DM-25 - Categories

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Learning Objectives: 
  • Explain the human tendency to simplify the world using categories
  • Identify specific examples of categories of entities (i.e., common nouns), properties (i.e., adjectives), space (i.e., regions), and time (i.e., eras)
  • Explain the role of categories in common-sense conceptual models, everyday language, and analytical procedures
  • Recognize and manage the potential problems associated with the use of categories (e.g., the ecological fallacy)
  • Construct taxonomies and dictionaries (also known as formal ontologies) to communicate systems of categories
  • Describe the contributions of category theory to understanding the internal structure of categories
  • Document the personal, social, and/or institutional meaning of categories used in GIS applications
  • Create or use GIS data structures to represent categories, including attribute columns, layers/themes, shapes, and legends
  • Use categorical information in analysis, cartography, and other GIS processes, avoiding common interpretation mistakes
  • Reconcile differing common-sense and official definitions of common geospatial categories of entities, attributes, space, and time

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