Evaluating the Geographic in GIS

With many thanks to Stacy Warren and David Kaplan, our article "Evaluating the Geographic in GIS", co-authored with Wendy Guan and Anne Knowles, has been recently published in the Geographical Review.


Guan, Weihe W., Matthew W. Wilson, and Anne Kelly Knowles. 2019. "Evaluating the Geographic in GIS." Geographical Review 109 (3):297-307.

We begin,

"There is a persistent and perhaps productive ambiguity around the relationship between geographic information systems (GIS) and, more generally, geographic inquiry. ... Indeed, this ambiguity is sometimes felt as a question about the relationship between the discipline of geography and GIS. David Mark stated that GIScience is the basic research field that seeks to redefine geographic concepts and their use in the context of GIS (2000). However, it is unclear whether, and how, geography as a discipline has sought to define GIS or GIScience. Also unclear is what geography might actually be according to users of GIS. [...]"

It would seem that we indeed "struck a deep nerve", and Geographical Review has also published a set of commentaries, authored by Trevor Harris, Michael Goodchild, Patricia Solís, and Stacy Warren,  in response. It is such a honor to have each of these nudges to keep the conversation going... Read these productive commentaries, here.

Warren, Stacy, Trevor M. Harris, Michael F. Goodchild, and Patricia Solís. 2019. "Commentaries on "Evaluating the Geographic in GIS"." Geographical Review 109 (3):308-320.