National Center for Geographic Information and Analysis

Summaries of the principal research findings of NCGIA research over the period December 1988 - December 1997 are provided. The summaries treat developments in handling complex spatial relations, spatial error and uncertainty, public participation GIS, automated map generalization, spatial dependence, and standards for large geographic databases.

This document reports on the Center’s eighth full year of operation. Two major new research initiatives were begun, on GIS and Society: The Social Implications of How People, Space, and Environment are Represented in GIS, and Formal Models of the Common-Sense Geographic World. Education programs continued to be directed to K-12, GIS in the community colleges, and the development of new curriculum materials in GIS and remote sensing. Two additional collaborative projects were initiated under the Collaborative Grants program, and the Visiting Scholars program continued to support the work of visiting researchers at NCGIA sites. The program of collaboration with the European Science Foundation’s GISDATA program continued, and the second joint Summer Institute for Young Scholars was held in Maine.

In 1995, a new proposal, “Advancing Geographic Information Science,” was submitted to NSF on behalf of NCGIA. A three-year progam will commence in  February 1997. 

The new NSF-funded project was named in honor of Bernard Varenius, a 17th Century Dutch geographer and author of Geographia Generalis, and administered as a project of UC Santa Barbara, with subagreements with the University of Maine, SUNY at Buffalo, and the University of Minnesota. This is the last NCGIA Annual Report. NCGIA research initiatives active on 12/31/96 will be transferred to, and reported upon, as part of the Varenius project (treated as a separate series on e-scholarship.org).

The research initiatives by NCGIA are described briefly in this brochure. They include I-1 Accuracy of Spatial Databases; I-2 Languages of Spatial Relations; I -3 Multiple Representations; I-4 Use and Value of Geographic Information; I-5 Architecture of Very Large Spatial Databases; I-6 Spatial Decision Support Systems; I -7 Visualization of the Quality of Spatial Information; I -8 Formalizing Cartographic Knowledge; I-9 Institutions Sharing Geographic Information; I-10 Spatio-Temporal Reasoning in GIS; I-12 Integration of Remote Sensing and GIS; I-13 User Interfaces for GIS; I -14 GIS and Spatial Analysis; I-15 Multiple Roles for GIS in U.S. Global Change Research; I-16 Law, Public Policy, and Spatial Databases; I-17 Collaborative Spatial Decision Making; and I-19 The Social Implications of How People, Space, and Environment are Represented in GIS.

This report describes the results of NCGIA Research Initiative 9 on Institutions Sharing Geographic Information. The initiative was active during the period June 1992–summer 1994. Its focus was to identify and understand the behavioral and organizational impediments and incentives to the sharing of geographic information within different kinds of geographic-information-user environments. Distinctions were drawn between the protocols that facilitate sharing among decision makers in the public and private sectors, and among scientists. Consideration was also given to the types of spatial data shared and the types of problems addressed by decision makers. Spatial metadata was seen as a critical priority for enhancement of the sharing of geographic information.

This document reports on the NCGIA's seventh full year of operation. Three research initiatives were completted in 1995: Formalizing Cartographic Knowledge; Institutions Sharing Geographic Information; and GIS and Spatial Analysis. Two major new research initiatives were begun, on Multiple Roles for GIS in US Global Change Research and on Collaborative Spatial Decision-Making , and a third was in the advanced stages of planning for its specialist meeting--GIS and Society: The Social Implications of How People, Space, and Environment are Represented in GIS, the first NCGIA research initiative to be planned mostly outside the center's three institutions. Education programs continued to be directed to K-12, GIS in the community colleges, and the development of new curriculum materials in GIS and remote sensing. Two collaborative projects were initiated under the Collaborative Grants program, and the Visiting Scholars program continued to support the work of visiting researchers at NCGIA sites. The program of collaboration with the European Science Foundation's GISDATA program continued, and the first joint Summer Institute for Young Scholars was held in Maine.

This report describes the results of NCGIA Research Initiative 14 on “GIS and Spatial Analysis.” This initiative focused on the interface between these spatial statistical problems and geographic information systems, a major goal being to advance the capabilities of GIS in facilitating spatial statistical analyses.

This document reports on the Center’s sixth full year of operation (Dec 1993 -  Dec 1994). Four research initiatives were completed: Spatial Decision Support Systems; Visualizing the Quality of Spatial Information; Integration of Remote Sensing and GIS; and User Interfaces for GIS.  One major new research initiative was begun, on Law, Policy, and Spatial Databases; and a second was in the advanced stages of planning for its specialist meeting on Multiple Roles for GIS in U.S. Global Change Research). Education programs continued to be directed to K-12, with teacher workshops and the development of instructional materials, and a new initiative promoting GIS in community colleges began. The Center held its first Summer Institute for researchers. The program of collaboration with the European Science Foundation’s GISDATA program was in full swing, and planning began for a 1995 joint summer institute with the Europeans in Maine. All of the developments are reviewed in this report.

This illustrated brochure provides a report on the National Center for Geographic Information and its activities in the period 1 December 1988 through 30 December 1994. It features the Center's primary research initiatives; its role as a clearinghouse for disseminating information in support of GIS research, teaching, and applications; and its activities in education on behalf of curriculum development and support for teachers and professional training. Separate sections describe the personnel associated with the project, the unique research associated with each of  the three institutional partners (UC Santa Barbara, SUNY at Buffalo, and the University of Maine) and the collaborative activities that link these partners for the fulfillment of common objectives.

NCGIA Research Initiative 13 addressed human-computer interaction and related issues in the design and implementation of user interfaces for GISs and other geographical software packages. Its goals and outcomes, reviewed in this report, were 1) to investigate ways for people to interact with computers when solving problems concerning geographic space and spatial phenomena; 2) in particular, to model some of the ways in which factors such as disciplinary background and training, problem domain, culture, natural language, and individual differences, influence human-computer interaction involving geographic information; 3) to establish criteria and methods for the design of GIS user interfaces, and user interfaces for other geographic software; and 4) to develop and test prototypes of GIS interfaces and interface development tools.

NCGIA's Research Initiative 6 is concerned with the integration of geographic information systems and geographic information analysis to support problem-solving and decision-making. This Initiative was active from March 1990 until April 1993. This report describes the Center's research activities relating to the design and implementation of prototype systems that link geographic information systems and geographic information analysis. These included applications in retailing, marketing, socioeconomic modeling, and environmental modeling. The breadth of application areas is consistent with the pressing needs of environmental scientists and society in general to apply new spatial technologies to fundamental problems.