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The purpose of paper is to describe the importance of traditional knowledge in the field of medicine. It particularly discusses the importance of traditional medicine knowledge in the developing countries and the challenges involved in preservation and protectionof it. It evaluates the role of the Traditional Knowledge Digital Library (TKDL) and Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) database with protection and preservation. The paper outlines the theoretical aspect of knowledge preservation, especially with reference to the protection from bio-piracy. The TKDL and TCM database codified traditional medicinal knowledge and made them available in international languages. Both the databases have rich collection of traditional medicine system for the help of researchers and medical professionals. The paper discusses the theoretical and conceptual understandings of traditional knowledge, and its preservation and protection. http://dx.doi.org/10.14429/djlit.36.2.9479

There has been a marked increase over the last few decades or so in the number of countries which recognise and protect Geographical Indications of origin (GIs). There has also been a steady expansion in the types of things that are protected. While this is not that surprising given the growing interest in slow food and traditional products, what is more surprising, at least at first glance, is the increased attention that has been given to the potential use of GIs to support and promote Indigenous interests. GIs have been associated with Indigenous traditional knowledge in two ways. Firstly, it has been suggested that they could be used as a mechanism to protect and sustain Indigenous interests. This is because, as the WIPO Intergovernmental Committee on Intellectual Property and Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Folklore noted, some traditional cultural expressions may qualify as goods which could be protected by geographical indications. Secondly, and more ambitiously, it has also been suggested that the regimes used to regulate GIs might be used as a template on which sui generis schemes to protect Indigenous knowledge might be modelled.

In this paper we discuss traditional knowledge, its importance especially in inclusive development and knowledge management activities taken up in West Bengal. We also focus on the role of libraries especially public libraries in preserving and propagating this cultural heritage and traditional knowledge. Bangladesh Journal of Library and Information Science Vol.2(1) July 2012 pp.5-11DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/bjlis.v2i1.12914

PurposeThis article aims to provide an annotated bibliography of some of the geographic information system (GIS) resources, specifically data sets, available to libraries and researchers. Drawing on the collective authors' experience working with the GIS resources, this article aims to help librarians interested in developing and building their GIS collection.Design/methodology/approachA literature review was performed using library databases, as well as consulting various library subject guides on the topic. Idaho State University is home to the GIS Training and Research Center and the university offers Master's degrees in Geographic Information Science and Historical Resources Management; the authors consulted graduate GIS students on resources used in the program.FindingsThere is a large body of literature on GIS. This annotated guide, while not comprehensive, is a solid start to a GIS resources collection.Originality/valueNo other annotated bibliography currently exists for those interested in building a library collection of GIS data sets.

Traditional knowledge is an important element of the intellectual and cultural heritage of indigenous peoples.It reflects their social and historical identity and significantly contributes to the future well-being and sustainabledevelopment. This paper analyses the features of indigenous knowledge, protection of traditional knowledgein India and its benefits, biopiracy issues, and Indian experience. It further discusses the national and internationalinitiatives and Traditional Knowledge Digital Library, its benefits and outcomes against biopiracy. http://dx.doi.org/10.14429/djlit.32.3.2381

A traditional knowledge “Inupiaq Web GIS”, based on a five-year study and containing observations and environmental knowledge of Inupiat communities indigenous to Arctic Alaska, was incorporated into a Web-based platform. The website, “Arctic Cultural Cartography,” was created to be an open portal through which the password-protected “Inupiaq Web GIS” could be accessed. We discuss the process of developing the web GIS including the incorporation of user-friendly features such as links to interactive maps, video clips of interviews, discussion boards, and the integration of popular web interfaces such as Facebook. We also discuss short- and long-term goals for the further development of the GIS, its potential as a sustainable, participatory online database for sharing pertinent ecological knowledge, and challenges in achieving optimal community involvement given constraints imposed by remote locations with limited bandwidth.

Mining sector in Indonesia faces many challenges including needed to support national economy, compliance to central and local government regulations, local community empowerment and environmental impact management. Mining companies are mandatory to perform the environmental management efforts to minimize the negative impact to the en- vironment and pursue sustainability of post-mining land use and as much as possible to restore land to the initial condi- tions. There are many challenges on management multi parameter and multi temporal spatial data of environmental management. The aim of this research is to design the GIS database template for environmental management in Indone- sia’s mining operation. This GIS database is designed using ArcCatalog ArcGIS 9.3 software, through following steps: inventory and assessment government regulations, inventory and assessment environmental quality standards, sorting and grouping parameters, design feature class and attribute, create GIS database, create GIS database dictionary. Ac- cording to research result, GIS database template has many advantages for environmental management include inte- grated into a single database, avoid redundancy data, reduce volume data, uniformity data, easy to find and track data, integrated spatial and attribute data, can be used as an input for GIS analysis for decision-making and development stra- tegies.

Geographic Information System (GIS) is being utilized to meet construction project’s various requirements in different stages. Literature shows that GIS is an indispensable technology in supplementing the already existing capabilities of the construction industry in which widely used construction planning and management tools are lacking, even then, GIS is not being linked with the construction industry. To bring GIS as a huge opportunity for the construction industry, construction industry professionals must stay informed about GIS issues and advancements in the application of GIS technologies in construction. The primary objective of this paper is to explore potential application areas of GIS technology for the construction industry for wider use and implementation in real life projects. Literature shows that full potential of GIS for the construction industry still is yet to be discovered. Hence, several research areas worthy of further investigation have also been highlighted.

Recent developments in mapping technologies that forms data for planning and decision mechanism, makes it necessary to use these technologies by forming “clever maps” through geographical information systems (GIS). Up to now, the concept of GIS couldn’t be understood both in educational institutions and at private sector. The importance of geographical information systems and its fields of use should be emphasized. GIS education in secondary education and universities must be a government policy. Different certificate programs for staff training both in private sector and governmental organizations should be encouraged to increase productivity and quick decision making. Universities in North Cyprus has realized the importance of GIS and started GIS education in different departments recently.

This paper provides detailed examinations on the use of GIS in nonprofit organizations. We interviewed planners and GIS experts in key nonprofit organizations in the City of Chicago to comprehend their actual usages of GIS, faced challenges, and accumulated experiences. Organizations reported on dozens of projects where GIS was used for practical urban planning applications. Findings indicate that nonprofit organizations offer extremely useful lessons on using GIS for projects at the local, regional, and national levels. They provide extensive experiences on GIS technical problems and solutions, methodologies, and data issues. Their projects often support philanthropic efforts and respond to the needs of low-income communities. However, the organizations’ resources are dwindling. This paper raises a concern about the importance of sustaining their GIS operations particularly with the current economic downturn. We call on government officials to support nonprofit organizations in order to ensure the continuity of their GIS activities.

GIS (Geographic Information System) libraries face challenges at both ends of the spectrum when it comes to acquiring GIS data. On one hand, the increase in popularity of GIS driven by services like Google Earth, Bing maps, and open data has made large amounts of GIS data freely available to users. On the other hand, specialty GIS data products, often needed by researchers, industry, and government, can be so costly that they are impossible for a library to purchase on its own. In situations like the latter, collaborations often provide the solution for acquiring the necessary GIS data. This report discusses one of the most significant collaborations the University of Saskatchewan GIS Library has been involved with, the Saskatchewan Geospatial Imagery Collaborative (SGIC). The report will outline the collaboration, its goals and outcomes, as well as provide examples of how various members of the collaboration are utilizing the data. Lessons learned through this collaboration are also discussed, which can ...

GIS has shown promise in Project Based Learning (PBL) environments, but many obstacles exist in its integration into school curriculums. This article discusses the development and utilization of an online GIS tool that was created to illustrate that the perceptual gap between relevance and ease of use of GIS software can be bridged at the K–12 level. This online GIS tool, referred to as the H2OMapper, is a watershed data management system designed to directly support teachers and students in middle school earth science. It features a student observation database, preprocessed contextual datasets, and an easy-to-use interface to reduce the time it takes to learn operations. Teacher experimentation with the software indicates that negative perceptions about GIS technology can be reversed if the adoption process is carefully planned.

This paper presents a review of contemporary population geographical information systems (GIS), highlighting the enduring connection between mainstream applications and traditional shaded area census maps. The review highlights challenges in underlying data collection, visualisation techniques and the representation of spatio-temporal data which have all been inherited from traditional cartography. Each of these areas is examined in turn to show how new approaches and technologies, emerging from several different domains, are coming together to offer some very different future directions in population GIS development.

Urban governance offers opportunities for more inclusive urban management, incorporating tacit knowledge and citizens’ preferences. The question is how to elicit such knowledge and preferences so that they are both inclusive as well as efficient. Field visits to Indian cities have shown that a lot of effort is put into the implementation of E-governance tools and setting up Geographic Information Systems (GIS), focusing on administrative interaction with citizens. Little attention is paid to how GIS could be included in strategic governance processes. The main question here is how a combination of GIS-based qualitative and quantitative approaches can make local embedded knowledge visible for inclusive urban governance. Therefore workshops were held in four Indian cities (Mysore, Hubli–Dharward, Kalyan and Mira–Bhayandar) with participants from local government departments and elected councillors to elicit and discuss local knowledge on urban inequalities. GIS maps were used as an input to the process and for visualizing outcomes. The workshops show that using GIS throughout the process provides an understanding of the local context, enriches knowledge obtained from local databases, and therefore supports multiple forms of knowledge. However, the outcome depends greatly on the nature of input maps, the situated knowledge of workshop participants and map literacy.

Forest management is the core task of the forestry development which urgently needs the support of Geography Information System (GIS) technology in the new century. With the development of GIS major, it is necessary to introduce GIS in the forest management discipline. We drew up the training objectives and main contents on GIS, based on the characteristics in the forest management discipline. In the end, we trained many students in the GIS major for the better development of forestry.

Application of computer technology in the Earth science has led to the creation and development of new scientific disciplines, particularly digital cartography and GIS. This paper describes the application of GIS from several points of view such as: multi-scale, multi-thematic, multi-viewing, accommodation to standard software platforms and multi-user data accesses. Introduction The premise of a successful usage of topographic data nowadays implies their disposal in a digital form and organisation in a modern way, suitable for further computer processing. It is a unanimous opinion that it can be successfully completed only through creating data basis of space developing GIS. The theme of the written work is the development and application of GIS, and management of topographic data in accordance with international standards and users' needs. Moving to digital technology of creating and using topographic data should not be literal translation of the analogue map into a digital picture or just the automation of the map making using digital technology. The new method implies the formation of the central topographic data base which would generate displays of arbitrary scales, desired volumes of content, changeable sheet dimensions, various thematic displays, altogether in accordance with users' demands and needs. Digital cartography and GIS The development and application of computers in the area of earth sciences caused the creation of new definitions and disciplines among which are noticeable computer supported cartography and GIS. The computer-supported cartography was in its later phase called digital cartography and it can be used in two ways: like modern technology of date processing about space and like a new discipline. The main principle on which digital cartography as a discipline is based represents the processing and visualization of data about space but with computer supported technology. Application of GIS from various aspects Topographic maps have existed for many years in more or less similar or the same traditional form. By creating the basic data base about space through the application of GIS technology, a wide range of possibilities for dynamic selection of content appears. This content will further be shown on the screen or as a drawing on a piece of paper. The aspects of multidisciplinarity promote topographic data base as a significant part of general spatial data infrastructure. Application from the multiscale aspect There are different information levels which differ among themselves in quantity and content of data necessary for various levels of observation management and decision making. One of the principal tasks which emerges is a choice of the basic scale and resolution of the display for which the data are gathered. In cartography, that is a scale of 1:25,000, based on which the topographic map (TM) is created. Mutual complement of GIS and WWW will completely change the classic delivery of spatial data. Various topographic and thematic maps will be created and obtained from the unique data base. Application from the multithematic aspect The main objective of the formation of spatial data infrastructure is the creation of the standard GIS platform but also the possibility of multi purpose application of GIS for environment (farming, forestry, waterpower engineering) land development (commercial and business), itinerary analysis, tracing of retail and wholesale routes distributional nets (shops and warehouse locations) media and marketing planning (locations, sales territory, sales prospects, market analysis according to users), finances - insurance (from the users aspect, investors and areas of low/high risk), healthcare (general healthcare, appearance of epidemic and its spreading) and non-productive activities (tourism, archaeology, environment protection). Application from the aspect of multidisplay Once formed, the spatial data base, or GIS, should offer to the user a lot of graphic, descriptive and other important information which is, in fact, a digital or traditional display in a form of a determined output. One of the ways of using GIS implies cartographic publishing (getting the reproductive originals and printing geographic map sheets) in a traditional form. Application from the aspect of adjustment to standard software platforms In the groundbreaking period of civilization with radical changes in a scientific - technological sphere, it was necessary to select a new, most suitable software platform with attaching hardware components. After thorough analyses (analyses of foreign and national literature and the usage of demo versions of various GIS software), the American company ESRI software platform was selected. Application from the aspect of multiusers data access Internet and Intranet are deeply rooted technologies and have been increasingly used as technologies to accomplish the growing number of distributed informational systems. Therefore, the above-mentioned technologies are needed for distributed work with spatial data. Maintenance of GIS data The maintenance of the topographic data denotes a process of updating old-fashioned content and entering new geospatial data as well as the elimination and the correction of details which are not in accordance with the real state on the field. In connection with the volume and the method of work, difference should be made between the spatial data maintenance aspects for the basic scale, which refer to the entire content and specific elements of the content. Regarding periods in which the present space data maintenance is done, there are continuous and periodical ones. Conclusion When establishing the unique GIS, we ought to apply a principle according to which all the data once gathered in one State institution can be used variedly as well as in many other institutions (military, administrative, economic, scientific, cultural, etc.). This principle does not apply only to the rationalization but also to uniqueness and quality of the research of common geospace. In the present state of the development, it is hard to predict the trends of cartographic and generally speaking GIS processes, but the most important is that topographic data have digital form the meaning of which is universal, regardless of the current development of technique and technology.

Traditional knowledge is a very broad definition which embraces technical concepts about a local environment, wherein said knowledge derives from the long-standing traditions and practices of certain regional, indigenous, or local communities. These technical concepts, which are intrinsically connected with the spiritual meanings and beliefs of the communities which had developed them, are the way indigenous people have in order to survive in the surrounding environment. The increasing awareness of the importance of this kind of knowledge brought about the necessity of the definition, classification and legal protection of traditional knowledge. As a consequence, after giving a brief overview of the main legal basis developed in the attempt at the protection of traditional knowledge, this paper deals with the problems associated with the codification in registers and databases, and gives some remarks about the Indian, Korean and Chinese traditional knowledge databases. Finally, a case study on a chemical patent search approached from a traditional knowledge point of view is presented.

Along with the rapid development of computer multimedia technology and communication network technique, Geographical Information System (GIS) has been applied widely. A GIS-based approach was designed to spatially estimate direct use value of ecosystem services. The approach highlights the use of GIS to collect data, perform spatial analysis, and map economic values; the unique spatial database technology in GIS can combine the figure information which reflects the geographical position together with various kinds of information. At the same time, the functions of GIS in the development and management of tourism and the development and perfection in geography have been analyzed.

This paper presents preliminary results of work conducted within the INDECT project, Deliverable D4.14. The main goal of this deliverable is to develop a web system for acquisition of information from citizens, automatic knowledge extraction and knowledge management with GIS features. The paper presents three prototype systems and outlines their functionality. Social features have been implemented to encourage users to actively participate in data acquisition. Each of the presented systems offers a slightly different functionality and is based on a somewhat different conceptual model. The prototypes have been developed with the use of various software development technologies and tools for practical evaluation of each of the possible approaches. The results presented here constitute the basis for the implementation of the final system.

Qualitative GIS: A Mixed Methods Approach Meghan Cope and Sarah Elwood (Editors) Sage Publications, Los Angeles, CA, 2009 x + 182 Pp. $64.00 Paperback Reviewed by Rudo Kemper"Qualitative GIS - isn't that kind of an oxymoron?" This comment from a colleague with years of experi- ence working with GIS echoes the title of an edito- rial from an edition of Environment and Planning dedicated to the topic (Kwan and Knigge: 2006), and voices lingering concerns about the limitations of GIS. Qualitative GIS: A Mixed Methods Approach serves as an invitation to scholars in fields like cultural anthropology and human geography to take seriously how GIS can serve as a productive and genuinely qualitative research framework, unshackled from the rigid, Cartesian understandings of space that con- temporary scholarship with a qualitative orientation tends to reject. From the very first sentence, the edi- tors, both with longstanding and extensive academic engagements with GIS, anticipate the resistance that scholars might have to the idea of qualitative GIS. Indeed, the text very much reads as a response to the understanding that GIS is an inherently quantitative research framework. A significant part of this rebut- tal targets the well-known critiques of GIS from the mid-1990s, which depicted GIS as being rooted in positivism and therefore mostly, if not exclusively, suited for quantitative spatial techniques which lend themselves to such a perspective. Each author aims to move beyond these critical polemics of the 1990s. They do so by thinking through the creative possibili- ties of a 'post-positivistic' GIS, capable of visualizing multiple (or partial) representations unhinged from any particular spatial epistemology.At the time this book review is being written, Quali- tative GIS is already four years old. Since the volume's publication, qualGIS methods have started to make an appearance in a number of articles and confer- ence presentations. Most of these cite Qualitative GIS as an important source, and seek to build upon the advances made by the authors contributing to the volume. For example, Boschmann and Cubbon (2013) revisit sketch maps and argue that their use to focus on spatial experiences and knowledge of interview participants achieves the postpositivist goals of qualGIS. Jones and Evans (2012) describe an innovative technique they call spatial transcripts, in which participants' spoken words are automati- cally georeferenced through GPS location tracking by means of a mobile device. This allows the location of an interviewee's comments to be recorded dynami- cally, and therefore produces a much richer, spatially referenced range of data that not only expedites the note taking process but can bring new analytical perspectives to light. Interestingly, both of these stud- ies focus on the urban landscape like much of the extant qualGIS literature, although the methods are directly applicable to research in non-urban settings. These and other recently published papers helpfully show how qualGIS can contribute an indispensible spatial dimension to existing qualitative methods like ethnography, in practice.Qualitative GIS remains the sole book about qualGIS itself, and continues to be worth reading as a wel- come meditation on the imaginative possibilities of qualGIS. On the whole, it is a concise manifesto for a counter-intuitive, yet bona fide qualitative research method. The volume achieves a fine balance between brevity and detail, and it can therefore serve as an excellent introduction to the pursuit of qualGIS for advanced undergraduate and graduate courses on qualitative research methods or anthropological GIS. Although the volume is not written as a research methods guide, it could also be used as a source of ideas for researchers seeking to incorporate qualGIS approaches to supplement other qualitative method- ologies such as ethnography.The book is composed of ten chapters, two of which serve as introductory preludes to make the reader comfortable with the idea of qualitative GIS (hereafter qualGIS). …

Advocates for using a geographic information system (GIS) in education assert that GIS improves student learning. However, studies to clarify the relationship between learning and using GIS are still needed. This study examines the effects of using Web-based GIS maps in place of paper maps on students' geography content knowledge and motivation (self-efficacy) when taking college-level introductory human geography (N = 171). Hierarchical regression analysis shows that using Web-based GIS is positively related to post-test self-efficacy and post-test geography content knowledge.

Most GIS-related planning practices and education are currently limited to two-dimensional mapping and analysis although 3D GIS is a powerful tool to study the complex urban environment in its full spatial extent. This paper reviews current GIS and 3D visualization uses and development in planning practice and education. Current literature provides little information in 3D GIS education. This paper offers suggestions for 3D GIS course setting and educational methods aiming to set up a framework to supplement current two-dimensional GIS education in planning using 3D modelling programs.

The rapid development of Geographic Information System (GIS) and Global Position System (GPS) has attracted the attention of both business practitioners and academic researchers. GIS and GPS technologies, through providing optimized schedules, routings, and guidance, are especially important and helpful in transportation and logistics businesses. Though GIS and GPS technologies have been witnessed in many business sectors in developed countries, wide application of these technologies is still in its preliminary phase in companies in developing nations. In this paper, the authors present a study on the application of an integrated intelligent system that consists of GIS, GPS and related technologies to optimize logistic distribution of perishable products in urban environments. Through investigating GIS and GPS usage in a medium-sized logistics company in the unique settings of emerging economies, this paper addresses how these technologies enhance the management of businesses and analyze the interaction of GIS/GPS implementation and several key characteristics of the logistic distribution context by identifying major benefits, challenges, and limitations associated with the use of GIS and GPS.

Urban and planning historians frequently focus on inherently spatial topics such as migration, segregation, gentrification, and suburbanization and rely on historical maps as primary sources, but they rarely use geographic information systems (GIS) as a research method for analyzing spatial patterns. This article considers the reasons that GIS is not used more, including longstanding ambivalence about quantitative methods and limited training opportunities. It then outlines ways in which GIS can uniquely inform historical research—by emphasizing underlying spatial processes, making spatial patterns visible, and transforming mapping into a process—in ways that can refine and challenge existing urban historical narratives. Finally, recommendations for overcoming existing barriers to historical GIS are presented.

Problem: Despite the widespread availability of geographic information systems (GIS) in local government, there is some evidence that the potential of GIS as a planning tool is not being fully exploited. While obstacles to GIS implementation in local government have been investigated, most of these investigations are either dated or do not focus on planning applications. Purpose: We aim to add to the limited literature on the current barriers hindering GIS use in public planning agencies. We also offer some insights into how to mitigate these barriers and help planning agencies move beyond using GIS simply for routine tasks of data access and mapmaking. Methods: We analyzed responses to a 2007 web-based survey of 265 practitioners in Wisconsin's public planning agencies and follow-up interviews with 20 practitioners we conducted in 2008. Results and conclusions: Planning departments still face a range of technological, organizational, and institutional barriers in using GIS. Training, funding, and data is...

Over the past decade or more, Geographic Information Systems (GIS) have been re-imagined and reconfigured through critical GIS research and practice, as scholars and activist have sought new ways of engaging GIS beyond its characterization in the 1990s as a rationalist and rationalizing tool. Where many existing discussions of the contributions of critical GIS have focused on its position and impacts in GIScience, here I review recent work in critical GIS with an eye toward highlighting its contributions and possibilities in critical human geography. This study examines the theorizations, epistemological frameworks, and methodological innovations are enabling human geographers to engage with GIS, cartography, and geovisual methods in their work in creative ways. I begin by unpacking the ‘critical’ in critical GIS, illustrating how it has drawn upon theory and politics from critical theory to offer a series of key reconceptualizations of GIS and its knowledge-making repertoire. Then, I illustrate the ever-diversifying ways in which critical GIS theory and practice are being woven into geographers’ research and activism.

Geographic information system (GIS) technology fundamentally changes how information is viewed, literally, for its maps and databases contain uncertainty, assumptions, privileged knowledge, and story-making power, along with unintended social consequences. This article hypothesizes that the introduction of GIS into the public participation process in natural resource management blurs the boundaries between science and nonscience, requiring a revision of the way we think about, learn from, and use maps for environmental decision-making. This may lend a degree of “social power” to nonscientists in the form of providing improved access to data and maps, and along with it the resulting expression of community needs, priorities, and goals, with perhaps the “power” to influence policy and management decisions. A case study from western Oregon forest management provides context and practical examples. We consider, through a broad conceptual discussion, how GIS technology might contribute to, or detract from, con...

Explaining much of what exists today or has happened in the past can be approached from both spatial and temporal perspectives. Often overlooked by traditional methodologies and paradigms, the locational element can provide significant new analytical perspectives and explanations that open up fresh opportunities for research. The use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) technologies in the pursuit of historical research is emerging as an intriguing approach to understanding our world and its underlying historical dimension.

Digital technologies like geographic information systems (GIS) pose new problems for indigenous people on a global scale. Some American Indian tribes see GIS as beneficial and a method of modernizing and gaining real or perceived technical legitimacy. Thus, institutions using the technology simultaneously shape and are shaped by GIS [E. Sheppard, GIS and society: Towards a research agenda, Cartography and Geographic Information Systems. 22 (1) (1995) 5–16]. Such impacts have prompted advocates of American Indian communities to raise concerns about the development of GIS in Indian Country [M. Palmer, Cut from the same cloth: The United States Bureau of Indian Affairs, geographic information systems, and cultural assimilation, in: L.E. Dyson, M. Hendriks, S. Grant (Eds.) Information technology and indigenous people, Idea Group Publishing, Hershey, PA., 2007; M. Nantel, So as to hold many sheep: towards a culturally appropriate GIS, Unpublished Masters Thesis, McGill University, 1999]. In this paper, I will discuss some advantages and disadvantages of engaging with GIS networks emanating from federal government agencies and North American Indian communities. However, in both cases there are concerns among American Indians about the security of proprietary knowledge and information held in digital repositories. Digital technologies like GIS must be considered in relation to the future of indigenous knowledge systems. Indigital is a neologism that describes the emerging relationship between indigenous knowledges and digital technologies.

Recent attempts to integrate geographic information systems (GIS) and participatory techniques, have given rise to terminologies such as participatory GIS and community-integrated GIS. Although GIS was initially developed for physical geographic application, it can be used for the management and analysis of health and health care data. Geographic information systems, combined with participatory methodology, have facilitated the analysis of access to health facilities and disease risk in different populations. Little has been published about the usefulness of combining participatory methodologies and GIS technology in an effort to understand and inform community-based intervention studies, especially in the context of HIV. This article attempts to address this perceived gap in the literature. The authors describe the application of participatory research methods with GIS in the formative phase of a multisite community-based social mobilization trial, using voluntary counseling and testing and post-test support as the intervention.

The process of GIS spatial knowledge production within planning organizations is quite complex. Drawing from implementation and diffusion studies and GIS and Society literature, this study aims to examine GIS construction by Dane County in Wisconsin as a process that is shaped by the societal mores, institutional norms, and political conditions, as well as the internal organizational environment. This article specifically focuses on the role of the LIO (Land Information Office) that acts as the central coordinator of GIS activities in Dane County. This study examines the implications of establishing a central GIS unit on the overall GIS functions of Dane County. It also explores the role of external contextual factors beyond the confines of an organization that shape the role of the LIO office as the central GIS coordinator and its repercussions on the county's overall GIS and spatial knowledge production. We contend that an organization's GIS spatial knowledge production is shaped by the internal and ext...

Although GIS is well established at most research universities, it has only recently been integrated into the instructional programs of many undergraduate colleges. This article explores three organizational models for implementing GIS in the undergraduate environment: the departmental model (GIS based in a single academic department), the non-departmental model (GIS based in another agency, such as the library or the computer centre), and the “no centre” model (in which there is no identifiable centre for GIS despite its use in teaching and research). Survey results from 55 liberal arts colleges in the United States reveal that institutions with GIS centres (departmental or otherwise) tend to have enhanced instructional capabilities, better institutional support, and greater capacity to handle large-scale demand for GIS. Non-departmental GIS centres are associated with several additional advantages: the availability of GIS courses in a wide range of academic disciplines, increased support for faculty just beginning to learn GIS, and higher potential demand for GIS resources and services. These findings may indicate that non-departmental GIS centres encourage the diffusion of GIS across multiple departments, or that non-departmental centres are most likely to emerge at colleges where GIS is already well established across a range of disciplines.

Geographic information system (GIS) education in Japan lags far behind that in Western developed countries. As such the development of systematic GIS education in Japanese universities, including the preparation of a GIS standard curriculum, becomes an urgent issue. This article examines the present situation and recent trends of GIS education in geographical departments of Japanese universities. Information about 202 courses offered in 39 universities was collected and analysed. The results indicate that there are mismatches between the current draft of the Japan Standard GIS Core Curriculum and the actual situation of GIS education in terms of the length of courses, the number of classes and course style. The results of this study provide useful information to facilitate the effective implementation of the core curriculum for GIS.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore a case study in Washington State, USA where traditional stories (“oral tradition”) are being used in a contemporary context. Traditional knowledge is a system of experiential knowledge acquired through the continual observation of and interaction with the environment. This form of knowledge is still held by many societies and can provide an important contribution in emergency management for natural hazards. Those holding traditional knowledge can assist in understanding the nature of local hazards, suggest appropriate risk reduction and response mechanisms, and even give options for recovery based on past experiences.Design/methodology/approachThe paper first discusses the nature of traditional knowledge and how it can contribute to emergency management. It then goes on to investigate a particular case study where a traditional Native American story has been combined with contemporary methods of hazard mitigation to create an educational video for tsunami hazard.FindingsTraditional knowledge can be used effectively to undertake hazard education and enhance response to warnings. The video, titled “Run to Higher Ground!”, is an example of this, and has been readily taken up by indigenous communities and the general population (both in the USA and internationally) as an educational tool.Originality/valueThe paper will be of value to those working within the emergency management sector, and is particularly useful for communities who need to respond to warnings.

Government agencies have been an important actor in using GIS and other information technologies across the world. However, contextual examinations of government GIS practices over time within non-Western contexts remain sparse in the existing GIScience literature. In particular, little is known with respect to China's significant growth of using GIS in its urban government amidst its rapid urbanization and enormous transformation. This article presents an in-depth investigation of the case of Shenzhen city, one of the China's leading cities in urban government GIS development. Drawing upon critical GIS research and GIS implementation studies, a synthesized theoretical framework is developed to interrogate the nature and evolutionary process of Shenzhen's government GIS practices. The analysis is focused on examining the role of broader social conditions, local contextual factors and organizational characteristics in shaping GIS development in Shenzhen's urban governance. Situated in this contextual analysis, this article also illustrates the three major transformations of GIS development in Shenzhen's planning agency over the past decade. The findings show that GIS development in Chinese urban governance has been influenced not only by the instrumental functions of GIS, but also by the interactions and relationships among different actors and institutions with various vested interests in the process of structuring and governing the urban spaces. This study will contribute to the ongoing discussion of understanding the interwoven relationship between GIS and society in GIScience research.

Geographic information systems (GIS) education now takes place in most of the world's colleges and universities, where it involves dozens of disciplines, thousands of instructors, and tens of thousands of students annually. Still, no consensus exists about the scope and content of the field that GIS educators should help students understand. Twenty-five years of inconclusive debate among academic geographers and GIS practitioners are reviewed from a US perspective, culminating in a pivotal lawsuit in US federal court. A broad and inclusive conception called geographic information science and technology (GIS&T) is proposed to help students make sense of the field. GIS&T is an intersection of accredited and non-accredited disciplines, regulated and unregulated professions, and old and new technologies. The interests of organizations and individual practitioners are at once competing and complementary. One common interest is, or should be, the ‘body of knowledge’ that distinguishes the field from others and defines relationships among its constituent communities of practice. Continuous development of the GIS&T Body of Knowledge is recommended as a vehicle for communication and cooperation among the diverse interests that make up the GIS&T field.

Participatory GIS (geographic information systems) is designed to use community mapping exercises to produce spatial representations of local knowledge. The ideals of Participatory GIS revolve around the concept of public participation in the use of spatial data leading to increased community involvement in policy-setting and decision-making (Weiner et al., Community participation and geographic information systems, in: Craig et al., Community participation and geographic information systems, London: Taylor & Francis, 2002). This paper reports on findings from two case studies, one relating to assessments of air quality and how Participatory GIS has been used in the UK to improve local government policy, and the second on assessments of noise pollution. It concludes by discussing a caveat on the use of Participatory GIS for environmental governance, which is that, ideally, only issues on which participants are likely to have direct experiential knowledge should be targeted.

Geographic information systems (GIS) are computer-based tools for geographic data analysis and spatial visualization. They have become one of the information and communications technologies for education at all levels. This article reviews the current status of GIS in schools, analyzes the requirements of a GIS-based learning environment from constructivist perspectives, and discusses the major issues in the design of a constructivist GIS-based learning environment based on experience from the development of World Explorer, a GIS-based learning environment that provides a theme-oriented data and information base, supports multiple representations and multiple linkages of information, and facilitates interactive learning and knowledge construction.

An intelligent geographic information system (GIS) has to handle various types and huge volumes of geoscience-related knowledge as well as enormous amounts of data and information. More recent attention concentrates on collection, representation, management, and usage of knowledge. This article presents a three-tier hierarchy for geoscience knowledge in a GIS. The first tier is for knowledge of data. It includes knowledge of feature objects definition, data structure, data model, and relations among data as well as rules, restrictions, and regulations about data. The second tier is for knowledge of processing. It describes analysis models, data processing procedures, workflows, and conditions. The third tier contains knowledge of a GIS for the public sector. This tier provides knowledge to people on how to access this GIS and what the GIS can do. The three-tier hierarchy of knowledge in a GIS provides an understandable and practical category frame to handle geoscience knowledge. One of the advantages of this hierarchy is that it separates system resource consumption into different stages so it can avoid exhausting the system at peak times when the GIS handles a complex, large task.

Over the past decade there has been a significant increase in the use of geographic information systems (GIS) technologies by a plethora of social groups in various fields. Public participation GIS (PPGIS) has emerged to advance more equitable access to and more inclusive use of GIS among resource-poor and traditionally marginalized community-based organizations. The issue of sustainable provision of GIS for these community groups remains critical; thus, it is worth continuing investigation, particularly with respect to unravelling the dynamic process of GIS provision. This article presents such an attempt through a critical examination of the Data Center program in Milwaukee, which has been suggested as a valuable model of GIS provision in local PPGIS practice. This study proposes that a synthesized approach of scaled network analysis helps to better explain the dynamic process of social struggle for power and control within which the GIS provision is situated. The article illustrates how multiple scaled networks have been constructed by the Data Center to facilitate its GIS provision and examines the implications of this network construction to the dynamic production of its GIS provision.

This paper examines the increasing use of geographic information systems (GIS) to support the project of ‘collaborative’ planning. Specifically, I explore the ways in which the use of GIS in collaborative planning programs works to counteract and/or reproduce patterns of marginalization always present in local political struggles. Through a review of the literature and an analysis of a case study of the use of GIS in rural water resource management, I argue that the discourse and practices of collaboration can often lead to a problematic depoliticization of GIS. Furthermore, I show how this depoliticization can normalize both uneven power dynamics and the marginalization of alternative and oppositional perspectives. I employ this case study as a backdrop to propose an alternative practice of participatory GIS motivated by Mouffe's notion of ‘agonistic pluralism’. This practice of agonistic participatory GIS is designed to foreground, rather than obscure, the politics of spatial knowledge production by explicitly juxtaposing alternative understandings of space and spatial problems. I conclude by discussing the importance of this work to the critical and participatory GIS research agendas.

Since the success of any tourism business is determined by tourism planning, development research and marketing, the first thing we review in this article is GIS application for tourism planning. Both tourism and IT increasingly provide strategic opportunities and powerful tools for economic growth, redistribution of wealth and development of equity around the globe. GIS technology offers great opportunities for the development of modern tourism applications using maps. This technology integrates common database operations such as query with the unique visualization and geographic analysis benefits offered by maps. GIS is used for bringing the georeferenced data (spatial and non spatial) of geographic location Zlatibor and Zlatar into digital maps. Each object is assigned to a thematic layer. Each layer combines related objects like roads, building, protected areas or watercourses. In this research the authors used GIS in three types of applications such as inventory, analysis and evaluation of plan based on tourism development.

The map is a primary tool in geographic research, and the discipline of geography has experienced a significant methodological transformation during the last three decades with the development and now near ubiquity of geographic information systems (GIS) technology. The introduction of this technology into Indian country has spurred a debate over the appropriateness and effectiveness of using GIS for Native mapping purposes. In this article, I review issues concerning the use of GIS in Native communities and present a case study of one particular tribe’s implementation of the technology. GIS are computer systems designed to store, manipulate, and portray spatial data, theoretically making analysis of such data easier, faster, and more powerful. However, many in the geographic community view GIS as a “contradictory technology that can both empower and marginalize people and communities.” 1 At the same time that broader debates about the social impacts of GIS, public-participation or community-based GIS, and GIS and society developed in urban geographic research, so did a more focused debate centered around GIS and Indigenous peoples. 2

In the context of development and changes in two small-boat fisheries on the eastern Black Sea coast of Turkey, this article discusses how institutions are embedded in tradition, and what is “traditional” in “traditional knowledge”. Taking new institutional economics’ focus on institutions and approaches to traditional ecological knowledge as vantage points for discussion I compare systems of informal management in one discontinued and one new fishery to address questions such as: What kinds of knowledges and rules are involved in these kinds of fishing? What constitutes a tradition of knowledge? What is the role of tradition in working out new rules? I couple theories of situated knowledge (Ingold) and embeddedness of rules (Varela), both of which are inspired by Merleau-Ponty’s phenomenological approach, to show how institutions and traditional ecological knowledge are embedded and come together in practice.

Recent years have witnessed a burgeoning of applications of GIS which grant legitimacy to indigenous geographical knowledge as well as to `official' spatial data. By incorporating various forms of community participation these newer framings of Geographical Information Systems as `Participatory GIS' (PGIS) offer a response to the critiques of GIS which were prevalent in the 1990s. This paper reviews PGIS in the context of the `democratization of GIS'. It explores aspects of the control and ownership of geographical information, representations of local and indigenous knowledge, scale and scaling up, web-based approaches and some potential future technical and academic directions.

The last 10 years have seen a sudden rise in interest in the use of Geographical Information Systems (GIS) in historical research. This has led to a field that has become known as `historical GIS'. This development started in the more quantitative ends of the discipline but has spread to encompass qualitative research as well. Interest in historical GIS is not restricted to researchers who would previously have regarded themselves as historical geographers, but has in fact led to an increased awareness of the importance of geography from across the discipline of history. This paper introduces historical GIS and critically evaluates how it is affecting the practice of historical geography.