What Makes Spatial Special – my (Kate’s) perspective

When I started on our master’s degree in 2003 at University College London the first week was an induction week. We were introduced to each lecturer in the department (Prof Muki Haklay, Prof Paul Longley, Jeremy Morley and Dr John Illife) and were giving an introductory series of lectures called spatial is special – I still remember them reasonably well. The notion of spatial is special is one of the first discussions included in GIS texts and introductory lectures. So, let’s consider the conventional reasons for why spatial is special, they include:

• Geographic data is multi dimensional
• There are lots of it – it is voluminous
• It can be represented at multiple scales
• It requires a projection system to turn a 3D real world into an 2D computer model or paper map
• Special analysis techniques are required – nearest, furthest etc
• It can be laborious and time consuming to collect, process and analyses
• It is expensive and complex to maintain up to date geographic data
• I t is cross –disciplinary in nature and can be used to link disciplines
  

(adapted from Longley, Goodchild, Maguire & Rhind (2011). Geographical Information Systems and Science, John Wiley and Sons: Chichester)

This is the technical response, but there is an emotive reason behind why spatial is special, and for me it is related to the age old adage “A picture tells a 1000 words”. Here in Portsmouth I teach to undergraduates in lectures with 200 students. I see my job as inspiring enthusiasm for exploring issues in human geography and I do this by finding relevant maps, images and TED talks to bring subjects/sub-disciplines to life.

For reasons unbeknown to me, there is a consensus amongst our undergraduate cohort that they don’t like GIS/ Geospatial data/ making maps. This bothers me, I am a map geek and I hope to inspire them to change their mind. So, even if the students don’t remember my name, they know me as the one that uses a map(s) in every lecture. Why do I do this? Good maps bring abstract concepts, theory and data to life. They help stimulate the imagination and aid knowledge production. They simplify and generalise complex issues in ways that members of the public and new learners can understand. It is inconceivable for me to imagine giving a lecture on migration without the aid of maps to illustrate movement.

How do I benchmark a successful lecture with 200 students? Students are not fiddling with their phones, whispering to each other, falling asleep or slouched in their seats. If they are engaged, attentive and interested it shows on their faces and in their posture. Last year, I remember giving a lecture on the subject an “Introduction to GIS and health”. There are so many powerful maps that can be used in this subject area, examples include:

• John Snow’s map of Cholera
• Changes in life expectancy as you travel from tube stop to tube stop
• Patterns of malaria across Africa
• Sptaial-temporal maps of population differences
• Noise mapping in low income neighbourhoods of London
• Mapping Internally Displaced People (IDP) in Haiti
• Cartograms of population to reveal inequalities

When such maps are used in lectures to illustrate and communicate concepts and bring geographic data to life – the reward is a positive student reaction and a realisation that maps are useful. This is particularly evident if lectures reflect real world issues in the news. This lecture was delivered this year at the time of the during this lecture we also discussed the Fukushima nuclear accident in Japan – highlighting health issues of such a crises and then looked at how different maps and mapping hacks of the incident could be used to explore at risk population groups. This type of linking between maps and real world issues bring to the fore the potential of geospatial applications for decision-making and problem solving issues in human geography.

Prioritising Geographic Concepts for Teaching New Learners GIS: results from our blog poll

We asked readers of the blog to identify the priority of teaching certain Geographic Concepts to new users whilst quite a few people viewed the questions only 21 readers completed the poll. Firstly, I would like to thank the blog readers who completed our quick survey. The table below summarises the concepts that we used in the poll. A graph at the bottom of the blog post shows the results.

Geographic Concept	Details	Example
Beginning mapping	importance of location	zoom, pan, layers
Geographic data modelling	raster versus vector	Points, Lines, Polygons and Pixels....
Cartographic theory	fundamental principles of cartography	simplicity, harmony, no map junk ...
Data generalisation	introduction of types of and need for generalisation	Simplification, Selection, Omission, Displacement, Aggregation...
Data classification	introduction to data classification rules and type of classification	Natural Breaks, Quintiles, Geometric Progressions ...
Mapping conventions	elements that enhance user understanding of the map	scale bar, legend, north arrow, symbology....
Simple spatial analysis	introducing simple analysis computed using GIS	buffer, distance, overlay....
Uncertainty in geographic data	Impact of uncertainty on data	Modifiable Areal Unit Problem, ecological fallacy

With such a small N we do not have a any statistically valid results but what we do have is some useful thoughts that support the thinking of the project team and the development of the scenarios and resulting site development.

We asked readers to prioritise the concepts based on a linear scale of 1 to 5, where a score of 1 represented a concept that was not relevant to new learners and a score of 5 signified a must teach concept for new users. Using these values, I have calculated a quick and dirty Score of Importance for each of the priorities, see the graph at the bottom. This score alongside the free text comments helps us to identify quickly what our readers think are the most important concepts to teach new learners of GIS.

Results :

• All of the concepts are relevant for new users of GIS to learn – but the timing of when they are introduced is what is most important
• The most important concept is associated with beginning mapping and why spatial is special
• New users need to be aware of the issues that result because GI models are simply an abstraction of reality and they need to be familiar with how reality is represented using data models.
• Principles and practical cartography were rated (slightly) more important to teach before introducing simple spatial analysis and uncertainty
• The details of datums and map projections are beyond the scope but it is important for users to recognise the internal bias that may result from a map projection

Metaphor for Introducing & Teaching Map Projections: The world as a Piece of (Digital) Graph Paper

The ins and outs of projection systems can be complicated to introduce to new learners of GIS – and how much do you really need to know to create your first map? Over a coffee in the sunshine (it was hard work teaching summer school in Malta) Claire and I were discussing the question: How do we introduce map projections to new learners?

It turns out we both start with a demonstration. Claire uses her fist to represent the globe and her other hand to represent the piece of paper that is then wrapped around the globe (somewhat like the rock, paper scissors game). I on the other hand use a Clementine and a piece of paper – the paper crumples resulting from wrapping the paper around the Clementine represent the distortions that occur during the projection process. We both then go on to talk about grids etc...

Both of these illustrate the problem of modelling a complex reality in 2D. So if new learners imagined that a giant piece of graph paper is wrapped around the globe and that each place on earth is then marked on the graph paper it is possible to visualise the fundamentals of digital mapping.

The map window in a GIS is in essence a sheet of digital graph paper. One possibility is to harness this metaphor in our tutorials. Projection systems can be introduced simply within our scenarios, perhaps by activating and showing the grid (ie the sheet of graph paper) and asking the user to observe the coordinates changing as the mouse is moved horizontally and vertically.

It is important to understand the basics if you are using data that is not GIS ready. For example, one of the practical’s I have designed for the International GIS summer school at the University of Malta that I teach on uses a data set of road traffic accidents in England (from the UK open data initiative). The text file contains the X,Y location of each accident as an attribute field. In order to create point data of each accident the students need to know:

• 1) Why there is such a thing as a coordinate system?
• 2) How to identify fields containing coordinate data in the data set?
• 3) What coordinate system the fields represent?
• 4) How you can view the coordinates change as you move the mouse over your map

Reflective Teaching Practice: Do I need to know there is such a thing as a map projection?

Myself and Claire have just arrived back from the Island of Malta, where we both participate in the International Summer School in GIS held at the University of Malta. We both design and deliver lecture material targeted at professionals who are discovering how GIS maybe useful.

We were discussing our observations of the students and how they learn and interact with the GIS software and its theoretical principles.

One subject up for debate was, "do new learners of GIS and its concepts need to know immediately about projections?" There is a tendency to be puritanical about what concepts new learners of GIS need to understand putting aside this tendency, our conclusion was: “Not necessarily”.

Let me explain. Most everyday users of Bing Maps, Google Maps etc interact with the map quite happily without needing to know that a projection system makes it possible to create the digital representations of the world. The same can be said for users of navigation systems in cars or on phones.

Therefore, it is only natural that a new user of GIS, creating their first map using off the shelf Shape files or MapInfo Tabs (for example taken from Edina’s Digimap service), does not need their first interaction to introduce the complexities of coordinate systems that enable real world to be projected in 2 dimensions. It is only when their data they want to map is not GIS ready that they need to be introduced to a projection system.