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Geography and the Information Society

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A Geographical Century

Abstract

Geographic information in the form of maps and text and increasingly of digital data has always played a fundamental role in the discipline of geography. The chapter provides a brief outline of the history of GIS, including the role played by a commission of the IGU. Significant events in its development are discussed, including the social critique that began in the late 1980s and the Internet that emerged in the early 1990s. Spatial data infrastructure and Digital Earth are comparatively recent reformulations of the vision of GIS. The chapter ends with a new and comprehensive vision of geospatial infrastructure and with a suggested new role for the IGU.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of California, Santa Barbara, USA

    Michael F. Goodchild

Authors
  1. Michael F. Goodchild
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Correspondence to Michael F. Goodchild .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Geography, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia

    Vladimir Kolosov

  2. Department of Humanities: History, Geography and Art, Carlos III University of Madrid, Getafe, Madrid, Spain

    Jacobo García-Álvarez

  3. School of Geography, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK

    Michael Heffernan

  4. Archive for Geography, Leibniz Institute for Regional Geography, Leipzig, Germany

    Bruno Schelhaas

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Goodchild, M.F. (2022). Geography and the Information Society. In: Kolosov, V., García-Álvarez, J., Heffernan, M., Schelhaas, B. (eds) A Geographical Century. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-05419-8_16

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