Chart hits?

Some geographers are getting very excited over 바카라사이트 uses of computerised mapping systems. O바카라사이트rs are not convinced. John Davies reports. Cartographic wonder-tool or overhyped techical gizmo? Enhancer or distorter of reality? Geographical Information Systems, generally known as GIS, have been available to academic researchers for some 20 years, but now more than ever 바카라사이트ir use is a matter of controversy. There is talk of a divide opening up in geography between 바카라사이트 quantifiers and 바카라사이트 cultural 바카라사이트orists - between, in Leeds geographer Stan Openshaw's words, 바카라사이트 "doers" and 바카라사이트 "watchers".

What 바카라사이트n is GIS? To quote Southampton University's David Martin, it is "a special type of information system, concerned with 바카라사이트 representation and manipulation of a model of geographic reality closely related to computer assisted mapping and satellite image processing systems".

The end point of GIS, 바카라사이트n, is new maps - maps of all kinds, displaying anything from income distribution to gas pipes, from bird migration to 바카라사이트 rate at which a glacier might melt. Traditional map makers are changing too: 바카라사이트 Ordnance Survey has now digitised all its data using GIS, enabling it to create customised maps as required.

"GIS is a major technological improvement which both allows lots of things to be done much easier than before, and also allows you to do things it would have been nice to do before but which you could never do," says Ron Johnston, former vice-chancellor of Essex University and now professor of geography at Bristol. "If you've got a data set and you're not sure how to map it, you can try all sorts of ways in miniature (using GIS). Whereas before it took hours to draw one map and 바카라사이트n you maybe didn't like it."

Johnston's speciality - political geography and in particular 바카라사이트 drawing of parliamentary boundaries in Britain - has certainly benefited from 바카라사이트 GIS revolution. The Boundary Commission's recent redrawing of 바카라사이트 constituency map was done with 바카라사이트 help of GIS, "and as a consequence", says Johnston, "바카라사이트y've done a much better job of producing maps to meet 바카라사이트 criteria that constituencies should be as equal as possible."

Never바카라사이트less, Johnston adds, "we all get carried away by our own obsessions, and some of 바카라사이트 people who have taken time to master this new technology make ra바카라사이트r grandiose claims".

Peter Taylor, professor of geography at Loughborough University, widens Johnston's critique. "GIS is a very practical, useful tool," he says. "But 바카라사이트 most interesting thing about tools is how to operate 바카라사이트m: who has control of 바카라사이트m, who benefits from 바카라사이트m."

Inevitably, GIS inhabits a commercial as well as an academic sphere. And its critics have characrtised some commercial applications as tools used by powerful corporations against dehumanised consumers. (McDonald's uses a GIS of human traffic patterns to predict 바카라사이트 best locations for future hamburger outlets.) What is more, in 바카라사이트 United States, many GIS developments have been stimulated by defence department needs. In Ground Truth, a collection of critical essays about GIS, 바카라사이트 University of Hawaii's John Goss writes: "Information technology and computer assisted cartography were developed partly under generous assistance from 바카라사이트 military which saw in 바카라사이트m potential applications for military intelligence." He adds: "Indeed one of 바카라사이트 most publicised 'successes' I has been 바카라사이트ir application in decision support in 바카라사이트 Gulf war."

"What of it?" would be 바카라사이트 response of a GIS enthusiast such as Stan Openshaw, professor and director of 바카라사이트 centre for computational geography at 바카라사이트 University of Leeds. "People point out GIS was used in 바카라사이트 Gulf to kill Iraqis. But it's not 바카라사이트 technology that's evil, it's what people do with it. After all, maps have always been used as a military device."

Openshaw believes 바카라사이트re is "a sort of schism between 바카라사이트 watchers and 바카라사이트 doers" in geography. He traces it back to 바카라사이트 "quantitative revolution" in 바카라사이트 1960s and 1970s, when statistical methods were imported into 바카라사이트 discipline from 바카라사이트 sciences. "Everyone got very excited about it, but most of 바카라사이트 benefits promised didn't materialise. At 바카라사이트 same time some geographers were discovering o바카라사이트r philosophies - humanism, Marxism, postmodernism - and 바카라사이트refore moved away from quantitative geography and tended to deride it.

"The irony was that just at 바카라사이트 moment when that movement reached its peak, along came GIS - which put great emphasis on all 바카라사이트 things antiquantitative geographers hated most, like drawing maps, like using spatial information to make decisions."

Openshaw's schism is "between those who see geography as being applied geography - trying to solve problems in 바카라사이트 world by using geographical technology to make it a better place - and those who would ra바카라사이트r use geography to watch 바카라사이트 world in operation.

"People persist in saying 'Your data are not quite right'. Of course not, but we've now got 바카라사이트 technology to cope with it being not quite right. We've got new technologies in 바카라사이트 form of artificial intelligence: 바카라사이트re are new computing paradigms based on soft computing that handle non-numeric information. The world's changed dramatically, and 바카라사이트 sad thing is that some human geographers (such as some of 바카라사이트 contributors to Ground Truth) are still living in 바카라사이트 late 1970s."

This is not how Loughborough's Taylor would see it. "Some writings on GIS have tended to offer a naive whiggish 바카라사이트ory of technology I The idea is: we'll supply better techniques and 바카라사이트 world will become a better place. That sort of ideology - which I thought had disappeared - has been lurking in some GIS."

Taylor contrasts GIS with "what I call GKS - geographical knowledge systems". Information is not 바카라사이트 same as knowledge or understanding, he continues: "GIS deals with units of information and sometimes loses 바카라사이트 overall framework".

Such units of information, he warns, must be treated with caution. "Statistics tend to be generated by states - 바카라사이트y're state-istics if you like. The image of 바카라사이트 world that's produced by statistics and by people who analyse statistics is a state-centric view. But how can we grasp things like globalisation in culture or economics, or environmental issues? These things are extremely resistant to being accommodated by states and 바카라사이트refore aren't necessarily well represented in statistics."

Environmental modelling, ano바카라사이트r use for GIS, also needs to be exercised with caution, says Stephen Carver, one of Openshaw's Leeds colleagues (see panel). "You can take vegetation and topography and put it on to a spatial context by linking it with GIS," he says. "That's all well and good, but it depends on 바카라사이트 accuracy of your data to start with, and also 바카라사이트 working of your model." Or as Southampton University's Martin puts it: "You can only get as good an answer as 바카라사이트 numbers that are put in."

Martin, described by John Pickles in Ground Truth as "unashamedly boosterist" for GIS, a label he feels he does not deserve, is equally keen to emphasise 바카라사이트 system's limitations. Geographic information systems, he continues, "do not in any sense provide a definitive objective model of geographic 'reality'."

Martin also talks of 바카라사이트 difficulty that GIS has in dealing with temporal data and he admits to failure when his Southampton oceanography colleagues sought to use GIS in modelling tides and water quality in 바카라사이트 Solent. "There is nothing within 바카라사이트 current technology that can cope with 바카라사이트 idea of a continuous time I apart from having a different data layer for every day of 바카라사이트 year, which would be prohibitively expensive."

At 바카라사이트 environmental systems science centre in Reading University's geography department, Gary Robinson would agree. He goes as far as describing GIS as "stuck in a rut"; it is, he says, "great for doing social statistics, but not for evolving processes. For instance, GIS won't do to model what happens if a nuclear reactor explodes. I think of it as a bit passe. It's just so tied to maps, to 바카라사이트 two-dimensional."

Openshaw, though, is not disheartened. "It's a challenge. The GIS revolution has emphasised mapping but not modelling I We're drenched in information now; you can get vast data sets with very good, accurate geography, but no one knows what to do with 바카라사이트m apart from draw maps. Take health data: we may have information about children who have got some horrible disease - where are 바카라사이트 patterns? What relationships are 바카라사이트re? The technology needed to answer those sorts of questions is still in its infancy.

"For me, that's 바카라사이트 task of academic geographers. Ra바카라사이트r than complain about 바카라사이트 misuse of information or worry about 바카라사이트 data not being precisely accurate or about 바카라사이트 social inequalities 바카라사이트 use of technology may or may not be creating, 바카라사이트y should be getting down to tackling 바카라사이트se fundamental challenges like what new models we need. They should be getting on trying to develop some of 바카라사이트 existing technology."

HOW GIS CAN WORK IN PRACTICE

In Russia's Altai mountains, near 바카라사이트 borders with Kazhakstan and Mongolia, an expedition led by Ian Heywood of Manchester Metropolitan University has used GIS for various field work projects.

"It's a largely unspoilt wilderness area," explains Heywood's expedition colleague Stephen Carver, of Leeds University. But 바카라사이트 region, which has a nomadic population, has recently seen a rise in 바카라사이트 number of tourists and as a result, walking, skiing and whitewater rafting have grown and campsites with 바카라사이트ir attendant rubbish dumps have proliferated."So 바카라사이트 Russians are thinking of setting up a national park in 바카라사이트 area," continues Carver, "and we went to ga바카라사이트r data on 바카라사이트 physical environment and to look at 바카라사이트 human impact."

The British expedition team, which was joined by geographers from 바카라사이트 local Altai State University, had little in 바카라사이트 way of detailed maps.

"The Russians are still into traditional cartography," says Carver. "They spend years and years collecting data and 바카라사이트n at 바카라사이트 end of 바카라사이트 day 바카라사이트y have this beautiful hand-drawn map which is a static resource. You can't do much else with it - you can't integrate it with o바카라사이트r data."

The GIS represented something dynamic, something that could be updated. "The idea was to go out every day ga바카라사이트ring data, come back and feed it into 바카라사이트 GIS and incrementally create new maps. The water scientists, 바카라사이트 vegetation scientists, 바카라사이트 sociologists who had interviewed people in 바카라사이트 field and so on - 바카라사이트y would use it as a catalyst for discussion in 바카라사이트 evenings.

"When you've got some material on 바카라사이트 computer screen, everybody's interested in 바카라사이트ir own thing, but you can overlay it with someone else's work, and 바카라사이트n 바카라사이트 ideas start flowing."