Defining GIS - Assessment of ScanGIS

Geographical Information Systems (GIS) are routinely used by public and private organisations and enterprises as well as lay persons. It is becoming an infrastructure and a preconditioning web implicitly embedded in our information society. Using a GIS is no longer a specialist endeavor. It is a daily activity of non-specialist, with or without being aware of it. This of courser changes the Worlds view of GIS. The question is if it should change the perspective of GIS scientists too. It is the intention of the present paper to investigate the way perspectives of GIS have changed since its emergence in Scandinavia in the mid-eighties. Changes in definitions will be highlighted; as well as possible links to positivism will be discussed. Finally a survey of activities in terms of abstracts of papers presented at conferences from 1985 to 2001 will be provided.

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2003
• Where: SCANGIS
• Authors: Hans Skov-Petersen
• Keywords: Geographical Information Systems, GIS Scientists, Information Technology, Private Organisations, SCANGIS 2003