The History and Definition of GIS
Defining GIS: Layers and Multiplicities
There is no unified definition of geographic information systems (GIS). “Geographical information” can refer to many things, including but not limited to the location of a given entity or an indication of what might be found at a particular location. The word “system”is an important indicator of its many components, including some combination of “computer hardware, software, geospatial data and other information” (Bonnell and Fortin, 2014: x). Geospatial data are data that include a location, which can be geocoded, mapped, and analyzed through GIS software as a series of digital layers (Gieseking, 2018). The layers typically represent specific themes that can be arranged through a foundational GIS technique called “overlay,” which enables users to superimpose data sets and rearrange them to examine or represent spatial relationships (see Fig. 1). For an example of how overlay can produce transparent layers with attribute data highlighting traditional Indigenous territories and languages, see Native Land Digital.
Although often used interchangeably, mapping and spatial analysis are two distinct approaches that are often combined in synergistic ways through GIS-based research. GIS (as a tool of spatial analysis) was initially misunderstood to be computerized cartography; however, it is now recognized that spatial analysis generates more information or knowledge than can be expressed from maps or data alone. The integrative functionality of GIS, which goes beyond traditional mapping, means that it should also be understood as a process that involves dynamic change. GIS processes typically include some variation of data input, storage, transformation, analysis, modeling, and communication, although research design begins much earlier than data input. Outputs of GIS-based research may include digital maps, atlases, other spatial imagery, graphs, reports, scholarly publications, websites, news media, and art.
As social and technological developments have occurred, so indeed have the capacities and definitions of GIS (Schuurman, 2009: 281). There is general consensus that, rather than being end products, GIS are integrative research tools that combine geospatial inquiry, analysis, and knowledge mobilization (Gregory & Ell, 2007; Gieseking, 2018). The past decade has highlighted enhanced capabilities for interactivity, multimedia storytelling, and interdisciplinary, art-science collaborations, examples of which will be addressed later in this module as well as throughout the course. These capacities mark a shift from earlier positivistic uses and definitions of GIS that were more heavily grounded in quantitative, scientific, and modernistic approaches such as spatial analysis and modeling.
Indeed, in academic and community settings, GIS has become a useful storytelling tool that (re-)locates and (re-)narrates place and helps situate diverse histories within particular spatial and t