(GeoWorld, August 1996)
Effective GIS applications have little to do with data and everything to do with understanding, creativity and perspective. It is a common observation of the Information Age that the amount of knowledge doubles every 14 months or so. It is believed, with the advent of the information super highway, this periodicity will likely accelerate. But does more information directly translate into better decisions? Does the Internet enhance information exchange or overwhelm it? Does the quality of information correlate with the quantity of information? Does the rapid boil of information improve or scorch the broth of decisions?
GIS technology is a prime contributor to the landslide of information, as we feverishly release terra bytes of mapped data on an unsuspecting (and seemingly ungrateful) public. From a GIS-centric perspective, we are doing a bang-up job. Lest I sound like a mal-content, let me challenge that observation. My perspective might not meet the critical eye of a good philosopher, but that's not the objective. The thoughts simply explore the effects of information rapid transit on our changing perceptions of the world around us.
First, let's split hairs on some important words borrowed from the philosophers-- data, information, knowledge, and wisdom. You often hear them interchangeably, but they are distinct from one another in some subtle and not-so-subtle ways.
The first is data, the "factoids" of our Information Age. Data are bits of information, typically but not exclusively, in a numeric form, such as cardinal numbers, percentages, statistics, etc. It is exceedingly obvious that data are increasing at an incredible rate. Coupled with the barrage of data, is a requirement for the literate citizen of the future to have a firm understanding of averages, percentages, and to a certain extent, statistics. More and more, these types of data dominate the media and are the primary means used to characterize public opinion, report trends and persuade specific actions.
The second term, information, is closely related to data. The difference is that we tend to view information as more word-based and/or graphic than numeric. Information is data with explanation. Most of what is taught in school is information. Because it includes all that is chronicled, the amount of information available to the average citizen substantially increases each day. The power of technology to link us to information is phenomenal. As proof, simply "surf" the exploding number of "home pages" on the Internet.
The philosophers' third category is knowledge, which can be viewed as information within a context. Data and information that are used to explain a phenomenon become knowledge. It probably does not double at fast rates, but that really has more to do with the learner and processing techniques than with what is available. In other words, knowledge is data and information once we can process and apply it.
The last category, wisdom, is what certainly does not double at a rapid rate. It is the application of all three previous categories, and some intangible additions. Wisdom is rare and timeless, and is important because it is rare and timeless. We seldom encounter new wisdom in the popular media, nor do we expect deluge of newly derived wisdom to spring forth from our computer monitors each time we log on.
Knowledge and wisdom, like gold, must be aggressively processed from tons of near worthless overburden. Simply increasing data and information does not assure the increasing amounts of the knowledge and wisdom we need to solve pressing problems. Increasing the processing "thruput" by efficiency gains and new approaches might.
OK, how does this philosophical diatribe relate to GIS technology? What is our role within the framework? What do we deliver— data, information, knowledge or wisdom? Actually, if GIS is appropriately presented, nurtured and applied, we can affect all four. That is provided we recognize technology's role as an additional link that the philosophers failed to note.
Understanding sits at the juncture between information and knowledge. Understanding involves the honest dialog among various interpretations of data and information in an attempt to reach common knowledge and wisdom. Note that understanding is not a "thing," but a process. It's how concrete facts are translated into the slippery slope of beliefs. It involves the clash of values, tempered by judgment based on the exchange of experience. Technology, and in particular GIS, has a vital role to play in this process. We not only need to deliver spatial data and information, but deliver a methodology for translating them into knowledge and wisdom.
Our earliest encounters with GIS viewed maps as "images," with automated cartography providing rapid updating and redrafting of traditional map products. The field quickly progressed from computer mapping to spatial database management by focusing on the derivation and organization of mapped data. It provides efficient storage and retrieval of vast amounts of land-based data in both tabular and graphic form. From this view, GIS acts like a "cash register" to record transactions on the landscape. More recently, GIS is viewed as a "toolbox" of map analysis operations in which entire maps are treated as variables and related within a specific context. It is the GIS toolbox that transposes mapped data into spatial information.
Tomorrow's GIS builds on the cognitive basis, as well as the spatial databases and analytical operations of the technology. This new view pushes GIS beyond data mapping, management and modeling, to spatial reasoning and dialogue focusing on the communication of ideas. In a sense, GIS extends the toolbox to a "sandbox," in which alternative perspectives are constructed, discussed and common knowledge and wisdom flows.
This step needs to fully engage the end-user in GIS itself, not just its encoded and derived products. It requires a democratization of GIS that goes beyond GUI interfaces and attractive icons. It requires the GIS priesthood and technocrats to relish the opportunity to explain concepts in layman terms and provide access to the conceptual expressions of geographic space through intuitive means divorced from macro code.
I hope we consider the importance of knowledge and wisdom in the Information Age, and eagerly grasp the opportunity GIS has in contributing to their derivation. I fear that GIS "factlets" masquerading as knowledge in the Information Age will mask the importance of wisdom. I fear that our all-consuming focus on maps and "home pages" on the Internet will distract from the assimilation of the significance embedded in spatial information and the communication of the ideas it spawns. GIS has an opportunity to empower people with new decision-making tools, not simply entrap them in a new technology and an avalanche of data. What we have accomplished is necessary, but not sufficient for effective GIS solutions.
Like the automobile and indoor plumbing, GIS won't be an important technology until it fades into the fabric of society and is taken for granted. It must become second nature for both accessing information and translating it into knowledge... we must refocus its emphasis beyond mapping to that of spatial reasoning.
Source : InnovativeGIS.com
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