[Geowanking] Geophysics vs. Geography: Why does one love geowanking and the other not so much?

[Brent Fraser]

Sean,

  I think geophysicists, geologists, geomatics engineers, geodesists, surveyors, remote sensing specialists, geographers, urban planners, oceanographers, meteorologists, (is there no end to this list?!?) are always looking for better tools/methods to visualize spatial data.  And I think they should.

  As for Mike G's comments, I'll quote the downhill skiing adage: "if you're not falling down, you're not going fast enough" (hopefully their "mistakes" are not life-threatening).  But he is spot-on about critical thinking.

  And to answer the question in the subject line, I suspect geophysicists just wank on a different level...

Brent Fraser


Sean.Gorman at fortiusone.com wrote:
> I would not normally spam the list with one of my own blog posts, but I'd love to get thoughts from the list on the topic.
> 
> http://blog.fortiusone.com/2008/11/14/geophysics-vs-geography-divergent-viewpoints-on-the-geoweb/
> 
> In short it seems the geophysicists have really embraced geowanking type things - check out their special session on spinny globes:
> 
> http://conferences.images.alaska.edu/agu/2008/index.htm
> 
> Now compare this to Mike Goodchild's quote in the latest ArcNews:
> 
> “In 2005, Google Earth was released, and people with little or no background in GIS, geography, or cartography began using it and other similar services to discover the power of map making. Some even began calling themselves neogeographers. Suddenly it was possible to do some powerful things with geospatial data without committing to what was often a difficult and lengthy learning process….But mistakes (by neogeographers) were and are being made, as often happens when powerful technology is put in the hands of people with little background in its underlying concepts and little experience in thinking critically about its products.”
> 
> I have a lot of respect for Mike's academic work but this seemed a bit over the top.
> 
> Any thoughts or response?
> 
> best,
> sean
> 
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