Maine Digital Government Summit Geospatial Imaging and Mapping

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Maine Digital Government SummitGeospatial
Imaging and Mapping

• Matthew Bampton
• 6th October 2008
• Maine Digital Government Summit, Augusta Civic
  Center

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What Does GIS Stand For?

• Geographic Information Systems
• Geographic real world, geographic, spatial
• Information data information
• Systems computers related technology
• Geeks In Sandals

Matthew Bampton, USM
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What Comprises a GIS?

• Hardware
• Software
• Data
• People

http//demo.batelco.jo/pmu/Portals/0/GIS1.jpg
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The Big Idea Behind GIS . . .
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Waldo Tobler
The first law of geography everything is
related to everything else, but near things are
more related than distant things. Waldo
Tobler, 1970
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1854
This Pump Served All The Cholera Houses
Water Pumps
www.ph.ucla.edu/epi/snow.html
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John Snow (1813-1858)
In a March 2003 survey by Hospital Doctor
magazine, John Snow was voted the "greatest
doctor" of all time, with Hippocrates (460-370
BC) coming in second.  While the poll was likely
biased with over-representation of John Snow
supporters, the findings do point to the
increased prominence of Dr. Snow among
contemporary physicians.
Matthew Bampton, USM
http//www.ph.ucla.edu/epi/snow.html
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Modern Application of The Same Principles . . .
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. . . And spatially clustered!
High arsenic levels are shallow, close to the
river . . . . . . . . . . .
http//fermat.nap.edu/
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Central Business District
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Central Business District
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Waldos Take-Home Message

• Using this approach you see things you would
  otherwise miss

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August 4, 1967
www.templeton-interactive.com/lest15a.htm
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National Research Council
www.umehon.maine.edu/images/hon211
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Spatial thinking serves three purposes. It has
(1) a descriptive function, capturing,
preserving, and conveying the appearance of and
relations among objects (2) an analytic
function, enabling an understanding of the
structure of objects and (3) an inferential
function, generating answers to questions about
the evolution and function of objects Nationa
l Research Council 2006
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C.P Lo, Albert K. W. Yeung, 2006. Concepts and
Techniques of Geographic Information
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Or to put it another way . . . . .
Our Heroes Embark upon A Sacred Magical Mission
They Face Terrible Obstacles Unending Struggle
But In The End They Triumph Against Impossible
Odds A New Age Dawns
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Major Application Areas of GIS

• Industry
• Engineering
• Transportation
• Utilities
• Forestry
• Mining
• Military
• Training
• Command Control
• Intelligence
• Facilities Management

• Academic
• Research in Humanities, Science Engineering
• Spatial Digital Libraries
• Business
• Banking Insurance
• Retail Market Analysis
• Delivery of Goods and Service
• Government
• Federal, State Local Government
• Homeland Security
• Healthcare
• International development

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The Government Says

• On October 8, 2004 US Secretary of Labor Elaine
  Chao noted that "The geospatial . . . workforce
  has doubled in the past four years and
  accelerated growth is expected in the years
  ahead" (ETA 2004).
• A December 6, 2004 news release from the
  Department of Labor stated "Events of September
  11 and current threats to national security have
  made gathering and understanding geospatial data
  critical for protection of the infrastructure and
  basic decision-making. As a result the
  geospatial industry is expected to grow from 3
  billion in revenues in 1997 to 21 billion in the
  next few years" (DOL 2004).

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The Growth of GIS Locally, Nationally, and
Globally

• In 1999 four of Maines thirteen four-year
  institutions of higher learning had GIS labs and
  curriculums, today twelve of the thirteen have
  significant GIS capability.
• NASA reports that 25 of its GIS staff are due to
  retire in the next decade, the National Imagery
  and Mapping Agency is anticipating 7000 GIS job
  openings in the next three years.
• Approximately 140,000 organizations globally are
  now using GIS as a significant part of their
  operations.

Matthew Bampton, USM
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Contact Information
Matthew Bampton Department of Geography-Anthropolo
gy University of Southern Maine Gorham, ME
04038 207/879-8717 bampton_at_usm.maine.edu
Matthew Bampton, USM