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Information geography: The information revolution reshapes geography

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Abstract

The information revolution has been one of the driving forces to the innovation in geography. However, environmental remote sensing, geographic information science and technology, and geocomputing, which once resided within the family of geography, are gradually moving close to information science but are alienated from geography. Therefore, it is necessary to reexamine the interactive convergence of geography and information science, and advance the disciplinary system of geographic science to accommodate the researches with information as subjects and methods. In this paper, we propose to reformulate the relationship between geographic science and information science with a new discipline, i.e., information geography, which not only refers to the geography of information but also a methodological system for studying geography using information science. This paper summarizes the background of information geography’s emergence, its definition, and the difference and similarities with other disciplinary concepts. The impact of information geography on geographic paradigm shift is also investigated from the ontological, epistemological, and methodological perspectives.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Tibetan Plateau Earth System, Resource and Environment, Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, China

    Xin Li, Donghai Zheng, Min Feng & Fahu Chen

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  1. Xin Li
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  2. Donghai Zheng
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  3. Min Feng
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  4. Fahu Chen
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Xin Li.

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Appendix Table S1

Disciplinary and technical concepts related to Information Geography

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Li, X., Zheng, D., Feng, M. et al. Information geography: The information revolution reshapes geography. Sci. China Earth Sci. 65, 379–382 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11430-021-9857-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11430-021-9857-5

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