Geospatial Analysis and Modeling of Urban Structure and Dynamics: An Overview

Abstract

Geographic information research and technologies have experienced over four decades of development, from the mainframe to the workstation to the desktop, and to today's laptop and mobile devices. Every important GIS development is driven by a significant breakthrough of mainstream information technology. For example, the 1980s was characterized by the popularity of personal computers that were increasingly becoming affordable to university departments, governmental agencies and private sectors. Many university GIS programs were established during this time period, and the NSF-funded NCGIA played an important role in coordinating the development of course curriculum and related research activities. The next decade can be named the age of GIScience. GIScience is the science behind GISystens, dealing with fundamental questions raised by the use of GISystems and technologies (Goodchild 1997). It occurred at the time when the Internet and the World Wide Web started to change the way we led our lives and ran our businesses. It was the Internet and the Web that made the GIS community think of a service oriented approach to GIS, namely GIServices (Günther and Müller 1999). Instead of owning a GIS, end users can be served by GIS functionalities from a remote GIService center. GIServices aim to develop distributed or decentralized GIS to serve individuals and communities for spatial planning and decision making, as well as for their daily life. Another perspective of GIS is GIStudies for studying the impacts of geographic information and technologies on society.