1. GIS and Place Mary Fargher Institute of Education University of London
GTE 2009
Mary Fargher GTE 2009

2. Presentation Overview
Research Focus & Aims
Research Approaches
‘The Literature’
Empirical Study: Exemplar
Preliminary Findings
Summary
Discussion
Mary Fargher GTE 2009

3. Processes involved in teaching and learning about place …..with GIS
Research Focus
Processes involved in teaching and learning about place
…..with GIS
Mary Fargher GTE 2009
Mary Fargher GTE 2009

4. Place lies at the heart of geography......
Mary Fargher GTE 2009
Mary Fargher GTE 2009

5. How does GIS influence how we 'know' place?
Mary Fargher GTE 2009
Mary Fargher GTE 2009

6. ‘How does GIS influence how students construct knowledge about place?
Research Aims
To explore this research question:
‘How does GIS influence how students construct knowledge about place?
Mary Fargher GTE 2009
Mary Fargher GTE 2009

7. subdivided as…..
How does GIS influence how students conceptualize place?
How do teachers make sense of and mediate GIS in their teaching?
How do students make sense of and mediate GIS in their learning?
Mary Fargher GTE 2009
Mary Fargher GTE 2009

8. Research Approaches
Interpretive….focusing on deconstruction of processes involved in :‘GeographyPedagogyTechnology’
Bricolage (Denzin & Lincoln, 2000)
observe, describe, ask, read, reflect, explain
Transformative….focusing on praxis through which we ‘make the world’ (Lather, 1991)
Mary Fargher GTE 2009
Mary Fargher GTE 2009

9. Theoretical approaches to place Theoretical origins of GIS
‘The Literature’
Theoretical approaches to place
Theoretical origins of GIS
Critical GIS: A more progressive research agenda?
Geo-visualization as the ‘fourth r?’ (Goodchild, 2006)
Mary Fargher GTE 2009
Mary Fargher GTE 2009

10. Examining theoretical approaches to place
Place and space as disputed but central concepts and territories for many geographers( Hubbard et al; 2004)
Plurality of approaches (e.g. regional geography, spatial science)
Specific elements of each approach
Mary Fargher GTE 2009
Mary Fargher GTE 2009

11. Specific elements of each approach
Era
Essence
Influence
Advocates
Legacy
Mary Fargher GTE 2009
Mary Fargher GTE 2009

12. Mary Fargher GTE 2009 Mary Fargher GTE 2009
Figure 1 THE DIVERSITY OF THEORETICAL APPROACHES TO PLACE AND SPACE IN GEOGRAPHY
‘Social Justice and the City’ (Harvey, 1973)
‘Spatial divisions of labour’
Harvey (1969, 1973)
Smith (1971)
Peet (1977)
Massey (1984)
MARXISM
1960S-
RADICAL GEOGRAPHY
‘Sense of Place’
‘Placelessness’
‘Locale’
‘Place as human experience’
‘Lived world’
Tuan (1974)
Relph (1976)
Agnew (1987)
Entrikin (1991)
Buttimer (1976)
Cresswell (2004)
PHENOMENOLOGY
EXISTENTIALISM
SUBJECTIVE
PEOPLE-CENTRED PLACES
1970s -
HUMANISM
Hagerstrand (1982)
Golledge
SPATIAL SCIENCE
COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY
OBJECTIVE
POSITIVIST
SCIENTIFIC SPACE
1970s-
BEHAVIOURAL GEOGRAPHY
GIS
‘Locational Analysis’
Frontiers in Geographical Teaching’(Chorley& Haggett, 1965)
‘Geography:A Modern Synthesis’
(Haggett, 1975)
‘Remodelling Geography’
(MacMillan, 1989)
Gregory (1963)
Chorley (1965)
Haggett (1975)
Berry (1967)
Tobler
Abler et al; 1971)
Harvey (1969)
MacMillan
POSITIVISM
EUCLIDEAN GEOMETRY
STRUCTURALISM
SCIENTIFIC QUANTIFICATION OF SPACE
MODELLING
1960s/70s -
Systematic regional classification
‘Natural Regions’
‘Principles of Human Geography’ (Vidal de la Blache, 1921)
Mackinder (1887)
Herbertson (1910)
Vidal de la Blache (1921)
Davis
CLASSICAL GEOGRAPHY
EXPLORATION
DESCRIPTIVE /IDIOGRAPHIC PLACE
Late19thcentury-Mid-1970s
REGIONALIST GEOGRAPHY
Human-environment relationship
Geography’s ‘Social Darwinism ?’
‘Influences of Human Environment’ ( Semple, 1915)
Ratzel
Semple(1915)
DARWINISM
INDUCTIVE REASONING
Late 19th/early 20th century
ENVIRONMENTAL
DETERMINISM
LEGACY
ADVOCATES
INFLUENCES
ESSENCE
ERA
APPROACH
Mary Fargher GTE 2009
Mary Fargher GTE 2009

13. Mary Fargher GTE 2009 Mary Fargher GTE 2009
‘Geographies of difference’
‘Relational analyses of place and space’
‘Non -representational theory’
‘Geography of event’
Soja (1989)
Doel (1999)
Crang (2000)
Thrift (2003)
Latham (2003)
Massey (2005)
POSTMODERNISM
SOCIALLY CONSTRUCTED PLACES
SPACES AS RELATIONS NOT STRUCTURES
SPACES & PLACES AS OPEN & CONNECTED
‘Situated knowledges’
Foucault
Lefebvre (1991)
Soja ( 1996, 1985)
Haraway(1991)
POST-STRUCTURALISM
SPACE AS PROCESS
‘New Models in Geography’ (Peet & Thrift eds; 1989)
(partial) theorizing of ‘Regionalization’
‘Becoming of a place’
Harvey
Giddens
Pred (1987)
MARXISM
STRUCTURATION THEORY
CRITICAL
GEOGRAPHIES
‘Locality’
‘Substantive geographies’
‘Geographical imaginations’
Urry (1981)
Sayer (1985)
Gregory (1985)
SPACE & SOCIAL RELATIONS
1980s -
REALISM
‘Social Justice and the City’ (Harvey, 1973)
‘Spatial divisions of labour’
Harvey (1969, 1973)
Smith (1971)
Peet (1977)
Massey (1984)
1960S-
RADICAL GEOGRAPHY
Mary Fargher GTE 2009
Mary Fargher GTE 2009

14. Theoretical origins of GIS
Origins – Quantitative revolution of the 1960s & 70s
– Geography as a ‘bona fide science?’
(Unwin, 1992)
Designed with ‘spatial science in mind’
Mary Fargher GTE 2009
Mary Fargher GTE 2009

15. Subsequent criticisms….
Positivist origins – Designed (only?) to locate, identify, predict, problem-solve?
Questionable ethics behind the technology- Commercially-orientated, dubious military applications, non-participatory?
‘Ground Truth : The Social Implications of GIS’ (Edited by John Pickles, 1995)
Limitations to thinking geographically?
Mary Fargher GTE 2009
Mary Fargher GTE 2009

16. Mary Fargher IoE London 2008
‘GIS was by implication, a means of limiting the proliferation of epistemologies in geography.’ (Schuurman, 2000, pg. 580)
A technology that could quantify but not qualify?
Mary Fargher IoE London 2008
Mary Fargher GTE 2009

17. Critical GIS: A more 'progressive' research agenda?
Fuller analysis of how GIS represents people, space and environments (O’Sullivan, 2006)
Participatory GIS (PGIS)- ‘GIS for the people?’
e.g. ‘Worldfish’ (Aceh, Indonesia, post-tsunami)
Mary Fargher GTE 2009 
Mary Fargher GTE 2009

18. ‘This is not technical knowledge but rather deep knowledge which places cultural values on land and place which is manifested in fuzzy, emotional and holistic terms (McCall and Minang, 2005) and which may not fit neatly into the spatially precise demands of a GIS.’ (Dunn, 2007, pg 623)
Mary Fargher GTE 2009
Mary Fargher GTE 2009

19. Geo-visualization as the fourth ‘r’?*
Virtual globes – Google Earth, Worldwind, ArcExplorer, Virtual Earth etc.
Multi-source/Holistic GIS – e.g. Koravec on hurricanes (3 years prior to ‘Katrina’)
* (Goodchild, 2006)
Mary Fargher GTE 2009
Mary Fargher GTE 2009

20. Empirical Study: Exemplar
Ongoing data collection in school
Year 9 students & their teachers
Lesson observation & interview
Studying Places with GIS
- Based around the South Asia tsunami (2004)
Using : ArcGIS 9
Google Earth
‘Multi-source/Holistic GIS’
Mary Fargher GTE 2009
Mary Fargher GTE 2009

21. ArcGIS 9 Geo-visualization ‘Traditional’ Cartesian GIS
Enquiry-based – event as: ‘disaster’, ‘tectonic hazard’, ‘aid role-play’ ‘globally interdependent’
Spatial Analysis via maps, tables, calculations
Mary Fargher GTE 2009
Mary Fargher GTE 2009

22. Example
Using ArcGIS to teach about the South Asia tsunami (2004)
*Following images from Dascombe, ESRI Australia (2005)
Mary Fargher GTE 2009
Mary Fargher GTE 2009 22

23. Mary Fargher IoE London 2008
Mary Fargher GTE 2009

24. Brett Dascombe ESRI Australia 2005
Mary Fargher GTE 2009 24

25. Brett Dascombe ESRI Australia 2005
Mary Fargher GTE 2009 25

26. Google Earth Geo-visualization ‘Fly-to-technology’
Enquiry based – event as ‘disaster’, ‘tectonic hazard’, ‘aid role-play’, ‘globally interdependent’
Mary Fargher GTE 2009
Mary Fargher GTE 2009

27. Multi-source/Holistic GIS
Geo-visualization (ArcGIS/GE combined)
Enquiry based – event as ‘disaster’, ‘tectonic hazard’, ‘aid role- play’, ‘globally interdependent’
Selected social phenomena (Vid/podcast, wiki, flickr, etc; kml- enabled)
onesia_Tsunami.gif
Students create ‘My Place’ of 2004 S.Asia tsunami
heriesAquaculture.pdf
Mary Fargher GTE 2009
Mary Fargher GTE 2009

28. Mary Fargher GTE 2009

29. Mary Fargher GTE 2009

30. Preliminary Findings How digital GI about place is constructed matters
Students respond significantly differently to place when using 'traditional GIS (e.g. ArcGIS) as opposed to virtual globes
When students 'construct' their own places in GIS, they appear to develop a deeper knowledge of place which is not solely 'location-orientated'
Teachers respond positively to a wider pedagogical discussion about GIS and place
Mary Fargher IoE 2009
Mary Fargher GTE 2009

31. Research Summary
Focus on processes involved in teaching and learning about places with GIS
‘GeographyPedagogyTechnology’
Via interpretive approaches
Using ‘traditional GIS’, Virtual Globes & Multi- source/Holistic GIS
In contribution to a wider critical debate about the role of GIS in schools
Mary Fargher IoE 2009
Mary Fargher GTE 2009

32. References
Dascombe, Brett, (2005)
Denzin, Norman K; Lincoln, Yvonna S; Eds. ( (2002) ‘Handbook of Qualitative Research.’ Second Edition.Sage :Thousand Oaks.
Dunn, C.E. (2007). ‘Participatory GIS – a people’s GIS?’ Progress in Human Geography 31 No. 5, (2007) DOI: /
Goodchild (2006) ‘ The Fourth R? Rethinking GIS Education’- ESRI ArcNews
Korevec, N. (2002). ‘GIS Assessment of the Vulnerability of a Core Tourist Area in New Orleans to Impacts of Flood Inundation During a Hurricane Event.’ Trends in Cultural Geography GEOG Cultural Landscapes, Spring 2002.
Lather (1991) ‘Getting Smart: Feminist Research and Pedagogy With/in the Postmodern.’ Routledge : New York
O’Sullivan, D. (2006). ‘Geographical Information science : Critical GIS’
Progress in Human Geography , 30, (6).
Pickles ed; (1995) ‘Ground truth: The social implications of geographic. information systems.’ Routledge: New York
Schuurman, N. (2000). ‘Trouble in the heartland : GIS and its critics in the 1990s’ Progress in Human Geography 24, 4 ( )
Unwin (1992) ‘The place of geography’ Longman:Harlow.
Mary Fargher GTE 2009
Mary Fargher GTE 2009

33. Thank you for listening…. Any questions?
Mary Fargher GTE 2009
Mary Fargher GTE 2009