2019 QUARTER 01

A B C D E F G H I K L M N O P R S T U V W
GS-19 - Political influences
  • Recognize the constraints that political forces place on geospatial applications in public and private sectors
  • Evaluate the influences of political ideologies (e.g., Marxism, Capitalism, conservative/liberal) on the understanding of geographic information
  • Evaluate the influences of political actions, especially the allocation of territory, on human perceptions of space and place
FC-28 - Primary and secondary data sources
  • Explain the distinction between primary and secondary data sources in terms of census data, cartographic data, and remotely sensed data
  • Describe a scenario in which data from a secondary source may pose obstacles to effective and efficient use
AM-27 - Principles of semi-variogram construction
  • Identify and define the parameters of a semi-variogram (range, sill, nugget)
  • Demonstrate how semi-variograms react to spatial nonstationarity
  • Construct a semi-variogram and illustrate with a semi-variogram cloud
  • Describe the relationships between semi-variograms and correlograms, and Moran’s indices of spatial association
FC-30 - Private sector origins
  • Identify some of the key commercial activities that provided an impetus for the development of GIS&T
  • Differentiate the dominant industries using geospatial technologies during the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s
  • Describe the contributions of McHarg and other practitioners in developing geographic analysis methods later incorporated into GIS
  • Evaluate the correspondence between advances in hardware and operating system technology and changes in GIS software
  • Describe the influence of evolving computer hardware and of private sector hardware firms such as IBM on the emerging GIS software industry
  • Discuss the emergence of the GIS software industry in terms of technology evolution and markets served by firms such as ESRI, Intergraph, and ERDAS
KE-02 - Problem definition
  • Recognize the challenges of implementing and using geospatial technologies
  • Create a charter or hypothesis that defines and justifies the mission of a GIS to solve existing problems
  • Define an enterprise GIS in terms of institutional missions and goals
  • Identify geographic tasks for which particular geospatial technologies are not adequate or sufficient
  • Identify what is typically needed to garner support among managers for designing and/or creating a GIS
AM-87 - Problems of currency, source, and scale
  • Describe the problem of conflation associated with aggregation of data collected at different times, from different sources, and to different scales and accuracy requirements
  • Explain how geostatistical techniques might be used to address such problems
DM-70 - Problems of large spatial databases
  • Describe emerging geographical analysis techniques in geocomputation derived from artificial intelligence (e.g., expert systems, artificial neural networks, genetic algorithms, and software agents)
  • Explain how to recognize contaminated data in large datasets
  • Outline the implications of complexity for the application of statistical ideas in geography
  • Explain what is meant by the term “contaminated data,” suggesting how it can arise
  • Describe difficulties in dealing with large spatial databases, especially those arising from spatial heterogeneity
FC-26 - Problems of Scale and Zoning

Spatial data are often encoded within a set of spatial units that exhaustively partition a region, where individual level data are aggregated, or continuous data are summarized, over a set of spatial units. Such is the case with census data aggregated to enumeration units for public dissemination. Partitioning schemes can vary by scale, where one partitioning scheme spatially nests within another, or by zoning, where two partitioning schemes have the same number of units but the unit shapes and boundaries differ. The Modifiable Areal Unit Problem (MAUP) refers to the fact the nature of spatial partitioning can affect the interpretation and results of visualization and statistical analysis. Generally, coarser scales of data aggregation tend to have stronger observed statistical associations among variables. The ecological fallacy refers to the assumption that an individual has the same attributes as the aggregate group to which it belongs. Combining spatial data with different partitioning schemes to facilitate analysis is often problematic. Areal interpolation may be used to estimate data over small areas or ecological inference may be used to infer individual behaviors from aggregate data. Researchers may also perform analyses at multiple scales as a point of comparison.

GS-11 - Professional and Practical Ethics of GIS&T

Geospatial technologies are often and rightly described as “powerful.” With power comes the ability to cause harm – intentionally or unintentionally - as well as to do good. In the context of GIS&T, Practical Ethics is the set of knowledge, skills and abilities needed to make reasoned decisions in light of the risks posed by geospatial technologies and methods in a wide variety of use cases. Ethics have been considered from different viewpoints in the GIS&T field. A practitioner's perspective may be based on a combination of "ordinary morality," institutional ethics policies, and professional ethics codes. By contrast, an academic scholar's perspective may be grounded in social or critical theory. What these perspectives have in common is reliance on reason to respond with integrity to ethical challenges. This entry focuses on the special obligations of GIS professionals, and on a method that educators can use to help students develop moral reasoning skills that GIS professionals need. The important related issues of Critical GIS and Spatial Law and Policy are to be considered elsewhere.  

KE-31 - Professional Certification

Professional Certification has been a part of the GIS enterprise for over two decades. There are several different certification programs and related activities now in operation within GIS, though there has been much debate over its merits, how it should be done and by whom. 

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