All Topics
Computing Platforms provide the computational capabilities to apply methods and models to geographic data. Computing Platforms vary in capability, price, and availability from mobile devices to advanced supercomputers and from standalone computers to complex networked infrastructures to address different user needs and data-processing workloads.
Topics in this Knowledge Area are listed thematically below. Existing topics are in regular font and linked directly to their original entries (published in 2006; these contain only Learning Objectives). Entries that have been updated and expanded are in bold. Forthcoming, future topics are italicized.
Computing Infrastructures | Software Systems |
Graphics Processing Units | Spatial Database Management Systems (DBMS) |
Spatial Cloud Computing | Spatial MapReduce |
Mobile Devices | Artificial Intelligence Tools and Platforms for GIS |
Cyberinfrastructure | Geospatial Technology Transfer |
eScience, the Evolution of Science | Web GIS |
Computing Approaches | Enterprise GIS |
Origins of Computing & GIS&T: a Computer Systems Perspective | |
Origins of Computing & GIS&T: a Perspective on the Role of Peripheral Devices | Examples and Applications |
High Throughput Computing and GIS | Google Earth Engine |
High Performance Computing and GIS | ArcGIS Online |
Science Gateways | GIS&T and Computational Notebooks |
OSGeo Live | |
Apache Spark | |
Social Media and Location-based Services | |
Location-based Services | |
GIS& the Internet of Things | |
Social Media Analytics | |
Social Networks | |
GIS&T Web Services |
CP-15 - Mobile Devices
Mobile devices refer to a computing system intended to be used by hand, such as smartphones or tablet computers. Mobile devices more broadly refer to mobile sensors and other hardware that has been made for relatively easy transportability, including wearable fitness trackers. Mobile devices are particularly relevant to Geographic Information Systems and Technology (GIS&T) in that they house multiple locational sensors that were until recently very expensive and only accessible to highly trained professionals. Now, mobile devices serve an important role in computing platform infrastructure and are key tools for collecting information and disseminating information to, from, and among heterogeneous and spatially dispersed audiences and devices. Due to the miniaturization and the decrease in the cost of computing capabilities, there has been widespread social uptake of mobile devices, making them ubiquitous. Mobile devices are embedded in Geographic Information Science (GIScience) meaning GIScience is increasingly permeating lived experiences and influencing social norms through the use of mobile devices. In this entry, locational sensors are described, with computational considerations specifically for mobile computing. Mobile app development is described in terms of key considerations for native versus cross-platform development. Finally, mobile devices are contextualized within computational infrastructure, addressing backend and frontend considerations.