Introducing the First Edition of Geographic Information Science and Technology Body of Knowledge David DiBiase, Michael DeMers, Ann Johnson, Karen Kemp, Ann Taylor Luck, Brandon Plewe, and Elizabeth Wentz ABSTRACT: A “Body of Knowledge” is a comprehensive inventory of the intellectual content that defines a field. Following the lead of such allied fields as Computer Science and Information Technology, a team of seven editors and over 70 contributors completed the first edition of Geographic Information Science and Technology Body of Knowledge (BoK 1/e) in 2006. Specifying 329 individual topics in terms of over 1,600 formal educational objectives, the BoK 1/e is designed for use by curriculum planners and evaluators, certification and accreditation bodies, current and prospective students, and geospatial professionals in government, industry, and academia. KEYWORDS: GIS, curriculum, education, certification, accreditation, articulation, assessment, objectives Introduction Though few were developed as methodically as the ACM/IEEE curricula there have been many Constant changes in courses and curricula seem local-scale and several national-scale curriculum to be a fact of life… (Turner 2001, p. 4) development efforts in the U.S. related to car- tography, geographic information systems, and o began Joe Turner’s invited editorial in the remote sensing (e.g., Dahlberg and Jensen 1986; June, 2001, edition of the Association for Nyerges and Chrisman 1989; Goodchild and Kemp Computing Machinery’s SIGCSE Bulletin 1992). Some 30 years after ACM published its first (SIGSCES is ACM’s Special Interest Group in computing curriculum, the National Center for Computer Science Education). ACM first endorsed Geographic Information and Analysis (NCGIA) a curriculum for baccalaureate degree programs in began work on its influential Core Curriculum in GIS computer science in 1969, followed by a revision in (Goodchild and Kemp 1992). Work on a successor 1978. In 1991, in cooperation with the Institute of to the Core Curriculum, dubbed Model Curricula in Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), ACM Geographic Information Science, began in 1995. Plans published baccalaureate curricula for both com- to develop a complementary Remote Sensing Core puter science and computer engineering. By 2001, Curriculum took shape at a 1992 NCGIA work- the joint effort yielded new and revised curricula shop and later gained support from the National for four related disciplines, including computer sci- Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). ence, computer engineering, information systems, In 2001, NASA commissioned the University of and software engineering. An information technol- Mississippi to develop a new and greatly expanded ogy curriculum followed in 2006. Although Turner remote sensing curriculum in the form of digi- was reflecting on his years of involvement in the tal courseware equivalent to 30 undergraduate development of computer science curricula and courses (Luccio 2005). The courseware is available accreditation programs, his observation pertains to for licensing by educational institutions, govern- GIS education as well. ment agencies, and private firms. Meanwhile, an even more ambitious effort began in 1998 under David DiBiase, Dutton e-Education Institute, The Pennsylvania the auspices of the University Consortium for State University, University Park, PA, 16802. Phone: 814-863- Geographic Information Science (UCGIS). Motivated 1790. E-mail: <[email protected]>. in part by a concern that entry-level workers in the Cartography and Geographic Information Science, Vol. 34, No. 2, 2007, pp. 113-120 geospatial technology industry lacked adequate addresses the nature of geographic informa- backgrounds in computer science (Marble 1998), tion and the application of geospatial tech- UCGIS emulated the approach and format of the nologies to basic scientific questions; ACM/IEEE computing curricula. • Geospatial Technology, the specialized set The UCGIS Model Curricula initiative arose of information technologies that support from a set of eight education challenges identi- data acquisition, data storage and manipula- fied at the 1997 UCGIS Summer Assembly in tion, data analysis, and visualization of geo- Bar Harbor, Maine. One challenge concluded referenced data; and that “improving GIScience education requires • Applications of GIS&T, the increasingly the specification and assessment of curricula for diverse uses of geospatial technology in a wide range of student constituencies” (Kemp and government, industry, and academia. The Wright 1997, p. 4). A Model Curricula Task Force, number and variety of fields that apply chaired by Duane Marble, was formed in 1998. geospatial technologies is suggested in In 2003, the Task Force issued a Strawman Report Figure 1 by the stack of “various application that presented an ambitious vision of how higher domains.” education should prepare students for success in Other aspects that distinguish the UCGIS Model the variety of professions that rely upon geospatial Curricula initiative from other related curriculum technologies (Marble et al. 2003). planning efforts are: A key distinguishing characteristic of the Model • Top-down design: As opposed to the typical Curricula vision is its expansive and integrative practice in U.S. higher education of simply conception of the “Geographic Information Science outlining the subject matter to which stu- and Technology” (GIS&T) knowledge domain. As dents should be exposed, top-down curricu- illustrated in Figure 1, GIS&T encompasses three lum design “starts from a clear statement of subdomains, including: broad educational aims, refines these into a • Geographic Information Science, the series of explicit and testable objectives, and multidisciplinary research enterprise that then devises teaching strategies, content Figure 1. The three sub-domains comprising the GIS&T domain, in relation to allied fields. Two-way relations that are half-dashed represent asymmetrical contributions between allied fields. [© 2006 Association of American Geographers and University Consortium for Geographic Information Science. Used by permission. All rights reserved.] 114 Cartography and Geographic Information Science Figure 2. The GIS&T education infrastructure. Columns represent sectors of formal education that span a lifetime of learning. Rows correspond to levels of competency as described in Marble (1998). Informal education spans the learner’s lifetime in parallel with formal education. [© 2006 Association of American Geographers and University Consortium for Geographic Information Science. Used by permission. All rights reserved.] and assessment methods to meet these aims primary and secondary schools through post and objectives” (Unwin 1990, p. 4). baccalaureate and professional education). • Multiple pathways to diverse outcomes: Recognizing the multidisciplinary nature of the field, the Task Force envisioned an adaptive curriculum that students and advi- GIS&T Body of Knowledge (BoK 1/e) sors could tailor to suit individual aims. The In order to develop a curriculum, it is essential to develop Task Force adopted the plural “Curricula” a detailed understanding of the knowledge encompassed to denote that multiple curricular pathways by [a] discipline (ACM/IEEE 2001, p. 14). leading to diverse educational outcomes would be specified. Central to the Model Curricula vision is a compre- • Adaptable to varied institutions: From the hensive “body of knowledge” that specifies what outset the Task Force envisioned a curricu- current and aspiring geospatial professionals need lum that would be adaptable to the special to know and be able to do. Following over seven circumstances of academic institutions and years of deliberations involving more than 70 con- departments, as well as to learners and tributors and reviewers, the Association of American employers. The first edition of GIS&T Body Geographers published the first edition of GIS&T of Knowledge describes a diverse “GIS&T Body of Knowledge (BoK 1/e) in 2006. Like the bodies education infrastructure” (Figure 2) that cul- of knowledge included in recent computing cur- tivates a range of competency levels (from ricula, BoK 1/e represents the GIS&T knowledge basic awareness to research and develop- domain as a hierarchical list of knowledge areas, ment) through a lifetime of learning (from units, topics, and educational objectives. The ten Vol. 34, No. 2 115 Knowledge Area AM. Analytical Methods Knowledge Area DN. Data Manipulation Unit AM1 Academic and analytical origins Unit DN1 Representation transformation Unit AM2 Query operations and query languages Unit DN2 Generalization and aggregation Unit AM3 Geometric measures Unit DN3 Transaction management of geospatial data Unit AM4 Basic analytical operations Unit AM5 Basic analytical methods Knowledge Area GC. Geocomputation Unit AM6 Analysis of surfaces Unit GC1 Emergence of geocomputation Unit AM7 Spatial statistics Unit GC2 Computational aspects and neurocomputing Unit AM8 Geostatistics Unit GC3 Cellular Automata (CA) models Unit AM9 Spatial regression and econometrics Unit GC4 Heuristics Unit AM10 Data mining Unit GC5 Genetic algorithms (GA) Unit AM11 Network analysis Unit GC6 Agent-based models Unit AM12 Optimization and location-allocation modeling Unit GC7 Simulation modeling Unit GC8 Uncertainty Knowledge Area CF. Conceptual Foundations Unit GC9 Fuzzy sets Unit CF1 Philosophical foundations Unit CF2 Cognitive and social foundations Knowledge Area GD. Geospatial Data Unit CF3 Domains