2018 QUARTER 04

A B C D E F G H I K L M N O P R S T U V W
GS-09 - Enforcing control
  • Explain the concept of “fair use” with regard to geospatial information
  • Describe defenses against various claims of copyright infringement
  • Discuss ways in which copyright infringements may be remedied
  • Identify types of copyright infringement
GS-13 - Epistemological critiques

As GIS became a firmly established presence in geography and catalysed the emergence of GIScience, it became the target of a series of critiques regarding modes of knowledge production that were perceived as problematic. The first wave of critiques charged GIS with resuscitating logical positivism and its erroneous treatment of social phenomena as indistinguishable from natural/physical phenomena. The second wave of critiques objected to GIS on the basis that it was a representational technology. In the third wave of critiques, rather than objecting to GIS simply because it represented, scholars engaged with the ways in which GIS represents natural and social phenomena, pointing to the masculinist and heteronormative modes of knowledge production that are bound up in some, but not all, uses and applications of geographic information technologies. In response to these critiques, GIScience scholars and theorists positioned GIS as a critically realist technology by virtue of its commitment to the contingency of representation and its non-universal claims to knowledge production in geography. Contemporary engagements of GIS epistemologies emphasize the epistemological flexibility of geospatial technologies.

FC-02 - Epistemology
  • Explain the notions of model and representation in science
  • Identify the epistemological assumptions underlying the work of colleagues
  • Bridge the differences in epistemological viewpoints to enable work with diverse colleagues
  • Define common theories on what constitutes knowledge, including positivism, reflectance-correspondence, pragmatism, social constructivism, and memetics
  • Justify the epistemological frameworks with which you agree
  • Recognize the influences of epistemology on GIS practices
  • Compare and contrast the ability of various theories to explain different situations
FC-25 - Error
  • Compare and contrast how systematic errors and random errors affect measurement of distance
  • Describe the causes of at least five different types of errors (e.g., positional, attribute, temporal, logical inconsistency, and incompleteness)
DM-32 - Error-based uncertainty
  • Define uncertainty-related terms, such as error, accuracy, uncertainty, precision, stochastic, probabilistic, deterministic, and random
  • Recognize expressions of uncertainty in language
  • Evaluate the causes of uncertainty in geospatial data
  • Describe a stochastic error model for a natural phenomenon
  • Explain how the familiar concepts of geographic objects and fields affect the conceptualization of uncertainty
  • Recognize the degree to which the importance of uncertainty depends on scale and application
  • Differentiate uncertainty in geospatial situations from vagueness
AM-19 - Exploratory data analysis (EDA)
  • Describe the statistical characteristics of a set of spatial data using a variety of graphs and plots (including scatterplots, histograms, boxplots, q–q plots)
  • Select the appropriate statistical methods for the analysis of given spatial datasets by first exploring them using graphic methods
DM-05 - Extensions of the relational model
  • Explain why early attempts to store geographic data in standard relational tables failed
  • Evaluate the adequacy of contemporary proprietary database schemes to manage geospatial data
  • Describe standards efforts relating to relational extensions, such as SQL:1999 and SQL-MM
  • Evaluate the degree to which an available object-relational database management system approximates a true object-oriented paradigm
  • Describe extensions of the relational model designed to represent geospatial and other semistructured data, such as stored procedures, Binary Large Objects (BLOBs), nested tables, abstract data types, and spatial data types
KE-07 - Feasibility analysis
  • List the costs and benefits (financial and intangible) of implementing geospatial technology for a particular application or an entire institution
  • Evaluate possible solutions to the major obstacles that stand in the way of a successful GIS proposal
  • List some of the topics that should be addressed in such a justification of geospatial technology (e.g., ROI, workflow, knowledge sharing)
  • Decide whether geospatial technology should be used for a particular task
  • Perform a pilot study to evaluate the feasibility of an application
  • Justify feasibility recommendations to decision makers
  • Identify major obstacles to the success of a GIS proposal
  • Compare and contrast the relative merits of outsourcing the feasibility analysis and system design processes or doing them in-house
DC-22 - Federal agencies and national and international organizations and programs
  • Describe the data programs provided by organizations such as The National Map, GeoSpatial One Stop, and National Integrated Land System
  • Discuss the mission, history, constituencies, and activities of international organizations such as Association of Geographic Information Laboratories for Europe (AGILE) and the European GIS Education Seminar (EUGISES)
  • Discuss the mission, history, constituencies, and activities of governmental entities such as the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), United States Geological Survey (USGS) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as they related to support of professionals and organizations
  • involved in GIS&T
  • Discuss the mission, history, constituencies, and activities of GeoSpatial One Stop
  • Discuss the mission, history, constituencies, and activities of the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC), Inc.
  • Discuss the mission, history, constituencies, and activities of the Nation Integrated Land System (NILS)
  • Discuss the mission, history, constituencies, and activities of the Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC)
  • Discuss the mission, history, constituencies, and activities of the National Academies of Science Mapping Science Committee
  • Discuss the mission, history, constituencies, and activities of the USGS and its National Map vision
  • Discuss the mission, history, constituencies, and activities of University Consortium of Geographic Information Science (UCGIS) and the National Center for Geographic Information and Analysis (NCGIA)
  • Discuss the political, cultural, economic, and geographic characteristics of various countries that influence their adoption and use of GIS&T
  • Identify National Science Foundation (NSF) programs that support GIS&T research and education
  • Outline the principle concepts and goals of the “digital earth” vision articulated in 1998 by Vice President Al Gore
  • Assess the current status of Gore’s “digital earth”
GS-15 - Feminist critiques
  • Defend or refute the contention that the masculinist culture of computer work in general, and GIS work in particular, perpetuates gender inequality in GIS&T education and training and occupational segregation in the GIS&T workforce
  • Discuss the potential role of agency (individual action) in resisting dominant practices and in using GIS&T in ways that are consistent with feminist epistemologies and politics
  • Explain the argument that GIS and remote sensing foster a “disembodied” way of knowing the world

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