Transcript Precursors to GIS - Computer Science

Precursors to the modern GIS
Thematic maps in
the days before
desktop computing
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Ancient maps
This ancient tablet
from the 7th century BC
depicts the world at the time
of Sargon (2300 BC) as a
circle surrounded by water,
with Babylon at its center.
(British Museum)
http://www.bible-history.com/babylonia/BabyloniaMaps.htm
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Early modern physical maps

Gerard Mercator,
1595

Includes 14th c.
geographical
errors (polar
islands, Rumes
Nigra)
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Early thematic maps
Das Reich der
Liebe
Johann Gottlob
Immanuel
Breitkopf.
Leipzig, 1777
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Early epidemiological maps
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Incidence of an
epidemic in
Glasgow,
Scotland (Perry
1844)

Used color to
emphasize the
geographical
distribution of
cases
5
An early geo-database (=GIS?)
MAP OF THE CONTOURS OF LONDON AND ITS ENVIRONS,
SHOWING THE DISTRICTS AND AREAS
SUPPLIED BY
THE NINE METROPOLITAN WATER WORKS' COMPANIES.
By ROBERT W. MYLNE, C.E.,
F.G.S., F.S.A.,
FELLOW INST. BRIT. ARCHITECTS.
Area 176 Square Miles. Scale 1/17032 of nature.
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MAP OF LONDON WATER DISTRICTS (1856)
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The database is in the map legend!
Does the
table contain
“data”
“information”
or
“knowledge”?
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Snow’s “Grand Experiment”
Water company
Number of
houses
Deaths from
cholera
Deaths per
10,000
houses
Southwark &
Vauxhall
40,046
1,263
315
Lambeth
26,107
98
37
256,423
1,422
59
Rest of London
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Mapping as an analysis tool
John Snow’s map of
cholera cases in a
neighborhood in
London helped pinpoint the source:
a cesspool 3’ from
the Broad Street
public well
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U. S. Atlas of Cancer Mortality
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Jacquiline Tyrwhitt
The mother of modern GIS???
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Design with Nature

by Ian McHarg
(1969)

An early form of
thematic layering
for environmental
impact assessment
& planning
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Richmond Parkway Study

Finding the best
route for a
highway on Staten
Island:
“the one that
provides the
maximum social
benefit at the
lowest social cost.”
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Physiographic features - 1
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Physiographic features - 2
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Land values - 1
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Land values - 2
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Final solution:
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McHarg’s Legacy to GIS

Multi-thematic maps

Use of a simple (3 level) scale

(Manual) Overlay technique
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GIS in schools – the McHarg way
www.state.nj.us/de
p/gis/images/mapc
on2003/horn.jpg
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Eight Major Stages in the
History of GIS

Source:
Cloud, John G. Geography Dept,
Univ. of California at Santa Barbara.
Hidden in plain sight: the clandestine histories
of GIS.
http://www.ucgis.org/oregon/papers/cloud.htm
(Downloaded in Jan. 2005, this link is no longer
valid)
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Eight Major Stages in the
History of GIS (1)

Systematic analysis of coregistered thematic map
overlays on translucent media



Regional and national planning initiatives, such as
TVA (1930’s)
WWII cartographers create MGI (Military Geographic
information teams
Jacqueline Tyrwhitt (1950+) – first explicit
descriptions of thematic map overlays; application to
British postwar New Towns development
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Eight Major Stages in the
History of GIS (2)

Post-WWII evolution of analog
and digital computation
Origins in WWII cryptology and
artillery computations
 Further developed for cold war
Strategic Defense Systems

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Eight Major Stages in the
History of GIS (3)

Development of World Geodetic
System of high accuracy and
precision
“Geodesy”: scientific study and
measurement of the size and shape of
the Earth
 Impetus: delivery of nuclear payloads
to remote targets

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Eight Major Stages in the
History of GIS (4)

Global geo-referenced remote
sensing databases
Based on military aerial
reconnaissance and satellite programs
 Gradually declassified, beginning in
the 1980s

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Eight Major Stages in the
History of GIS (5)

Civilian geo-referenced
databases and digital
cartography
Canadian Geographic Information
System
 Harvard University Laboratory for
Computer Graphics

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Eight Major Stages in the
History of GIS (6)

“Corporationization” of GIS
systems, practices and
personnel
ESRI (originally Environmental
Systems Research Institute)
 Intergraph Corporation

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Eight Major Stages in the
History of GIS (7)

Widespread diffusion of GIS
systems and practitioners
Dependent on reduced complexity and
cost of computing systems, better
graphic interfaces (plotters, bitmapped display screens)
 Spread of GIS into non-geographical
applications (business, transportation
systems, utility management …)

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Eight Major Stages in the
History of GIS (8)

Reinventing GIS – future
implementations
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