Do localised GIS and spatially related textbooks for teaching and education matter?

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16 January 2009 | By Jeff Thurston | 1114

"People understand and relate to issues and problems that are near to them more quickly and effectively. This is particularly the case in Europe. While basic GIS concepts are universal and are needed and applied in a similar fashion around the globe, a case can be made for including local / regional data, spatial issues and related background information into teaching and instructional materials."

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Will economic stimulus spending provide a launch pad for geospatial innovation?

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11 January 2009 | By Matt Ball | 1574

"There are an increasing number of demands from various market sectors in response to plans for economic stimulus. Figures have been floated by the incoming Obama administration for $800 billion to be spent on infrastructure, health care, energy efficiency, and other priorities. While there will likely be many opportunities for geospatial work, the question is whether that work will lead to innovation in new tools and approaches that benefit the geospatial market as a whole."

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What are the differences between North American and European geospatial initiatives and approaches?

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12 December 2008 | 1887

Jeff Thurston — "There are both similarities and differences between North American and European geospatial initiatives and approaches. Europe consists of 27 EU member states as well as several non-member states as compared to  Mexico, United States and Canada. Europeans appear more coordinated in their geospatial approaches. However, it is much more difficult in Europe to find young company’s venturing into entrepreneurial space alone."

Matt Ball — "The approaches for spatial data infrastructure (SDI) vary widely within these continents, and particularly from country to country in North America. One overriding difference in data policy that still has broad play across regions is the fee vs. free model for data collected by the government. The United States has long made federal data available for free, and has cultivated a strong geospatial industry based on that openness."

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What is spatial design, and how can it be applied to sustainability problems?

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05 December 2008 | 1854

Jeff Thurston — "GIS, GPS, remote sensing, surveying tools and other technologies enable the underlying processes supporting sustainable systems to be measured, calculated and analyzed - spatially.  There are no other tools that can do this as effectively as these can. Furthermore, they integrate processes in such a manner that the relationships (design processes) can be altered, manipulated and managed, thereby providing further creative possibilities."

Matt Ball — "While it’s recognized that many practitioners of geospatial technology have some element of design in their job description, a predominant amount of GIS work still revolves around data creation without an eye toward affecting change. The idea of spatial design is to get out from behind database maintenance, engage in spatial analysis, and provide direction and goals from the data we have amassed."

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