Michael F. Goodchild, "Geographic Information Systems and Geographic Research," Ground Truth: The Social Implications of Geographic Information Systems (New York: The Guilford Press, 1995): 31-50.

SYNOPSIS:

Goodchild argues for research to advance the technology beyond its limitations and to study the impact technology has on the organizations that use it.

EXCERPT:

"While it is hard to see power in the possession of a soil map, or politics in the measurement of atmospheric temperature, there are real ethical issues arising from many applications of GIS: a technology that can be used to promote democracy can also be used to deny it. The gerrymandered 1992 electoral map of North Carolina was designed by a GIS to empower minorities, but previous generations would have seen the creation of such an engineered district as an extreme abuse of the electoral process." (34)

"Thus geographical data modeling is the set of rules used to create a representation of geography in the discrete, digital world of a computer database. The human mind uses a myriad of poorly understood methods for structuring geographical knowledge; it is GIS's supreme conceit that one can structure a useful representation of geographical knowledge in the absurdly primitive domain of the digital computer, just as it is cartography's conceit that one can accomplish the same objective with pen and paper. Yet clearly there are areas of human activity--finding underground pipes, tracing the ownership of land, navigating through unfamiliar cities, managing forests--where it can be done with satisfaction." (36)