In search of a core for GIScience
Attempt:
- Modeling
human behavior in space (in order to understand and support it with
information systems and other tools).
This
includes cognitive aspects and insists on behavioral relevance as well as
humanistic grounds.
Modeling
needs to be precise, clear, and general, calling for formal
(mathematical) methods.
Standards for GIScience
Science standards
- clear
questions and methods
- generalized
from the particular
- relevant results.
Information science standards
- task: find modeling processes for computational systems
- engineering science: build systems
- cognitive science: study and support human cognition through IT
- social science: support society and human behavior through IT
The key property of information is that it answers questions. Thus, GIScience must target to improve our answers to spatial questions.
Geographic standards
- task: model processes in the human environment
- natural science: sound mathematical foundations
- human science: study human spatial behavior
- social science: study social spatial behavior
In a sense, geography has always been a geographic information science. Geographic information is, in this sense, tautological. So, what’s new? GIScience studies the use of digital information about the human environment.
Werner Kuhn Tel. +49 (0) 251 83 34707
Institute for Geoinformatics (IfGI) Fax +49 (0) 251 83 39763
University of Muenster Mobile +49 (0) 173 211 48 18
Robert-Koch-Str. 26-28 Email kuhn@ifgi.uni-muenster.de
D - 48149 Muenster (Germany) Web http://ifgi.uni-muenster.de
Dum differtur vita transcurrit (While life is being deferred, it passes by) - Seneca