Podcast: Do You Think Spatially?
By Joe Francica and Adena Schutzberg
April 29, 2008
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If you are still wondering which mobile GPS you should buy for your GIS data collection and mapping projects: Download our white paper to see how our MobileMapper 6 GPS beats the competition with better accuracy and lower price. Visit Magellan ProfessionalAn interactive session at a recent regional GIS event (see article) prompts our editors to explore how we are trained in GIS and how and if we use spatial thinking in our day to day work. Are we just pushing buttons and following recipes or are we truly using the underlying ideas of how people, places and things behave in space? Does it matter if one is trained in geography vs. GIS vs. another discipline? What's the future look like for those skilled (or not) in spatial thinking?
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Your Comments Post a comment All comments provided in this section are those of the individual who has created the post. These are not the opinions of Directions Media, its editors, staff or owners unless otherwise noted. Directions Media retains the right to edit or delete any comments posted herein.
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| Having studied geaography and worked in cartography and GIS for 10 years, I feel that I think spatially before applying GIS to a problem. However, those who do not use GIS or are required to use it as a random element of their job, can think of it as strictly a technical discipline and do not understand that you sometimes require spatial awareness to get the best results. Unfortunately, more and more people regard GIS as an I.T. role, not a geographer's. It shouldn't be pigeon-holed in this manner. |
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| Spatial thinking is something we experience unconciously. An example... we visit locations and landmarks partly due to our curiousity about thier scale, orientation and physical presence in the landscape. GIS is about Geography, I.T. are software/hardware and solution providers to many diverse problems one of which is GIS. I've found that there is a boundary where I.T. stops and spatial thinking commences and this is when the Geographer uses a GIS for problem solving. |
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| Having worked in IS/IT for 40 years with only the last three in GIS, I have an entirely different view. Our engineers see GIS as not much more than glorified CAD. I see a GIS project as a database application with a spatial component and maps included in the output. We are all products of our training and experience, and none of us are entirely right or wrong. |
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| Do you think spatially? I didn't get a chance to read the full article on this subject (got a 404 error in my browser). However, I got an incomplete 'jist' of the content by the complex question asked in the summary. Don't want to 'throw a wet rag' at the questions, BUT - there are simply too many things asked of the reader/responder, seeking too broad an answer, and all at the same time to be able to keep the response '. . 1000 words or less.' The answer(s) to this(es) question(s) is worthy of the first few chapters in a thesis ['The Human Factor'] on the on-going debate about GIS, i.e. [["What is the fundamental nature of GIS?"]] I think that a little clarity needs to be introduced here. More (and more focused) questions should be offered, perhaps in a multi-question survey. Know thou of which ye speak! First, I just realized that I have never seen in print or any other media what the working definition of 'SPATIAL' is, in all its meanings and with all its ramifications, or even some for that matter. "Go look it up in Webster's" you say? [Collegiate, tenth edition]: ". . .(1847) : relating to, occupying, or having the character of space . . .". Well,,, how does that relate to our current subject of GIS? -- not very well. You can say to yourself and to others: "Yes, affirmatively, I know its definition and how it works for me.", BUT, do you really? Think about it and see how difficult it is to actually define that single word, used either as a noun, adverb or adjective! I can immediately think of at least (2) two contexts in which the meaning is ambiguous: 'space' as in a 3x4 foot space, the universe of 'space' OR a telephone pole and a tree are miles apart but yet in the same 'space', (or are they?); or, more importantly to our discussion, how do they/do they not relate to each other in that same or in a different space? As for me (as a past geologist, commercial carpenter, current GIS Tech AND married to a wonderful teacher of the gifted who deals with this problem daily (inherent learning styles play a big part in this discussion): - If we are fortunate to be without selected disabilities, all of us ACT SPATIALLY, inherently: our inner ear gives us a sense of balance so that our autonomic system can detect UP/DOWN; (without having to 'think' about it). It also provides us with clues as to what is 'right/left', 'up/down' that, with the help of depth perception keeps us from running into walls or falling over cliffs. - Do I think spatially? Inherently, YES - I do BUT others do not. We all develop with a specific learning style (hence, a specific associated thinking/reasoning style). -Notice I DO NOT SAY "Born With" - that's another discussion for the 'nature/nurture' debate. Some of us are natively 'spatial' thinkers/learners, 'linear' thinkers/learners and then, there are those few who simply seem to have no particular style at all. Given the right training (and impetus), one or more of these styles may additionally be learned, but incompletely. -For instance, a child may be taught how to read a paper or even a digital map. However, can that same child then take the map outside, trek to a specific destination then return safely? Has he/she made the great leap of making a true connection between the conceptual (map) and the real (on-the-ground reality)? Has he/she made the connection between the line indicating a road and the actual asphalt paving that covers it? A "Spatial" thinker will acquire this skill in little time; the non-spatial? How many times have we read about hikers/campers with full regalia of map, compass, etc. getting lost in the wilderness or, worse, not being found at all because they can't make the connection between the map and where they are on the ground. Now, with this background and without additional preamble I'll try and start to answer the questions as asked. OOPS!!! I'm sorry, I can't. My word count is over 700 already!! Editors, do you see where I'm going with this? I would like the summation of my thesis to be "GIS AND ITS UTILITY, LIKE BEAUTY, IS IN THE EYE OF THE BEHOLDER". Unfortunately, I can't, because I don't have the room in between. |
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| The link to article that discusses the session that prompted our discussion in this podcast is fixed. It's http://www.directionsmag.com/article.php?article_id=2744. |
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