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This book outlines the distinct approaches to inquiry employed in GIS and illustrates their relevance for human geographers. It illustrates the challenges of data collection, classification in the context of multiple stakeholders and epistemological approaches. The use of GIS in applied contexts through the stages of problem definition, data acquisition and classification, choice of software, spacial analysis and graphic output are also discussed.
List of Figures
List of Tables
Series Editor's Preface
Author's Acknowledgements
1. Introducing The Identities Of GIS
2. GIS, Human Geography, And The Intellectual Territory Between Them
3. The Devil Is In The Data: Collection, Representation, And Standardization
4. Bringing It All Together Using GIS To Analyse And Model Spatial Phenomena
5. Where Do I Go From Here? GIS Training And Research
References
Index
Nadine Schuurman is Assistant Professor of Geography at Simon Fraser University. She did her Ph.D. at the University of British Columbia and integrates science and technology studies in solving technical problems in GIS. She has published in both human geography journals such as PIHG, Society and Space, and Gender, Place and Culture as well as GIS journals including Cartographica and Cartography and GIS.
Geography and non-geography students interested in GIS should read this book. It is an important contribution that elegantly illuminates GIS systems and GIS science. By giving close attention to the details of rigorous GIS analysis, the impact of GIS on society, and the relationship of GIS to geographic epistemologies and social theory, Schuurman provides a unique and up-to-date summary of the field.
- Eric Sheppard, University of Minnesota
"This is an excellent choice for an introductory undergraduate GIS class, and it should also be required reading for all critics who have dismissed GIS as being purely technical enterprise. It takes the reader through the nuts and bolts of GIS concepts while at the same time scrutinizing its intellectual and social implications. The discussion of GIS applications, highlighted by contemporary case studies, does an admiral job of conveying the curious messiness of actual GIS practice"
- Stacy Warren, Eastern Washington University.
"Schuurman develops an intellectual and practical history of the field and of the technology....the book offers insights into the development of our field that have recieved little coverage in other venues. Further, Schuurmann offers excellent examples of reflexivity in GIS practice, showing how we might make the social processes of GIS use more transparent to ourselves and to others."
- Progress in Human Geography, Vol 29/1, 2005
