Transcript Lippershey, Galileo and the Starry Messenger: Observations

Lippershey, Galileo and the Starry
Messenger: Observations on the Role of
GIS in Geography and Tools in Science
Keith C. Clarke
Professor and Chair
Department of Geography
University of California, Santa Barbara
Santa Barbara, CA, USA
The scene
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17th Century European astronomy
Ptolemaic earth-centered universe
challenged by Copernicus 100 years prior
Direct observation not yet a major input to
“natural philosophy”
Dogma and science interlinked
Glasses around since early 14th Century
Galileo Galilei (1564-1642), mathematician
of Padua
Galileo’s Telescope
The Starry Messenger
(Sidereus Nuncius)
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Published in March 1610
24 page pamphlet
Hundreds of new observations on the moon,
stars, made possible by a new device, the
telescope
Four new planets (moons of Jupiter)
“Each of his simple observations shook
another pillar of the AristotelianPtolemaic Universe.” (Boorstin 1983)
Galileo’s Journal
with observations
on the moons of
Jupiter
Science, technology and
discovery
“We are certain, the first inventor of the telescope
was a simple spectacle-maker, who, handling by
chance different forms of glasses, looked, also by
chance, through two of them, one convex and the other
concave, held at different distances from the eye; saw
and noted the unexpected result; and thus found the
instrument.”
Galileo Galilei (1623)
Galileo and Lippershey
Enter Hans Lippershey
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Worked in Middelberg, Netherlands
around 1600
Two children in his shop put the lenses
together to look at a weathervane
“illiterate mechanick”
Petitioned the States General for a 30
year monopoly October 2, 1608
Lippershey’s
formal patent
application for
the telescope
The traditional model:
Progress in science
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Brilliant scientist, working alone in
isolation makes theoretical breakthrough
Idea openly distributed through scientific
literature
Theory suggests experiment, experiment
reveals discovery
Discovery commercialized for public
benefit
Shifting paradigms in astronomy
and science
 Technical
innovation then…
 Commercial development then…
 Knowledge discovery then…
 Theoretical change
 “Invention is the mother of
necessity”
Tools in science
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Which comes first, tool or discovery? (Both!)
What are the roles of the organizations
involved? Encourage or discourage synthesis.
Why distinguish science and technology?
Standard tools have a value “Divide by a
common base”
A scientist doesn’t need to build a tool to do
science, only to change it
What about tools in geography?
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Is there a common tool base?
Geography “that part of the exact sciences
which studies the earth and its parts in terms of
their measurable characterisics” Varenius (1650)
General = theory (Spatial analysis)
Specific = description (Regional, Cultural)
Spatial analysis (theory) led to quantitative
revolution
Is GIS a tool or a science?
Unified Geographic theory
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Holy Grail of the 60s generation of geographers
(Big science, String theory)
Led to use of techniques from other disciplines
(computer science, mathematics, physics,
statistics, mechanics, etc.) (Physics envy)
Much theory had to wait until tools were
developed that could solve the problems e.g.
location/allocation modeling
Led to geographic information systems (tool
first)
First, the new tool (Lippershey)
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Origins of GIS in map overlay and planning
work going back to about 1900
Post-war planning (e.g. Tyrwhitt) formalized
casual overlay methods
Ian McHarg popularized the method in
Design with Nature
Along came the computer (Tobler 1959)
Then CGIS, ODYSSEY etc. (Foresman, 1998)
Institutional roles
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Military Intelligence (1945-72)
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Geodesy
Remote sensing: CORONA
photogrammetry
Army -> DMA -> NIMA
Civil Applications Committee and MEDEA
Commercial cooperation, e.g. Intergraph,
Autometrics, Ikonos
Academia, NSF
GIS as a TOOL: (Toolbox definition)
"a powerful set of tools for storing and
retrieving at will, transforming and
displaying spatial data from the real world
for a particular set of purposes"
(Burrough, 1986, p. 6).
"automated systems for the capture,
storage, retrieval, analysis, and display of
spatial data." (Clarke, 1995, p. 13).
City of Oakland: Dynamic Maps
Oakland: Integration of Hi-Res Imagery
Words of caution about tools
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Hammers and nails
System limitations
System ontology vs. geography
“Just because it could be done”
Push-button geographers
“Unbelievably faithful reproductions of
erroneous maps”
GIS challenges theory
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Inadequate formalisms (ontology)
Post-modern critique of “positivism” (GIS2)
Simple models often inadequate (e.g.
gravity model) or too static
Space-time dichotomy
Process vs. form
Data at the point of measurement, beyond
the map model
Geography challenges GIS
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Forms of representation e.g. points, lines,
areas, raster, vector, field, feature
Crisp vs. fuzzy
Geoid vs. Ellipsoid vs. Sphere (Accuracy)
Software and human society
Models and tools
Interoperability
Geography transformed by GIS
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Solutions to many geographic problems are
not entirely technical, how much of a role
can GIS play?
Research challenges encompass whole
discipline (e.g. impact of scale, human
settlements), GIS can play role
Interdisciplinary, Multidisciplinary and
Transdisciplinary problems
Geographic analysis vs. GIS analysis
Geographic Information Science
"the generic issues that surround the use
of GIS technology, impede its successful
implementation, or emerge from an
understanding of its potential
capabilities."
(Goodchild, 1992)
Multiple Convergent Tools
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World Wide Web/Internet
Global Positioning System
High mobility computing
Remote sensing
Visualization
OOGIS and Open GIS Consortium
Integration of GIS and analysis/modeling
GIS meets the internet: New
tools
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Data depository and distribution system
Map server systems e.g. IMS web-enable
existing GISs
New display and query mechanisms e.g.
GeoVRML, GML (XML)
Highly distributed databases
Alexandria and ADEPT, Digital Earth,
Global Map
Webenabled
thematic
mapping
Spatially-aware web searching
GPS
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Since SA removal, 4-10m RMSE
positioning in 2D
Very inexpensive technology
Black Box functionality
Fully integrated into mapping systems
UCSB Prototype
Wearable Computer
(Project Battuta)
PC-104 based
System with
Microoptical
Display, Garmin
GPS, and Twiddler 2.
Visualization
A New General Geography?
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Problem orientation
GIS data provide solution context
Analytical tools provide approach
Models allow scenario development,
consequence prediction and planning
GIS can help in the final, decision-making
process (PPGIS)
GIS can help explore solutions
(visualization)
More than telescopes, many
revolutions at once
GISs are simultaneously the telescope, the
microscope, the computer, and the Xerox
machine of regional analysis and synthesis
of spatial data. (Ron Abler, 1988)
The bottom line
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Science vs. Technology a worthless division
Geography needs both Galileos AND
Lippersheys
Geography has always been interdisciplinary
Transdisciplinary problems are now
approachable
Born in geography and cartography, GIS is
powerful enough a concept to have
transcended geography
GISystems has become GIScience
GIS can lead geography to a problem-solving
orientation