and Analysis (1992)
1996 University Consortium for Geographic Information Science (1996)
1999 National Computational Science Alliance (1999)
2000 International Cartographic Association (2000)
2002 University Consortium for Geographic Information Science (2004)
2002 Ohio State University (2002)
2003 National Research Council (2003a)
2004 Robert McMaster and Mark Monmonier (2004)
2006 National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NRC, 2006b)
The numerous efforts to devise an overarching research agenda par-
allel new developments in technology and its applications. At the same
time, they reflect an increased interest in investigating interactions be-
tween GIS technology and society, each in its own way resting on varying
conceptions of individuals, computers, mapping, and society, with
GIScience at their common core (Egenhofer et al., 1999; Goodchild et al.,
1999; Sheppard et al., 1999). Research about the individual is dominated
by cognitive science and focuses on understanding spatial concepts, learn-
ing and reasoning about geographic data, and interactions between hu-
mans and computers. Research about computers is dominated by repre-
sentation, adoption of new technologies, computation, and visualization.
Research about society addresses the effects of technologies and societal
concerns about their use.
Differences among the research agendas for GIS/GIScience that have
been proposed over the last 30 years generally reflect the varying focuses
of the groups that have put them forward, and many common elements
transcend both the multiple disciplines engaged in GIS/GIScience and
the time that has elapsed since geographic information systems moved
beyond the experimental stage. In some respects, the first formal research
agenda was proffered in the 1987 National Science Foundation solicita-
tion for proposals for the National Center for Geographic Information and
Analysis (NCGIA). Formulated on the basis of broad consultation with
the contemporary GIS research and applications community, the solicita-
tion listed four goals for the new center (NSF, 1987):
· Advancing the theory, methods, and techniques of geographic
analysis based on geographic information systems;
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GIS/GISCIENCE RESEARCH NEEDS 51
SIDEBAR 3-1
UCGIS Research Agenda
Long-term Research Challenges
Spatial ontologies
Geographic representation
Spatial data acquisition and integration
Remotely acquired data and information in GIScience
Scale
Spatial cognition
Space and space/time analysis and modeling
Uncertainty in geographic information
Visualization
GIS and society
Geographic information engineering
Distributed computing
The future of the spatial information infrastructure
Geospatial data mining and knowledge discovery
Short-term Research Priorities
GIS and decision making
Location-based services
Geoslavery
Identification of spatial clusters
Geospatial semantic web (a web of geospatial data that can be
processed by machines)
Incorporating remotely sensed data and information in GIS
Geographic information resource management
Emergency data acquisition and analysis
Gradation and indeterminate boundaries
Geographic information security
Geospatial data fusion
Institutional aspects of spatial data infrastructures
Geographic information partnering
Geocomputation
Global representation and modeling
Spatialization
Pervasive computing
Geographic data mining and knowledge discovery
Dynamic modeling
SOURCE: UCGIS, 2004; McMaster and Usery, 2004.
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52 BEYOND MAPPING
SIDEBAR 3-2
NGA GIS/GIScience Research Priorities
The list of research priorities for the National Geospatial-Intelligence
Agency (NGA) prepared by the NRC Mapping Sciences Committee (NRC,
2006b) lists 12 salient tasks:
· Assimilation of new, numerous, and disparate sensor networks
within the tasking, processing, exploitation and dissemination process;
· Spatiotemporal data mining and knowledge discovery from het-
erogeneous sensor data streams;
· Spatiotemporal database management systems;
· Process automation and human cognition;
· Visualization;
· High-performance grid computing for geospatial data;
· Image data fusion across space, time, spectrum, and scale;
· Role of text and place-name search in data integration;
· Reuse and preservation of data;
· Detection of moving objects from multiple heterogeneous intelli-
gence sources;
· Geospatial intelligence ontology; and
· Multilevel security.
The mission of the NGA--until 2003, the National Imagery and Map-
ping Agency--is to provide timely, relevant, and accurate geospatial intel-
ligence to support national security. Although some of its priorities are
distinct to its specialized mission, many of them overlap to a greater or
lesser degree with GIScience research priorities identified by other groups.
SOURCE: NRC, 2006b.
· Augmenting the nation's supply of experts in GIS and geographic
analysis;
· Promoting the diffusion of analysis based on GIS throughout the
scientific community; and
· Acting as a clearinghouse for disseminating information on re-
search, teaching, and applications.
These goals were to be met by addressing five priority research topics
each containing a number of specific tasks (Abler, 1987):
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GIS/GISCIENCE RESEARCH NEEDS 53
1. New modes and methods of spatial analysis
-- Social science applications for GIS-based spatial analysis
--Error and error propagation
--Nontraditional statistics
2. A general theory of spatial relationships
--Theory of spatial relationships
--Nonplanar relationships among multiple objects
--Efficient data storage structures
--Structures for volumetric data
--Structures for time-dependent data
--Methods for integrating heterogeneous data
--Techniques for redefining data
--Translations among different locational schemes
3. Artificial intelligence and expert systems in GIS
--Automated data entry
--Database summaries and indexes
--Map evaluation and interpretation
--Intelligent geographical information systems
4. Visualization
--New options for color and motion
--Three-dimensional maps
--Showing error on maps
--Noncartographic means of displaying spatial relationships
5. Social, economic, and institutional issues
--GIS adoption and implementation
--Costs and benefits of GIS
--Information access
--Privacy
--Legal questions
Many, if not most, of the long-term research challenges and short-
term research priorities listed in the most recent iteration of the UCGIS
research agenda (Sidebar 3-1) persist in one form or another and fit under
one or more of the rubrics contained in the 1987 NSF solicitation. For the
most part, the NGA priorities (Sidebar 3-2) appear to be agency mission-
specific instances of the more general priorities identified in the UCGIS
tabulation. The persistence of many elements (often indeed in advanced
and refined formulations) of the 1987-1988 statement of priorities is per-
haps to be expected in a newly emerging specialty. Alternatively, their
persistence may suggest that a fresh look at the most recent iteration is in
order. The UCGIS research agenda is an attempt at a consensus program
based on a generally open and broad participatory process. In the
committee's judgment, it should soon be endorsed and pursued by the
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54 BEYOND MAPPING
U.S. GIS/GIScience community or modified as needed to make it accept-
able to that community. Broad support throughout the GIS/GIScience re-
search and applications community would be a major step toward gar-
nering increased support for GIS/GIScience research and toward
producing the well-qualified GIS/GIScience professionals the country
needs.
Representative terms from entire chapter:
geospatial data
