Geographic Information by Wade Bishop & Tony H. Grubesic

Author:Wade Bishop & Tony H. Grubesic
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Springer International Publishing, Cham

6.2.2 Organizing GI

A great deal of the Geoweb remains after one removes all of the geo-enabled information from location-based services (i.e., wayfinding and social media) and participatory personal information (i.e., activity trackers). Following the Sui and Zhao (2015) dichotomy, the parts of the Geoweb that benefit most from the contributions of information professionals pertain to organizing geospatial information not the organizing of information geospatially. The distinction between GI and geo-enabled information requires one to revisit the core elements of both information and geography. Information can be categorized into three classes: (1) physical and digital information objects (i.e., information-as-thing); (2) communication of information (i.e., information-as-process); and (3) cognition (i.e., information-as-knowledge) (Buckland, 1991). All of these types of information can be geographic. Throughout this text, however, we have primarily explored GI using the information-as-thing definition. For example, all cartographic resources that are organized into collections and databases are measurable objects that can receive descriptive metadata . These same cartographic resources, on the Geoweb (or not), can also operate under the information-as-process definition, especially if one explores the map communication model (MCM) popularized by Arthur Robinson during the scientification of cartography (Crampton, 2001). Readers may find it intriguing that the MCM evolved from the same Shannon-Weaver model of communication that informed early efforts in Information Science (Shannon & Weaver, 1949). In a nutshell, a cartographic resource may be learned, and the cognition that occurs to encrypt that geospatial data into the brain is GI-as-knowledge.

As detailed throughout this book, GI can take the form of objects, or GI-as-thing. For example, the position on the earth’s surface can be the attribute of interest. However, when considering the relative importance of location in the broader context of geo-enabled information, it may be of secondary interest, or in some cases inconsequential. For instance, a Flickr hosted photograph of Cinderella’s castle at the Magic Kingdom Theme Park in Lake Buena Vista, Florida includes latitude and longitude coordinates (28.4195 °N, 81.5812 °W), but this GI is likely not relevant to the information needs or information seeking behaviors for that information object .

Conversely, wayfinding does rely entirely on GI to function, but the raw, GPS -derived information is converted and/or transposed into turn-by-turn directions related to the salient labels and terrain of surroundings. This process is done with all of the relevant geographic aspects present, but they are not absolutely crucial for success. For example, the spatial cue may be an instruction to “turn right on Siskiyou Boulevard”. The geographic cue will include information as to where that turn needs to occur (e.g., 500 ft). In this instance, both pieces of information are useful, but successful navigation could occur with only the spatial cue.

Of course, the Geoweb supports the access and use of many GI resources where the geographic elements meet specific information needs. For example, elements of precision, accuracy, coordinate systems, and projection s all matter in determining fitness for use . To clarify, these facets of GI exclude tools that address relationships between origins (i.e., here) to destinations (i.

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