GIS in Review

Conventional view of GIS:

Where has GIS come from?

1960s
mainframe computers
automated cartography beginning; remote sensing & GIS are mostly just concepts
CGIS - Roger Tomlinson
Harvard Lab for Computer Graphics And Spatial Analysis
1970s
Landsat program establishes remote sensing
GIS still being developed but overshadowed by remote sensing
MAP analysis program - Dana Tomlin & Joseph Berry

1980s
GIS comes of age: ARC/INFO, GRASS, SPANS
IBM PC begins the desktop computing revolution
Automated Cartography practitioners evolve into GIS practitioners
remote sensing seen by increasing numbers as just another GIS data source

What is the state of GIS now?

1990s
GIS dominates spatial information technologies
GISs are now being used by people who have no formal training in geography,
cartography or remote sensing

on one hand, this can be seen as a measure of the success of GIS

it should also be viewed as a warning flag that some of this development may be
happening too quickly: sound principles of map design are frequently abused in GIS
output

"Geomatics" term adopted by the Canadian government to encompass all the

spatial information technology disciplines
GPS becomes an important tool (see Piwowar, 1988. "A GPS
Primer",Cartouche, No. 27).
first-generation spatial data archives are becoming obsolete (see Piwowar,
1988. "Putting Your Data Out to Pasture", Cartouche, No. 29).

What does the future of GIS look like?

2000s
renewed interest in remote sensing as a suite of new generation of high-resolution and
hyperspectral sensors are launched (see Piwowar, 1998. "Remote Sensing: The Next
Generation", Cartouche, No. 28).
the emergence of seamlessly integrated "spatial information systems" which embrace the
traditional sub-disciplines of cartography, remote sensing and GIS in a unified package
these new GISs will also become more integrated into our everyday lives so that, in many
cases, we may not even be aware that we are using a GIS (see Piwowar, 1998. "2001: A
Societal GIS Odyssey", Cartouche, No. 31 and Homes Online)
the internet (or its successors) will become the medium for spatial data distribution and
communication (see Piwowar, 1998. "Interactive Web Map Publishing", Cartouche, No. 30
and The National Atlas of Canada Online).
there will be a paradigm change in the map itself - virtual maps will become a reality (see
Virtual Cities Resource Centre: www.casa.ucl.ac.uk/vc/cities.htm)

Other issues not covered in this course

Cartographic Modelling
Spatial Decison Support Systems (see Daniel, 1992. "SDSS for Local
Planning, or The Seat of the Pants is Out", GeoInfo Systems,
December 1992).
Ethical issues (privacy, acceptable use policies, standards of conduct)
Legal issues (copyright, freedom of information, liability)
GIS Design & Implementation

project planning
system requirements
GIS acquisition
implementation
maintenance