Hi, I’m Aestelle Dondero and I am a junior. I am an Astrophysics and Computer Science double major. I am really excited to learn more about GIS because I have a interest in the outdoors and history, and from what I have heard, GIS can be a really powerful tool in relation to both those subjects.
I started off with doing the quiz, and after completing that, began to read the assigned chapter. The chapter begins by discussing the recent growth in use of GIS, both inside and outside academia. From there, the author explores how GIS is a much more complex and fuzzily defined field than it may appear from an outside perspective, and gives examples of how different disciplines may use GIS differently. Following this, the author explains the origins of GIS, beginning with Ian McHarg’s use of layers of tracing paper and a light table to find the optimal path for a new highway. Despite the widespread usage of GIS and Spatial Analysis today, there was significant resistance to the use of technology for these purposes when compared to traditional cartography, especially in the early years, due to the limitations imposed by computers of the time. As the technology continued to develop, two subfields of GIS emerged, those being GIScience and GISystems. The author explains how GISystems is focused on the applications of GIS software to solve real world problems, while GIScience takes a more technical approach that is concerned with the underlying methods and models that allow that problem solving to take place. In reading this chapter, I thought that this analysis of the overlap and differences between GIScience and GISystems was really interesting, especially since I don’t think I had ever really considered that the GIScience side of the discipline would be a semi separate entity from the GISystems side. Finally, the chapter ends with a discussion of the many uses of GIS technologies, and how it effects many facets of our lives, including tax and governmental systems, along with farming and ecommerce. Ecommerce really surprised me as a GIS use case, although after reading the description of how it is used, it makes a lot of sense.
One of the ways that I have interacted with GIS before taking this class has been in researching the local history of my hometown. Where I’m from is fairly rural, with a lot of pre 1900 farms scattered across the county. The research paper I found discusses the subject of farmland abandonment, which is a common sight throughout most of Ohio. There analysis includes a comparison of different factors in correlation to farmland abandonment, which I think could be an incredibly useful tool for understanding long term land use.
A map from the paper showing the area focused on in their research.
Another use case for GIS that I found was in a spatial analysis of round barn distribution throughout the United States. Old, timber framed barns are a really interesting subject to me, and since the round barn is such a unique and generally uncommon form of barn, this seems like a great utilization of GIS for better understanding trends regarding why and when they were built. Unfortunately, the article was behind a paywall, so I was unable to access it, but the abstract certainly was interesting!
B. Zaragozí, A. Rabasa, J.J. Rodríguez-Sala, J.T. Navarro, A. Belda, A. Ramón, Modelling farmland abandonment: A study combining GIS and data mining techniques,
Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment, Volume 155, 2012, Pages 124-132, ISSN 0167-8809, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agee.2012.03.019.
(https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0167880912001375)
Cornelis J. van der Veen “Spatial and Temporal Distribution of Locations of Round Barns in the United States,” Transactions of the Kansas Academy of Science 128(1-2), 13-38, (26 May 2025). https://bioone.org/journals/transactions-of-the-kansas-academy-of-science/volume-128/issue-1-2/062.128.0102/Spatial-and-Temporal-Distribution-of-Locations-of-Round-Barns-in/10.1660/062.128.0102.short