Core Curriculum-Geographic Information Science (1997-2000)

By the mid-1990s, interest was growing in geographic information science as a discipline based on fundamental geographic concepts that could engage student learning from early childhood to a life-time interest in the infrastructural and intellectual developments required for advances in the modeling of complex environmental and social processes. Seeking to accommodate this need, NCGIA adopted a new approach for a revised core curriculum. It was organized around four major themes:

(1) “Fundamental Geographic Concepts for GIS"—enumerating the concepts and describing their role in human cognition;

(2)"Implementing Geographic Concepts in GIS"—discussing the implementation and handling of geographic concepts in digital computers;

(3) "Geographic Information Technology in Society"—examining the management of these technologies, their implications for society, and the social context in which they are used; and

(4) "Application Areas and Case Studies"—critically examining how GIS is used in various applications.

Each of these four groupings consisted of self-contained teaching units based on a one-hour lecture format of approximately 7 pages of point-form text, with inline sketches and graphics. By placing the materials on-line, the potential existed for instructors or subsidiary project teams to develop supporting structures (e.g., hypertext) to organize the lecture notes and other on-line materials into interactive tutorial systems.

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Outline of the Core Curriculum in GIScience

(2015)

This outline gives an overview of the units that comprise the Core Curriculum in GIScience, along with hyperlinks to each. Note that hyperlinks are active only from the downloaded PDF document.

Introduction to the Core Curriculum in GIScience

(2015)

This introduction provides context to the Core Curriculum in GIScience, including its design philosophy, organization of core concepts, editorial procedure, a development timetable, list of original developers and editorial notes. Note that hyperlinks are active only from the downloaded PDF document.

Unit 190 - Public Access to Geographic Information

(2000)

This unit considers the important issue of public access to geographic information. It compares official policies of different countries toward public access to government-held information. It explains the approaches for public access to geographic information and examines the legal and societal implications that may result. Topics covered in this unit include policy issues pertaining to public access to information; the concept of information infrastructure; geospatial data clearinghouse as an approach for public access to geographic information; the legal implications of public access to geographic information; and the societal implications of public access to geographic information.

Units 012-017 - Position on the Earth

(2000)

Five topics are hilighted in this section: Unit 013 - Coordinate Systems Overview; Unit 014 - Latitude and Longitude; Unit 015 - The Shape of the Earth; Unit 016 - Discrete Georeferencing; and Unit 017 - Global Positioning Systems Overview. These cover topics that are fundamental to understanding the systems of locational reference used in GIS.

Unit 057 - Quadtrees and Scan Orders

(2000)

This unit covers topics including raster scan orders (Bostrophedon, Morton, Pi-order); an introduction to quadtrees and how they are constructed; applications of quadtrees; and quadtree addressing.

Unit 135 - Geographic Information Technologies in Society

(2000)

This unit describes contexts for GI Technologies; the use of GI technologies in society; the British Columbia case study; and key issues.

Unit 054 - Representing Fields

(2000)

This unit answers the questions, What is a field? What types of fields are there? What is the difference between fields and discrete entities? and How are fields represented?

Unit 164 - Land Information Systems and Cadastral Applications

(2000)

This unit describes the origin, components, functioning, and uses of land information systems, with particular emphasis on systems for maintaining cadastral (land ownership) data.

Unit 131 - Multimedia and Virtual Reality

(2000)

This unit presents an introduction to multimedia and virtual reality as they relate to GIS, including definitions, technological issues, computer science aspects, user interface considerations, and applications.

Unit 098 - Uncertainty Propagation in GIS

(2000)

This unit outlines an introduction to the problem of uncertainty propagation in GIS; the definition and identification of a stochastic error model for quantitative spatial attributes; a description of common error propagation techniques; applications of the theory; and how the results of an uncertainty analysis may be used to improve the accuracy of GIS products.

National Center for Geographic Information and Analysis

Core Curriculum-Geographic Information Science (1997-2000)