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Institutions | Training | Online Education | Papers / Articles
Higher Education in Spatial Information Industry:
A case for promoting mutual interest in geography at University level
A New Spatial Paradigm
The Spatial reasoning has
undergone a shift with convergence of the discipline of geography and IT.
With GIS parenting many recombinants and having siblings such as
Photogrammatery, Remote Sensing, Geospatial Resource Management,
Positional Tracking, Car Navigation System and others6
there has been a mind-expanding paradigm shift in how we perceive, handle and employ maps. There has been a shift from product- focus to a utility-focus in our map dealings. No longer is it what a map contains, but how "that map combined with this map and eye of a newt can produce what we really need". GIS interactions have expanded the processes and procedures of manipulating maps and in turn enhanced spatial reasoning. There has been a radical departure from descriptive mapping to prescriptive mapping - serving as data in determining appropriate management actions. New spatial paradigm has evolved with an appreciation that maps are data - numbers first and pictures later. They tell us where it is (inventory), and they provide insight into how it could be (analysis). In this context map analysis has become as an emerging discipline, recognizing fundamental map analysis operations independent of specific applications. GIS is used as a decision support system.
Status of Spatial Reasoning in Higher Education
Spatial reasoning involves innumerable queries. They range from inventory related (data) to analysis related (understanding) as identified by their function and approach. Of all the disciplines that directly adorn spatial perspective are Geography and Geology. However innumerable other disciplines like management, economics, botany, zoology, etc also subscribe to spatial reasoning. Table 1 illustrates the spatial queries that many disciplines in higher education not only teach at undergraduate and post graduate level but also produce research work at both Pre-Doctoral and Doctorate Level.
TABLE 1: Spatial Information that already has a place in University and Colleges
| SPATIAL QUERIES | FUNCTION | APPROACH | Do you study this in University Departments & colleges? |
| Can you map that? | Mapping | Inventory |
Yes, at all levels of teaching :
Graduate
Post graduate
Pre Doctoral
Doctoral
(Geography , Geology , Architecture
Departments)
|
| Where is what? | Management | Information |
Yes, at all levels of teaching :
Graduate
Post graduate
Pre Doctoral
Doctoral
(Geography ,Geology ,Economics, Commerce,
Management Departments, etc)
|
| Where has it changed? | Temporal | Information |
Yes, at all levels of teaching :
Graduate
Post graduate
Pre Doctoral
Doctoral
(Geography, Geology, Economics, botany,
Management, etc.)
|
| What relationships exist? | Spatial | Information |
Yes, at all levels of teaching :
Graduate
Post graduate
Pre Doctoral
Doctoral
(Geography, Geology, Economics, Botany,
Management, etc.)
|
| Where is it best? | Suitability | Understanding |
Yes, at all levels of teaching :
Graduate
Post graduate
Pre Doctoral
Doctoral
(Geography, Geology, Economics, botany,
Management, etc.)
|
| What affects what? | System | Understanding |
Yes, at all levels of teaching :
Graduate
Post graduate
Pre Doctoral
Doctoral
(Geography, Geology, zoology, botany,
Management, etc.)
|
| What if…? | Simulation | Analysis |
Yes, at following levels of teaching :
Pre Doctoral
Doctoral
(Geography, Geology, Economics, botany,
Management, etc.)
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