The Social Implications of Geographic Information Systems

Contents: 1. Representations in an electronic age: geography, GIS, and democracy/John Pickles. 2. GIS and geographic research/Michael F. Goodchild. 3. GIS and geography/Peter J. Taylor and Ronald J. Johnston. 4. GIS and the inevitability of ethical inconsistency/Michael R. Curry. 5. Computer innovation and adoption in geography: a critique of conventional technological models/Howard Veregin. 6. Manufacturing metaphors: public cartography, the market, and democracy/Patrick H. McHaffie. 7. Marketing the new marketing: the strategic discourse of geodemographic informations systems/John Goss. 8. Earth shattering: global imagery and GIS/Susan M. Roberts and Richard H. Schein. 9. Pursuing social goals through participatory GIS: redressing South Africa's historical political ecology/Trevor M. Harris, Daniel Weiner, Timothy Warner, and Richard Levin. 10. Conclusion: towards and economy of electronic representation and the virtual sign/John Pickles. Index.

"Techniques for advanced computing and enhanced imaging have transformed the ways planners, geographers, surveyors, and others think about and visualize places, regions, and peoples. The Social implications of Geographic Information Systems is the first book to explicitly address the role of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) in their social context. Contributing authors consider the ideas and practices that have emerged among GIS users, demonstrating how they reflect the material and political interests of certain groups. Chapters also discuss the impact of new GIS technologies on the discipline of geography, and evaluate the role of GIS within the wider transformations of free-market capitalism. Presenting thought-provoking essays by leading scholars, the book lays the groundwork for a critical rethinking of GIS that will open up an important debate." (jacket)