Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/70379
Questioning GIS in Higher Education BEYONDMAPPING R BY JOSEPH BERRY complex spatial problems. To achieve its billing as one of the three mega-technologies of the 21st century (bio-, nano- and geotechnology), we need to 1) insure that spatial-reasoning skills are taught K-12 through higher education, 2) instill the idea that modern digital maps are "numbers first, pictures later" and 3) relay the message that organized sets of numbers support quantitative analysis. ecently I had the opportunity to sit on a panel concerned with "GIS in Higher Educa- - cating GIS" (see "Author Note 1," page 11). In about an hour of interactive discussion, only a couple of the planned questions were addressed. This column shares some thoughts and notes from those discussed and initial thoughts on those not covered. Question: Is there an inherent responsibility for the GIS community in higher education to further general aware- ness and understanding of geotechnol- ogy (remote sensing (RS), GIS, GPS) across campus? If so, in what ways can we provide opportunities for non-GIS faculty and students to learn about GIS capabilities as a "technology tool" and an "analysis tool," considering interdisciplinary education constraints and considerations (e.g., budget, organiza- tion, time, promotion/career considerations, etc.)? In the current euphoria of GIS as a "technical tool," the marketplace is defining what GIS is as well as its future. To some degree, higher education in GIS on many campuses seems to have abdicated a primary leadership role and tends to have taken a "vocational role" focusing on training GIS specialists. To most folks on campus, geotechnology is simply a set of highly useful apps on their smartphone or a 3-D fly-by anywhere in the world—in a sense, trivial- izing GIS. To a smaller contingent on campus, it's a career path that requires mastery of the mechanics, procedures and buttons of extremely complex com- mercial software—in a sense, complicating GIS. Any new or rapidly evolving technology has an Joseph Berry is a principal in Berry & Associates, consultants in GIS technology. He can be reached via e-mail at jkberry@du.edu. 10 inherent responsibility to further general awareness of the technology's full potential. The technical tool's mapping, display and navigation capabilities seem to be easily learned through vender promotion and peer-pride "look at what this can do" instruction. However, the radical nature of the "analytical tool" perspective drastically changes how people perceive and infuse spatial information and reasoning into science, policy formation and decision making—in essence, how we can "think with maps" for solving GEO W ORLD / JUNE 2O12 Taking Action I'm increasingly struck by the thought that we're miscommunicating GIS' potential, particularly with the science communities on campus who ought to be excited about infusing spatial considerations into their research and teaching. The result is that innova- tion and creativity in spatial problem solving are being held hostage to 1) a trivial mindset of maps as pictures, 2) an unsettling feeling that GIS software is too complex and 3) a persistent legacy of a nonspa- tial mathematics that presupposes spatial data can be collapsed to a single central-tendency value that ignores any spatial variability inherent in the data. The most critical step in providing opportunities that further general awareness and understand- ing across campus is to recognize the inherent responsibility of non-GIS student education as well as traditional GIS specialists. Specific actions might include the following: your own workshop with a domain expert translates grid-based map-analysis operations into a mathematical/statistical framework that serves as the communal language of science, technology, engineering and mathematics disciplines (see "Author Note 2"). What Do Students Need? Question: What are the similarities and differences among GIS and non-GIS students, and what similari- ties and differences are there in structuring course content and "hands-on" experiences? interested in the mechanics of GIS and more interested in how GIS might be applied in their field to solve problems. For the last few years, I've had considerable proportions of students outside of geography/GIS in my Denver (see "Author Note 3"), with more "outside" stu- dents than "inside" this last term as well as two qualified undergrads. These students know little about traditional GIS concepts (geodes, coordinates, projections, data