Last year, Urban and Regional Information Systems Association (URISA) held its GIS-Pro 2012 symposium, which featured a keynote address by geospatial visionary Michael F. Goodchild.

The first part of Goodchild’s keynote address focused on how far the geospatial sector has come since 1998.  Specifically, he highlighted how we now have faster broadband connections and graphic accelerators, as well as massive amounts of data.  All of these things are driving today’s geospatial solutions through we still have challenges ahead of us.

The second half of Goodchild’s keynote address highlighted the global social constructs behind mapping.  Each culture has a different interpretation of mapping and what locations are worthy of monitoring – whether it is a sports complex, a Korean deli or a riverbed in Western Australia.  Goodchild also discusses how we are creating global mapping standards, as well as localized crowdsourced capabilities.

He also discussed “place-based GIS,” which is focused on core locations and how most cities have adopted standard subways maps (i.e. New York City).  This standard is ideal because “humans can use it.”

Be sure to check out part two of Goodchild’s keynote address at GIS-Pro 2012.

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