science

Geographic Information Science and Technology Body of Knowledge

Geographic Information Science and Technology Body of Knowledge is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Geographic Information Science and Technology Body of Knowledge rather than just read about it. In short: The Geographic Information Science and Technology Body of Knowledge (GISTBoK) is a reference document produced by the University Consortium for Geographic Information Science (UCGIS) as the first product of its Model Curricula project, started in 1997 by Duane Marble and a select task force, and completed in 2006 by David DiBiase and a team of editors. Overview The GISTBoK is the most successful effort to date to cr…

Key takeaways

Geographic Information Science and Technology Body of Knowledge belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Geographic Information Science and Technology Body of Knowledge to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Geographic Information Science and Technology Body of Knowledge from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The Geographic Information Science and Technology Body of Knowledge (GISTBoK) is a reference document produced by the University Consortium for Geographic Information Science (UCGIS) as the first product of its Model Curricula project, started in 1997 by Duane Marble and a select task force, and completed in 2006 by David DiBiase and a team of editors.

Overview The GISTBoK is the most successful effort to date to create a comprehensive outline of the concepts and skills unique to the geospatial realm, including geographic information systems, geographic information science, remote sensing, satellite navigation systems, and cartography. However, it is missing some topics, such as geocoding, and has significant granularity issues: large, mature subfields such as surveying, GPS, and remote sensing are covered in small sections, while the relatively immature field of geocomputation is granted an entire knowledge area. There is also opposition to the document as a whole, especially from the critical GIS community, on the grounds that the discipline is too diverse and too subjective to be so easily encapsulated. The editors have acknowledged these shortcomings, and have expressed hope that wider input on future editions will solve some of these issues. The GISTBoK is intended to be used in a variety of applications, including curriculum design, educational assessment, educational program accreditation, professional certification, hiring practices, and project RFP's. All of these activities are elements of the current trend toward regulation and standardization of the geospatial professions, and much of the opposition to the Body of Knowledge comes from those opposed to this trend, especially in academia, who feel that GIS&T is too diverse, interdisciplinary, and subjective to be regulated. One counterargument to this opposition is that the body of knowledge approach enables a flexible form of regulation that accommodates a diversity of skills and viewpoints. The GISTBoK is patterned after the Computing Curricula project of the Association for Computing Machinery, and other model curriculum projects. It is essentially a hierarchical outline, composed of Knowledge Areas, broken down into Units, further divided into Topics. Each topic includes a list of 5–10 educational objectives that exemplify a person with varying levels of knowledge and skill. It does not include an encyclopaedic description of each topic. The first edition was co-sponsored by UCGIS and several major vendors (ESRI, Intergraph, and GE Smallworld), and was published in August 2006 by the Association of American Geographers.

See also Body of knowledge Concepts and Techniques in Modern Geography Geographia Generalis How to Lie with Maps Scientific Geography Series Technical geography Quantitative geography

References

Further reading DiBiase, David, DeMers, M., Johnson, A., Kemp, K., Luck, A.T., Plewe, B., and Wentz, E., 2006, Geographic Information Science & Technology Body of Knowledge, Washington, D.C.: Association of American Geographers. [1]

External links UCGIS Model Curricula Project Geographic Information Science & Technology Body of Knowledge

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Geographic Information Science and Technology Body of Knowledge

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Geographic Information Science and Technology Body of Knowledge claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Geographic Information Science and Technology Body of Knowledge before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Geographic Information Science and Technology Body of Knowledge ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Geographic Information Science and Technology Body of Knowledge

In research: Geographic Information Science and Technology Body of Knowledge appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Geographic Information Science and Technology Body of Knowledge in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Geographic Information Science and Technology Body of Knowledge is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 2006 non-fiction books, Bodies of knowledge, Geographic information science, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Geographic Information Science and Technology Body of Knowledge outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Geographic Information Science and Technology Body of Knowledge in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Geographic Information Science and Technology Body of Knowledge means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Geographic Information Science and Technology Body of Knowledge out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Geographic Information Science and Technology Body of Knowledge in simple terms?

Why does Geographic Information Science and Technology Body of Knowledge matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Geographic Information Science and Technology Body of Knowledge?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Geographic Information Science and Technology Body of Knowledge.