The of GISgis.weavsplace.com/Lectures/History.pdf · geography, forestry, landscape architecture,...

MPP-6118– GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION SYSTEMS

Class slides are based on readings, the current NCGIA Core Curriculum for GIS(ystems) and GIS(cience),Kemp & Goodchild (1991), the NCGIA Core Curriculum Project at UBC, and Foote & Heubner’s The Geographer’s Craft History of GIS 1

What is GIS?– Acronym

– define GIS(ystems)

The History of GIS– Multiple Themes

– Computers

– Key Institutions & Developments



Acronym

GIS = geographic(al) information system

– the hardware, software, & routines

GIS = geographic(al) information science

– philosophical questions

– methods issues

Why does it matter?

– Discipline specific implications

– software versus science



A GIS. . .

• Is a subset of information science that deals with spatially or geographically referenced data.

• Is a collection of hardware, software, methods, and instructions, to:

– capture, manage, manipulate, analyze, & display

• Is a decision support system

• Is different from mapping & computer aid‐cartography because of its analytical capacity

• Is different from CAD programs because it performs spatial operations

• Is different from DBMS because it has a cartographic interface



GIS: An Inter‐Disciplinary Science

• Geography• Cartography• Photogrammetry• Remote Sensing• Geology• Geodesy• Surveying• Statistics• MIS• Computer Science• Mathematics• Civil Engineering



Similar & Synonymous Software Applications/Terms

• AGIS (Automated Geographic Information System),• AM/FM (Automated Mapping and Facilities Management)• CAD/M (Computer‐Aided Drafting/Mapping or Manufacturing)• Environmental Information System• Image‐Based Information System• LIS (Land Information System)• Land Management System• Land Record System• Land Resources Information System• Natural Resources Inventory System• Natural Resources Management Information System• Planning Information System• Multipurpose Cadastre• Resource Information System• Spatial Data Handling System



History: Multiple Themes

• Maps are efficient data storage devices‐‐but inefficient analysis tools• Pre‐GIS spatial analysis was limited to ‘multiple’ themes

– rough overlays– eyeballing data– imperfect method

• Accounting for scale difference?• Data sources?• Quantification of an overlay?



Maps of the Battle of Yorktown (American Revolution) contained hinged overlays to show troop movements



Dr. John Snow used a map to track the source of Cholera outbreak to a contaminated well ‐ an early example of geographical analysis

In 1854 when a major outbreak of cholera erupted in a neighborhood very close to where Snow lived, he conducted a thorough investigation in order to prove this theory that cholera was passed through water. He had a list that detailed the names and addresses of 83 people who had died from cholera. He also had an invaluable resource of detailed information about the neighborhood’s residents in the form of local clergyman Henry Whitehead. While Whitehead tracked down and questioned everyone he possibly could about their drinking habits, Snow analyzed this data to form patterns of who had been drinking the water, who had died and, just as importantly, who had NOT died. Not only were Snow and Whitehead able to convince the local parish board to remove the handle of a contaminated water pump, they knew their data so well that they were able to figure out the index, or original, case that had started the outbreak.



The London Cholera Epidemic of 1854









History: Computers

• Computer hardware developed the capacity to provide cartographic output

• Computer systems became more robust in terms of speed & memory

• Computers become smaller & cheaper



Slide Rule



My First Calculator

SR‐52 programmable calculator with nonvolatile magnetic card storage. More programming and memory power than comparable models offered at twice the price, the SR‐52 stored up to 224 program steps and values on 2‐7/8 by 5/8‐inch magnetic cards. Twenty user memories; 23 preprogrammed functions and operations; programming capabilities included 82 user‐defined keys and labels, branching, flags and subroutines. AOS[tm] Algebraic Operating System with nine levels of parentheses. Basic library software with 22 program cards included; optional software libaries, thermal printer/plotter and PPX‐52 Professional Program Exchange available. Introduced at a $395.00 SRP.



Old School – Punch Cards



My First Computer – Osborne 1

Weight: 24.5 poundsCPU: Zilog Z80 @ 4.0 MHzRAM: 64K RAMDisplay: built-in 5" monitor

53 X 24 textPorts: parallel / IEEE-488

modem / serial portStorage: dual 5-1/4 inch, 91K drivesOS: CP/M

CP/M SystemCP/M UtilitySuperCalc spreadsheet applicationWordStar word processing application with MailMerge



Moore's law

The complexity for minimum component costs has increased at a rate of roughly a factor of two per year... Certainly over the short term this rate can be expected to continue, if not to increase. Over the longer term, the rate of increase is a bit more uncertain, although there is no reason to believe it will not remain nearly constant for at least 10 years. That means by 1975, the number of components per integrated circuit for minimum cost will be 65,000. I believe that such a large circuit can be built on a single wafer.[9]



What’s Next?



History: Computer Events

• Late1950s, Transportation planners begin digitizing flow & traffic data

– mapping

• Late1950s, University of Washington Geography students begin quantitative revolution which includes developing spatial statistics, analytical operations & computer‐aid

– mapping

– heavy on spatial operations & mapping



History: Administrative/Government

• Mid 1960s, Canadian Geographic Information System developed to inventory land and resources, as well as rate habitats

– Conceptual Innovations

• database structure

• overlay/area calculations

• vectorization

• layers

• differentiating spatial & attribute

– Technical Innovations

• scanning as data entry

• query polygons




• Minnesota Office of Planning: Land Management Information System– like CGIS

Pioneering research at University of Minnesota led to the development of the Minnesota Land Management Information System, the second GIS in the US and the third in the world. This work begun in the late 1960's built a core environmental database and a GIS from scratch under contract with the State Planning Agency. Work was done by an interdisciplinary team of faculty from geography, forestry, landscape architecture, and soil science. By 1977, the project had moved enough out of the R&D phase and into the operational phase, that it was spun‐off to state government and became the Land Management Information Center (LMIC).




U.S. Census

– development of digital enumeration districts (1960s)

– Geocoding for address matching

– Geographic base files using Dual Independent Map Encoding (DIME) files developed for 1970 census

• DIME files were urban only pre‐cursors to TIGER

• Creation of popular Urban Census Atlas were a by‐product of DIME



History: Military/Government

• U.S. military was developing raster‐based capabilities associated with satellite imagery & air photo

– The popular and freely distributed package GRASS developed by Army Corps of Engineers is an example

• Today, the on‐going development of GRASS software is a collaborative project between public and private sector users, as well as university‐based researchers.

– Military developments has slowly made it to the commercial market



History: Education

• Harvard Laboratory For Computer Graphics And Spatial Analysis (a.k.a. Harvard Graphics)

– developed numerous software packages

• SYMAP (1964)

• CALFORM (late 1960s)

• SYMVU (late 1960s)

• GRID (late 1960s)

• POLYVRT (early 1970s)

• ODYSSEY (mid 1970s)



History: Commercial

Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI) created in 1969

– Jack Dangermond built on Harvard Graphics developments

• overtime, ESRI built on the successes of many other software companies it purchased and/or hire away their staff

– By the 1980s, ESRI had created a standard RDMS‐based structure

• the integrated cartographic (arc) & RDMS (info) system was to be called Arc/Info



History: Commercial

Intergraph Corporation

– Closely associated with federal contracts, particularly defense

• A spin‐off of former IBM Federal Systems Division employees working on NASA/USAF Saturn Rocket‐development in Huntsville, AL

– Initially, CAD‐‐but developed into a GIS



History: Commercial, Government, & Education

• Contemporary development is driven by commercial sector

• De‐classification of military applications & data leading to proliferation of GIS

• University‐based development limited

• Commercial sector continues to consolidate. ESRI is the single most prominent GIS provider

• Government Agencies taking the lead on data standardization, decreased redundancy, and data sharing

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The of GISgis.weavsplace.com/Lectures/History.pdf · geography, forestry, landscape architecture,...

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