Dr' Barry Wellar

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Dr. Barry Wellar Professor Emeritus of Geography
and Distinguished Geomatics Scientist, Lab for
Applied Geomatics and GIS Science University of
Ottawa, Program Director, Geography Awareness
Week, Canadian Association of Geographers wellarb
_at_uottawa.ca http//www.wellarconsulting.com/   Po
werPoint Slides for Keynote Address   GIS Day
2009   University of Ottawa    November 18, 2009
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QUESTION WHY DO WE NEED NEW WAYS TO ACHIEVE NEW
EVIDENCE FOR BETTER DECISIONS?
Answer Because too often Decisions Based on the
Anatomical Sourcing Approach Fail the Logic
Test.
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DECISION PRESSURE POINTS? YES, A FEW COME TO MIND

• End of oil
• Pandemics
• Climate change
• Rainforest destruction

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DECISION PRESSURE POINTS? AS DO A FEW MORE

• Toxic waste
• Urban sprawl
• Loss of habitat
• Holes in the ozone layer

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DECISION PRESSURE POINTS? AND A FEW MORE

• Auto industry
• Immigration levels
• Drought there and there
• Flooding here, here, and here

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DECISION PRESSURE POINTS? AND A FEW MORE

• Air pollution
• National security
• Solid waste disposal
• Threats to fish stocks

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DECISION PRESSURE POINTS? AND A FEW MORE

• Urban intensification
• Regional development
• Extreme weather events
• Threats to the boreal forest

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DECISION PRESSURE POINTS? AND A FEW MORE

• Infrastructure deterioration
• Interdependent infrastructures
• National high-speed rail system
• National spatial data infrastructure

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DECISION PRESSURE POINTS? AND A FEW MORE

• Loss of prime agricultural land
• Need for alternative energy supplies
• Shift to more sustainable urban transport
• Water quality problems there, there, and there

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PHRASES THAT ILLUSTRATE THE ANATOMICAL
SOURCING APPROACH TO MAKING DECISIONS
Was that comment right off the top of your
head? I support this policy from the bottom of my
heart! I have a gut feeling about this LRT
plan. When asked questions she often gives
off-the-cuff opinions.
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MORE PHRASES THAT ILLUSTRATE THE ANATOMICAL
SOURCING APPROACH TO MAKING DECISIONS
Simple rule of thumb notions ignore reality. The
mayor is flying by the seat of his pants on this
one! That is another knee-jerk reaction based on
ideology. Are there people in that department
who use their brains before policies are adopted?

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ANATOMICAL SOURCING QA
Question Can the Anatomical Sourcing approach
effectively deal with the challenges represented
by the decision pressure points?   Answer On
the evidence, only when our brains are fully
engaged, and the other parts of the anatomy play
little to no role.
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AS FOR OUR BRAINS, OUR INCLUDES

• Individuals and families
• Institutions
• Governments
• Corporations
• Advocacy groups
• Interest groups
• Professional groups

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NEW WAYS TO ACHIEVE NEW EVIDENCE?
This listing of the ways that GIS and GeoSkills
contribute evidence pertinent to decision
pressure points is illustrative.
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WHERE TO FIND EXAMPLES OF NEW WAYS TO ACHIEVE NEW
EVIDENCE?
Geography Awareness Week Applied Geography
Showcase   http//www.cag-acg.ca/files/pdf/GAW/App
lied_Geography_Showcase.pdf
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WHERE TO FIND EXAMPLES OF NEW WAYS TO ACHIEVE NEW
EVIDENCE?
Geography Awareness Week Guide to Applied
Geography Resources   http//www.cag-acg.ca/files/
pdf/GAW/ GAW_2009_Guide_Applied_Resources.pdf
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WHERE TO FIND EXAMPLES OF NEW WAYS TO ACHIEVE
NEW EVIDENCE?
Geography Awareness Week GeoSkills
Showcase http//www.cag-acg.ca/files/pdf/GAW/GAW2
009_GeoSkills.pdf
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WHERE TO FIND EXAMPLES OF NEW WAYS TO ACHIEVE
NEW EVIDENCE?
Geography Awareness Week Guide to GeoSkills
Resources   http//www.cagacg.ca/files/pdf/GAW/ GA
W_2009_Guide_GeoSkills_Resources.pdf
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WHERE TO FIND EXAMPLES OF NEW WAYS TO ACHIEVE
NEW EVIDENCE?
Geography Awareness Week Theme Day
Websites   Climate and Weather Water Energy Transp
ortation Food and Health http//www.cag-acg.ca/en
/geography_week_2009.html
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WHERE TO FIND EXAMPLES OF NEW WAYS TO ACHIEVE
NEW EVIDENCE?
GIS Day Websites http//www.cag-acg.ca/files/pdf/
GAW/GIS_Day.pdf http//www.esricanada.com/english
/7301.asp
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WHERE TO FIND EXAMPLES OF NEW WAYS TO ACHIEVE
NEW EVIDENCE?
Professional organizations such as the Urban and
Regional Information Systems Association
(URISA)   http//www.urisa.org/
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WHERE TO FIND EXAMPLES OF NEW WAYS TO ACHIEVE
NEW EVIDENCE?
GIS Day Posters   The following URL illustrates
how universities, colleges, and other academic
institutions could make student GIS Day posters
available online.   http//www.geomatics.uottawa
.ca/gaw09    
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FIRST STEP TO ACHIEVE BETTER DECISIONS?
  Ask the pointed question   What are the names
of the decision-making methodologies that you
use when making decisions?
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SECOND STEP TO ACHIEVE BETTER DECISIONS?
  If an informed answer is not received, repeat
the question   What are the names of the
decision-making methodologies that you use
when making decisions?
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THIRD STEP TO ACHIEVE BETTER DECISIONS?
Crank up the juice   If you hear the Humma,
Humma, Humma chorus instead of an informed
answer, be ready with a list of names of decision
methods and techniques to raise the level of the
discussion and apply pressure.   The following
approach may be helpful.
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CANT REMEMBER THE NAMES OF THE METHODS AND
TECHNIQUES YOU USE TO MAKE DECISIONS? PERHAPS
THIS LIST MAY JOG YOUR MEMORY.
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GETTING OUR ACT TOGETHER NEW WAYS TO ACHIEVE
BETTER DECISIONS?
Combine the ways that GIS and GeoSkills provide
evidence (Slide 14) with the methods and
techniques of rational decision making (Slide
26).
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GETTING OUR ACT TOGETHER NEW WAYS TO ACHIEVE
BETTER DECISIONS?

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CHALLENGE 1 TO THE GIS AND GEOSKILLS
COMMUNITIES
Build a casebook demonstrating how GIS and
GeoSkills are combined with decision methods and
techniques to produce better decisions.
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CHALLENGE 2 TO THE GIS AND GEOSKILLS
COMMUNITIES
Build a casebook demonstrating how GIS and
GeoSkills could be combined with decision methods
and techniques to produce better decisions.
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CHALLENGE 3 TO THE GIS AND GEOSKILLS
COMMUNITIES
Build a casebook demonstrating how GIS and
GeoSkills should be combined with decision
methods and techniques to produce better
decisions.
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CLOSING COMMENT
The GIS and Geoskills communities have a
distinguished record of devising new ways to
achieve new evidence for better decision making.
However, Canada faces a number of major social,
economic, environmental, governance, and other
challenges, and few if any of them are
self-correcting. We have much good work yet to
do. LETS GET IT
DONE!!
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REFERENCES and SOURCES 1
I wish to acknowledge the contributions made to
this presentation by previous presentations and
published reports. The following list identifies
some of these references, and includes the URLs
for the convenience of readers who may wish to
examine the original materials.
Wellar, B. 2006. Geography and Geographic
Information Systems (GIS) New Realities of
Canada as an Emerging Information Society. GIS
Day Keynote, University of Ottawa.
http//www.slideshare.net/ Wellar, B. 2007.
Sustainable Transport Does Anybody Here Know How
to Win This Game? Presentation to the Kiwanis
Club of Ottawa. http//www.geomatics.uottawa.ca/do
cs/Kiwani_ST_laggiss.pdf   Wellar, B. 2007.
Making Weather Connections From Science to
Common Sense, and Public Lethargy to Activism.
CMOS Lecture. http//www.slideshare.net/
 Wellar, B. 2008. From NASA Satellite Images
(1966) to Google Earth (2008) Geography,
Geomatics and GIS Have Come a Long Way. Sigma Xi
Lecture. http//www.geomatics.uottawa.ca/WellarPr
esentstheTriple.htm
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REFERENCES and SOURCES 2
Wellar, B. 2009. Sampler of Commentaries on
Methods and Techniques that Could be Used in
Making Decisions about Identifying, Adopting, or
Implementing Sustainable Transport Practices.
Transport Canada Project, Research Report 3.
http//www.wellarconsulting.com/ Wellar, B.
2009. Core Information Challenges and
Opportunities, 2010-2020 Building on Strengths.
URISA Annual Conference Keynote Address.
http//www.urisa.org/annual/keynote Wellar, B.
2009. Elements of a Framework for GeoSkills as
the Focus of New Approaches in Applied Geography
Education and Training. Wellar GeoSkills Lecture,
University of Ottawa. http//www.slideshare.net/
Wellar, B. and W.L. Garrison 2009. Enriching
Sustainable Transport Decisions Inputs from
Operations Research and the Management Sciences.
Research Report. Berkeley, CA University of
California at Berkeley, Institute for
Transportation Studies. Posted at the
eScholarship Repository, http//repositories.cdlib
.org/its/reports/UCB-ITS-2009-1/
  Acknowledgement. Thanks are given to Sam
Herold for the graphics work.
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