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| GeoCommunity Mailing List |
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| Mailing List Archives |
| Subject: | Re: [gislist] topic change |
| Date: |
01/12/2007 08:10:01 AM |
| From: |
Chris Bevilacqua |
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David,
This is a fascinating topic! I would argue that we don't truly conceptualize space as points, lines, polygons, and rasters - even we that spend all day working with GIS. I would also argue that the abstract representations of space we use in our "GIS world" have little impact on the way space is conceptualized in our day to day lives. In my opinion, the spread of GIS technology will not have a broad impact on how people view space. I don't think of my apartment building as a polygon, the fire hydrant outside as a point, the street as a line, and so on.
This is really an athropological topic. I am not familiar with the anthropological literature regarding space, but a brief web search suggests this topic has been well explored. The conceptualization of space is influenced by cultural and psychological factors that are too complex to be represented by any software.
Chris
Chris Bevilacqua, RPA
Archaeologist/GIS Specialist
________________________________
From: gislist-bounces@lists.geocomm.com on behalf of David Lamb
Sent: Thu 1/11/2007 3:00 PM
To: gislist@lists.geocomm.com
Subject: Re: [gislist] topic change
As I feebly try to steer the list in another direction.
I think this brings up a much more (personally) interesting question. I
would imagine that considering ESRI has such a huge market share of GIS
software, at least in the United States, that ESRI software must come up
a lot in a GIS question and answer setting. Of course, the argument
against that statement is "Why doesn't Geomedia come up as often?" What
I actually think this series of emails brings up again is the Tool vs.
Science debate. Is it possible to separate our tactile visions of GIS
(arcview, geomedia, manifold, mapinfo, grass, etc.), moving away from
the little black box, to get understanding of the "science"? Software
is so tied to GIS as a whole...and so are certain brands. You cannot
deny the role that ESRI has played in the GIS world. Perhaps the
broader issue is that some folks are tired of getting tool questions,
and want more science questions? I don't know, and don't want to put
words in peoples' mouths. I would imagine most people subscribing to
this list are GIS users rather than GISci researchers or academicians.
I personally think GIS can be it's own viable academic discipline, and
that there are numerous philosophical questions (ethical, ontological,
epistemological) that can be brought up and discussed. Unfortunately, on
a daily basis I use GIS as a tool to create and edit data, maps usually
being the end product: so my questions revolve around that more often
than not (and as a "mostly" ESRI user, the questions are about ESRI
products).
Anyway, here is a different sort of question I've been wondering about
in attempt to bring up a "discussion". Within the GIS world we have a
conception of space. The data model chapter in every textbook talks
about it. We conceptualize the world as points, lines, areas, and grids
for the most part. This conceptualization has roots in the west
(recently and historically). Now that GIS software has utilized this
conceptualization and is distributed across the world from the China to
Belgium, I wonder what impacts this standardization of space has on the
world at large. Is it unifying? Are we turning a blind eye on
different ways of representing the world around us? If you look at art
from different parts of the world, you will see how varied the idea of
space (and time) is, or for that matter look at some historical maps,
especially during the medieval period
(http://www.henry-davis.com/MAPS/EMwebpages/EML.html). Or are all the
fundamental forms a common thread throughout the world? Is a line in a
Japanese painting a line or is it called a line because of the western
concept of primitive objects? Perhaps I'm merging two totally different
thoughts into one. The idea of space, and the way we represent objects
in space? Is this topic a bit too much for a Thursday afternoon :)?
Excuse the jumble of sentences in this last paragraph. I've never asked
these sort of GIS questions out loud before...:)
Just a thought,
David
-----Original Message-----
From: gislist-bounces@lists.geocomm.com
[mailto:gislist-bounces@lists.geocomm.com] On Behalf Of J Bee
Sent: Thursday, January 11, 2007 1:21 PM
To: gislist@lists.geocomm.com
Subject: Re: [gislist] Switching from standalone to floating licenses
ofArcView 9.2
Sounds to me like Bob is just tired of reading tech support questions
that should be directed to ESRI, not a GIS community board...
Bob
Steve <steve95060@yahoo.com> wrote:
Sounds like the after effects of Bob's New Year's resolution to quit
smoking or drinking coffee is kicking in....
Steve
--- J Bee wrote:
> For the life of me, I still don't understand why someone
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