richie

FOR HIS GIS MASTERS DISSERTATION at the University of Edinburgh, Alex Mackie chose to mix two subjects close to his heart: books and maps. There is undoubtedly commercial value to mapping books but this has been largely ignored by the industry. If books are properly georeferenced then location-aware e-readers and tablets can use their user’s location to recommend locally relevant books or provide the option to search for books relating to intended holiday destinations or places of interest. This extends the principle that physical bookstores already recognize a demand for locally relevant books, with Waterstones and other retailers stocking shop windows [...]

THREADS ON THE RELATIONSHIP between GIS and the wider world of ICT are common on social media. While posts like “is GIS splitting?” appear contrived to stir debate, others seem genuinely confused over the distinction between the concept of a geographic information system and geospatial technology in general. Such distinctions can be dismissed as semantic, but the focus on ‘GIS’ can reflect an implicit assumption that spatial is somehow apart from general ICT. Should we be concerned by posts like “where should a GIS unit belong in an organisation” or “is it important to keep GIS out of the IT department”? [...]

Everything is speeding up but I’m going to suggest slowing down. My guess it that the phrase ‘slow learning’ is new to many readers. Slow learning is a vision for less formulaic, less time-driven learning. It’s self-directed (students select the topics to learn), long-lasting (more like lifelong learning than finishing a course, grade or degree), authentic (based on real world activities), and supports, and is supported by, a learning community. Slow learning joins other slow movements such as slow food, which aims “to prevent the disappearance of local food cultures and traditions, to counteract the rise of fast life…” and slow [...]

At conferences students ask me to suggest projects for course or capstone projects*, even after they have completed two or more courses (or years!) studying geospatial technology, science and use. Posts on a variety of GIS forums and discussion areas seek the same kind of help. How can educators and those of us in the field mentor students in this important part of their education? Why is Selection so Hard? Most of the queries I get are from undergraduates and masters students. In most cases, they can explore anything of interest that ties into GIS, geography and spatial analysis, in any [...]