whyisgeospatialdataimportant - de paul geography（ whyisgeospatialdataimportant- de paul geography）.docVIP

Geog 458: Map Sources and Errors January 27, 2006 Midterm Review Isn’t this course for arguing the importance of good spatial data? Why do we have to dig into errors in spatial data? Why do we need high-quality spatial data anyway? Many overriding concerns of today are spatial in nature (e.g. climate change, environmental protection, homeland security, disaster management). Thus obtaining relevant and accurate spatial information is essential to addressing these issues. The world is complex. Consensus has reached how such complex issues can be better examined. It gets increasingly relevant to examine issues from multidisciplinary view. Geospatial data (i.e. georeferenced data of different themes) can help us see how different themes are related. Geospatial data provides the framework in which different themes can be integrated. Geographic framework can serve as glue for integrating views. High-quality data precedes making the right decision. How have all important decisions been justified? Aren’t they reliant on some kind of analysis? Prior to addressing the accuracy of analysis, shouldn’t we address whether data is relevant and accurate enough? Garbage in garbage out. This course leads you to the journey to devising the best practice for evaluating the fitness of data for given use. Please do not miss the big picture – where we are: we are trying to bridge rather weak (in the sense that it’s been largely ignored) link between data and its use where data quality plays a significant role. In technology-driven world, there are open opportunities for enhancing our knowledge of the world. Spatial data is collected, manipulated, and analyzed differently from yesterday. It is well said that we live in data-rich and high-performance computing environments. Such things can be well examined all along geospatial activities from data collection to data analysis. For example, elevation data is collected by digitizing paper map, differential GPS receivers, and enhan