Here is an interesting perspective on this discussion:
When I went to college I didn't even know how to turn on a computer.
When I started learning about GIS I didn't know how to write a program.
When I started using GIS, I was only interested in what it could do -
work with spatial data or "maps". I was a "end user".
I got involved with an JUMP, an open source GIS project.
Since that time I have become engulfed in the world of programming.
I have learned Java, HTML, CSS, SVG, GML, C, LISP, Visual Basic, and
other languages and technologies.
I obtained this knowledge, not because I cared about IT, but because I
cared about the "G" in GIS.
Now, I'll never go back.
Computers are an amazing tool, and an essential tool for GIS
practitioners.
Learn how to use "IT", or computer technology, to wield your tool in the
most powerful way possible.
Open source technology puts this goal within the grasp of anyone with an
internet connection.
Accomplish this, and you'll be telling the IT guys how to do their job,
not the other way around.
The Sunburned Surveyor
-----Original Message-----
From: gislist-bounces@lists.geocomm.com
[mailto:gislist-bounces@lists.geocomm.com] On Behalf Of Anthony
Quartararo
Sent: Monday, October 03, 2005 8:24 AM
To: gislist@lists.geocomm.com
Subject: Re: [gislist] What is happening to GIS?
At the risk of being in the minority on this issue, I think the days of
GIS
professionals having "command of the powers" of spatial analysis, as an
exclusive club, are long gone and the genie can never be put back in the
bottle. Is that a great thing, well, not necessarily for true-blue
geographers, however, it is a long, sought-after validation of the
profession. The general acceptance and mainstreaming of the technology,
in
whole or in parts, is something that should be applauded as "about damn
time", and not cause dedicated professionals to retreat to the highest
points of the ivory tower.
"Is the GIS world becoming too complex ?" Hardly...
"GIS" is not, nor has it ever been the exclusive domain for so called
"environmental" applications, and the fact that "GIS" technology is
finding
new and ever creative and innovative applications in domains other than
"environmentally warm and fuzzy" fields, is of tremendous value to the
industry, the profession and the overall growth and advancement of the
technology.
What would you have "GIS" do, remove itself from everything except
watershed
analysis, habitat conservation studies, etc ? Is GoogleEarth that much
of a
threat ?
The market "gets a vote", and if there is no value in a particular
service
or product offering that using GIS technology, count on the market to
determine whether or not that product/service has a short life span or
not.
The fact that there are still GIS professionals, foresters, wildlife
biologist, business demographers, analysts, developers, researchers and
academics involved, ever day in GIS theory, practice and innovation is
both
cause and effect, that is, proof that we are still needed, and still
important to our own universe and the greater universe at large,
regardless
of what your business card reads.
Anthony
-----Original Message-----
From: gislist-bounces@lists.geocomm.com
[mailto:gislist-bounces@lists.geocomm.com] On Behalf Of Fiona Gregory
Sent: Friday, September 30, 2005 10:54 PM
To: gislist@lists.geocomm.com
Subject: [gislist] What is happening to GIS?
Internet map servers...
..spatial database engines..
..object oriented programming..
and all most end users really want to do is map our data. And maybe do a
little spatial analysis. Like we learned that GIS was supposed to be
for,
way back in our first Intro to GIS class, except we never did get to
analysis part, because we spend the whole course trying to figure out
why
the program kept hanging. Then when we got menus instead of command
lines,
we thought the age of "GIS for everyone" was dawning. And now...
Am I crazy, or is the GIS world getting way too complex? Deeper and
deeper
into the rarefied domain of the information technologist, and further
from
the grasp of the forester, wildlife biologist, land use planner, who are
the
ones who should be - and want to be- in command of the powers of spatial
analysis and mapping in support of better environmental management
strategies.
Are the huge expenditures of time, money, and professional expertise on
"enterprise GIS" these days really reaching and helping these people, or
more importantly, are they really the best use of the scarce resources
in
the strained budgets of government agencies, non-profit groups, natural
resource companies?
I believe in the value of GIS, but I'm not sure I believe in most
instances
of how I see GIS being used, and where the GIS resources are going, in
organizations that I have observed in my 10 yea
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