Media Advisory 10-032
From Community Mapping to Critical Spatial Thinking

On Nov. 17, as part of NSF's Distinguished Lecture series, world-renowned geographer Michael Goodchild discusses the changing face of GIS

Michael Goodchild talks about how individuals use social networks to define landscapes. Credit and Larger Version

November 15, 2010

View a video with Michael Goodchild, director of the University of California, Santa Barbara's Center for Spatial Studies.

Change is coming in the way people create knowledge about the geographic environment in which they live, and it's causing seismic paradigm shifts. Community mapping, a form of citizen science whereby local people participate in geographically defining an area, is increasingly taking on greater significance--especially during times of emergency and natural disaster.

As part of the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Distinguished Lecture series, geographer Michael Goodchild gives a talk on Nov. 17 titled, "From Community Mapping to Critical Spatial Thinking: The Changing Face of GIS (geographic information systems)." He will discuss how individuals are using distributed, real-time data enabled by social networks to define landscapes that have been suddenly altered by floods, hurricanes and other acts of nature. He says these methods differ sharply from map-making tradition and they're forcing geographers to shift their thinking from analyzing geographic information to synthesizing it from many sources.

Ultimately, he will discuss what these and other changes mean for geo-education, grounding his argument in fundamental spatial concepts that hold the key to simplifying the GIS user interface and redefining the goals of GIS education.

This Distinguished Lecture is sponsored by NSF's Directorate for Social, Behavioral & Economic Sciences.

Note: Visitors must RSVP to Bobbie Mixon in the Office of Legislative and Public Affairs to register for a visitor pass for access to the Stafford II building. Contact Bobbie by email or phone (703) 292-8485.

-NSF-

Media Contacts
Bobbie Mixon, NSF (703) 292-8485 bmixon@nsf.gov

Program Contacts
Jennifer L. Thornhill, NSF (703) 292-7273 jthornhi@nsf.gov

Principal Investigators
Michael Goodchild, University of California, Santa Barbara (805) 893-8049 good@geog.ucsb.edu

The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent federal agency that supports fundamental research and education across all fields of science and engineering. In fiscal year (FY) 2012, its budget was $7.0 billion. NSF funds reach all 50 states through grants to nearly 2,000 colleges, universities and other institutions. Each year, NSF receives about 50,000 competitive requests for funding, and makes about 11,500 new funding awards. NSF also awards about $593 million in professional and service contracts yearly.

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