Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
When defining information about a report is contained in the user's manual rather than in the product
itself, the product must contain references to the user's manual; the loss of the link between the report
and its defining information can prevent acceptance and use of the system.
Thoughts on Different Types of Products
A major reason to have a GIS is to either:
provide new information or
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provide information in new forms.
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The obvious sort of information that comes from a GIS is in graphic form: the map. However, there are
many other ways to convey information about the environment—some more attuned to the style of the
decision maker than the casual user.
Don't Ignore Character-Based Information
Character-based information is the sort that many decision makers are most used to using but graphic
information is the form that most planning professionals who advise decision makers deal with in
formulating their recommendations.
Some humans, perhaps innately, are better at dealing with graphic information and some with character-
based information. There is also physiological evidence to suggest that the two different types are
processed by different hemispheres of the brain. One might draw a parallel with left-handedness and
right-handedness.
It is not my purpose to suggest (or deny) that each person has an inherent dominance of ability to process
character-based or graphic information but to point out the danger that an individual may well naturally
opt for information in a particular form—just as her or she might naturally use a screwdriver with his or
her left hand—when another form might be more appropriate in helping the person gain the necessary
insights needed.
GISs can provide both character-based and graphic information, and any GIS that is used to provide only
one type may be missing a good bet.
Don't Hesitate to Sort Information
For example, suppose some 348 “areas of critical environmental concern” have been nominated and an
identification code attached to each; your GIS has the information to calculate a factor between 1 and
100 that suggests the degree of danger to which each is subject. The output you envision is a list, in
order of identification code, with the “danger factor” printed out in an adjacent column. As you begin
to use the output, you discover yourself looking through the list to find the area with the
highest factor, then the next highest, and so on. At this point, while all that you want is there, it clearly
could be in a better form: in order of the danger factor rather than (or in addition to) the identification
code order.
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