Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
ing these two together to both describe and explain paterns ofers truly
exciting new potential that is enabled by GIS but will require a strongly
interdisciplinary approach to implement.
Further developing the theme of crossing disciplinary divides, the
humanities have much to learn from other fields that have a longer tradi-
tion of GIS use, particularly in the social sciences but also in the earth
sciences. W hile approaches from these disciplines do need to be adopted
in a critical manner that questions their suitability for the sources and
approaches used in the humanities, there is much to be learned from
these fields, the approaches that they have taken, and the lessons that
they have learned along the way. here is also the need for beter col-
laboration between the humanities and disciplines such as geographical
information science, computer science, library science, and corpus lin-
guistics. The methodological expertise from these disciplines has much
to offer to the humanities, and some of the technical and methodological
challenges that confront humanities GIS use also provide research chal-
lenges within these disciplines.
Finally, from an applied perspective, as Southall shows in his es-
say, there is the potential to conduct research that crosses the divide
between disciplines that study the past and disciplines that study the
present. Most humanities disciplines concentrate on the past, but there
is a clear potential to collaborate with sociologists, geographers, econo-
mists, demographers, health researchers, and a range of others who typi-
cally concentrate on the present. This enables questions such as “how
did conditions from the past affect the present?” and “how did we get to
where we are now?” to be asked.
Moving beyond the Academy
W hatever the limitations of maps, people like them and enjoy interact-
ing with them. This has enabled projects like Social Explorer, A Vision
of Britain through Time, Locating London's Past, and Mapping the
Lakes to present complex information to much broader audiences than
conventional academic publishing could ever succeed in reaching.
26
All
of these projects have their origins in academic research, but all have
