What defines GIS (Geographic Information Systems)? Should we take a narrow or a broad view? For example, is GSLIB (Geostatistical Software LIBrary) a GIS? Or same question about any other substantial software tool that handles geospatial data, e.g. GMT, or statistical packages that have geospatial functionality, or Matlab?
What purpose is GIS trying to serve? What is spatially-explicit problem solving, and how does it fit within the sciences?
Can there be "research using GIScience"? Are applications of GIScience the same as applications of GIS?