The organisation I work for is called the ‘Association for Geographic Information’. Not, you will note, ‘for Geography’ or ‘ for Geographers’, but ‘Geographic Information’.
So having identified that Geography relates to the location of items, what do I now make of Geographic Information (GI)? What sort of information is that? I guess this must be any information whatsoever which relates to location.
I have recently returned from Malaga. This is a city south of Nerja. Presumably that is a piece of Geographic Information. Someone else might tell you that Malaga is north of Marbella. Another piece of Geographic Information. Put the two pieces of information together, though, and there is no increase in clarity. Even less if you do not know where either Nerja or Marbella is located. I suppose that is because there is no unique reference point and no commonality in those pieces on information. Presumably this is similar to the debate going on regarding commonality in addressing data. But I am getting ahead of myself there.
Malaga is 36.43 north and 4.23 west. Now that is Geographic Information which can pinpoint Malaga exactly on any map of the world. Very precise, very useful. And in a format that can be applied to any location, anywhere.
The AGI website is full of information of all types. It also includes a definition of Geographic Information as follows - 'Information about objects or phenomena that are associated with a location relative to the surface of the Earth'. I can understand that without too much difficulty and can immediately see that latitude and longitude fulfill that definition totally.
Where I do start to have a problem is with the use of Geographic Information in areas which might not at first seem to have a direct relevance to geography. We at the AGI have a large group of members who are commercial companies. This means that they sell things. Presumably. And I would have thought that most of what they sell can loosely be termed as geographic Information. But the key question for me is who is willing to pay for that information and why do the buyers feel that this information is valuable to them. Who uses Geographic Information and for what purpose? Does it supply commercial benefits, social benefits, benefits to the citizen or all three?
And to answer that question, I guess I must look at the websites of a number of organizations who refer to Geographic Information. But that is for another day. For the moment I just start with the knowledge that there exists a pile of information regarding location and that this information is useful for a huge range of purposes. And again I can see that our organization, the Association for Geographic Information, is uniquely placed, not to create that information ourselves, but to make information about that information available to our members via the website, via seminars, via the annual conference etc.
Oops now I’ve introduced the concept of information about information. Which is the same I guess as data about data. And I know that is known as metadata. But now I really am getting ahead of myself and straying into concepts that I need to leave for another day.
So having identified that Geography relates to the location of items, what do I now make of Geographic Information (GI)? What sort of information is that? I guess this must be any information whatsoever which relates to location.
I have recently returned from Malaga. This is a city south of Nerja. Presumably that is a piece of Geographic Information. Someone else might tell you that Malaga is north of Marbella. Another piece of Geographic Information. Put the two pieces of information together, though, and there is no increase in clarity. Even less if you do not know where either Nerja or Marbella is located. I suppose that is because there is no unique reference point and no commonality in those pieces on information. Presumably this is similar to the debate going on regarding commonality in addressing data. But I am getting ahead of myself there.
Malaga is 36.43 north and 4.23 west. Now that is Geographic Information which can pinpoint Malaga exactly on any map of the world. Very precise, very useful. And in a format that can be applied to any location, anywhere.
The AGI website is full of information of all types. It also includes a definition of Geographic Information as follows - 'Information about objects or phenomena that are associated with a location relative to the surface of the Earth'. I can understand that without too much difficulty and can immediately see that latitude and longitude fulfill that definition totally.
Where I do start to have a problem is with the use of Geographic Information in areas which might not at first seem to have a direct relevance to geography. We at the AGI have a large group of members who are commercial companies. This means that they sell things. Presumably. And I would have thought that most of what they sell can loosely be termed as geographic Information. But the key question for me is who is willing to pay for that information and why do the buyers feel that this information is valuable to them. Who uses Geographic Information and for what purpose? Does it supply commercial benefits, social benefits, benefits to the citizen or all three?
And to answer that question, I guess I must look at the websites of a number of organizations who refer to Geographic Information. But that is for another day. For the moment I just start with the knowledge that there exists a pile of information regarding location and that this information is useful for a huge range of purposes. And again I can see that our organization, the Association for Geographic Information, is uniquely placed, not to create that information ourselves, but to make information about that information available to our members via the website, via seminars, via the annual conference etc.
Oops now I’ve introduced the concept of information about information. Which is the same I guess as data about data. And I know that is known as metadata. But now I really am getting ahead of myself and straying into concepts that I need to leave for another day.
