GIS Course at Sinte Gleska University:

Lakota Studies 400/600:  Special Topics:  Introduction to Geographic Information Systems and Science

Instructor:  Joseph J. Kerski, USGS, jjkerski@usgs.gov, 303-202-4315

Week 10 Notes:  Summary of GIS Course

Course Summary

GIS has a bright future.  Despite a learning curve, hardware issues, and high costs of some spatial data, hardware advances continue.  GIS software is becoming more user-friendly and more useful.  GIS is becoming embedded into mainstream Information Technology (IT) in most organizations.  The Internet is making it easier to share data, metadata, projects, and ideas.  According to Daratech, for the year 2001, GIS grew at 14.3% growth over 2000, with the market for software totaling $1.1 billion.  GIS services bring in $5.4 billion while GIS drives $799 million in hardware sales.  The utilities sector accounts for the most software revenues, 20.1%, followed by state and local government.  Tribal governments, Native American scientists, and educators who use GIS are growing in number and diversity of applications.

GIS has a bright future, however, only to the extent that data users like you are actively examining spatial issues and problems, and creating new ways of studying the Earth and its people.  You are the key to the successful application of these technologies in the future.

Key Points to Remember

Some of the key things I would like you to remember in your future GIS journey:

1)  GIS is all about networking.  Get involved in a professional society such as the Intertribal GIS Council, the Geospatial Information Technology Association, (GITA), the Association of American Geographers (AAG), the National Indian Education Association, or another organization that addresses your main areas of interest coupled with GIS, whether it is in land use, water resources, cultural resource management, marketing, education, biodiversity, geology, or other field.

2)   Be critical of the data.  Don't just accept spatial data just because it is in digital form and follows certain accuracy standards.  Examine the metadata.  Who created the data, at what resolution, and for what purpose?  Does it meet my needs?  Remember the phrases "fitness for use" and "truth in labeling" with regards to data quality.  While it is the data producers responsibility to label, or provide accurate metadata, for the spatial data, it is YOUR responsibility as the data user to decide whether the data is fit for your use.

3)  Remember the steps of geographic inquiry:  

(1)  Ask geographic questions 

(2)  Acquire geographic resources

(3)  Explore geographic data

(4)  Analyze geographic information

(5)  Act upon geographic knowledge

The heart of spatial analysis is not the data, not the software, but YOU, the data user, the person that makes the decisions.  Use the software and data to address your problem and issue, but don't be limited by them.   Ask questions beyond what the software can do, and research spatial analysis techniques that might require the use of statistics software and other tools.  Challenge the GIS software vendors to include functions that would better help you address the issues you are dealing with.  The questions you ask lead to analysis.  Analysis may lead you to additional questions.  This is the process of inquiry.  The fifth step requires you to act on your geographic knowledge after the analysis is conducted.  What will you do with the results?  Don't hide them--share what you have done with others.  Seek their input.  Make the part of your world that you are analyzing a little bit better than how you found it.

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