http://www.rssboard.org/rss-specification 720 https://escholarship.org/uc/spatial_ucsb_ncgia_vi/rss Recent eScholarship items from Varenius Initiatives (1995-1999) Thu, 10 Sep 2026 19:44:38 +0000 https://escholarship.org/uc/item/9jt506nw <p>The articles provides a brief introduction to the NSF-funded Varenius project -- the rationale for its objectives and programs.</p><p>Appended to the article is additional information about the namesake of this project--seventeenth-century geographer and early advocate of a general spatial perspective to documenting and understanding Earth's geography--Bernhard Varenius.</p> https://escholarship.org/uc/item/9jt506nw Tue, 15 Sep 2015 00:00:00 +0000 Goodchild, Michael F. Mark, David M. Egenhofer, Max J. Kemp, Karen K. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/14v6587w <p>In 1998, the National Center for Geographic Information and Analysis (NCGIA) organized a multi-pronged research project entitled "Uncertainty in Geospatial Information Representation, Analysis, and Decision Support". The goal of the research was to improve the mechanisms by which users of the defense geospatial information infrastructure are made aware of the presence of uncertainty in data, and its implications for decision-making. Six areas were addressed in a coordinated approach- elements of uncertainty, measures, models, portrayal, propagation, and higher dimensions. The research was conducted by five teams, with frequent opportunity for cross-fertilization between them. </p><p>This document provides the research goals, primary investigators (PIs), researchers and overviews of the investigated topics of the project. A bibliography of relevant literature is also included.</p> https://escholarship.org/uc/item/14v6587w Sat, 22 Aug 2015 00:00:00 +0000 National Center for Geographic Information and Analysis https://escholarship.org/uc/item/0s19z3j4 <p>The National Science Foundation sponsored a workshop on status and trends in spatial analysis from December 10­-12, 1998 organized under the Varenius program, the National Center for Geographic Information and Analysis (NCGIA)’s project to advance geographic information science. The workshop focused on assessing how successful GIS has been at making spatial analysis widely available to physical and social scientists, and of what new directions might be researched in the future. </p><p>This document includes a list of the participants involved in the workshop, as well as the position papers they submitted with their application.</p> https://escholarship.org/uc/item/0s19z3j4 Thu, 20 Aug 2015 00:00:00 +0000 National Center for Geographic Information and Analysis https://escholarship.org/uc/item/4ds2p04q This 1997 workshop in Santa Barbara, CA was the first of several workshops in Project Varenius, a three-year research program by NCGIA (the National Center for Geographic Information and Analysis), to advance the field of geographic information science, with funding anticipated from the National Science Foundation. The Varenius project identified three strategic areas for research in geographic information science: cognitive models of geographic space; computational implementations of geographic concepts; and geographies of the information society. The third area included issues of fundamental significance raised by the growth of geographic information and associated technologies. It includes impacts of digital geographic information and associated technologies on society; the social, institutional, and economic issues that they raise; the kinds of geographies being constructed in virtual worlds; and the future roles of geographic information in society. Background information... https://escholarship.org/uc/item/4ds2p04q Mon, 17 Aug 2015 00:00:00 +0000 National Center for Georaphic Information and Analysis – Varenius Project https://escholarship.org/uc/item/4zj343xx The International Conference on Interoperating Geographic Information Systems (Santa Barbara December 3-4, 1997) was followed by an invitational Workshop (December 5-6). The conference reviewed the current state of research in related disciplines concerning the technical, semantic, and organizational issues of GIS interoperation; considered case studies of GIS interoperation; and explored theoretical frameworks for interoperation and evaluations of alternative approaches. This document presents the full program of extended abstracts.  The conference was part of the Varenius Project's research initiative on Interoperating GIS. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/4zj343xx Thu, 13 Aug 2015 00:00:00 +0000 National Center for Geographic Information and Analysis Open GIS Consortium Inc. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/4vz6p7zv This meeting of multi-disciplinary researchers (Santa Barbara, CA, February 1999) explored the integration and problems associated with multiple modalities and multiple frames of reference, as represented in spatial language and human decision making. Modality themes included learning environments via maps, navigation, and virtual navigation; tactile, auditory, and visual localization and navigation; and learning environments from spatial descriptions. Reference frames under consideration included relative, intrinsic, and absolute reference frames for describing locations; orientation-free vs. orientation-specific representations; heads-up and north-up maps in navigation systems; mixing gaze, route, and survey perspectives in descriptions; expressing differing modalities or frames through language; and cross-cultural differences in the use of reference frames. This report summarizes the discussions and plenary presentation, and presents a set of research questions for further... https://escholarship.org/uc/item/4vz6p7zv Thu, 13 Aug 2015 00:00:00 +0000 Freundschuh, Scott M. Taylor, Holly A. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/33d7c1pt This report describes the results of the Specialist Meeting about “The Ontology of Fields” (Bar Harbor, Maine, June 11-13, 1998). The main purpose of the meeting was to examine the ontology and conceptualizations of geographic phenomena in terms of spatially continuous fields. The concept of field is widely used in a variety of scientific contexts, most notably in mathematical physics, and many geographically distributed variables (e.g., elevation and temperature) are conceptualized as single-valued functions of location. This document explores questions addressed at the meeting regarding the nature, representation, and modeling of fields. It also summarizes discussions among invited experts and provides abstracts of presentations. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/33d7c1pt Thu, 13 Aug 2015 00:00:00 +0000 Peuquet, Donna Smith, Barry Brogaard, Berit https://escholarship.org/uc/item/2bm2k3v4 <p>This document reports on a specialist meeting held under the auspices of the project, in Santa Barbara, California in December 1997, to assess the state of research in GIS interoperability, define research needs, and develop a research agenda.</p><p>The workshop was held immediately after Interop ‘97, an international conference on interoperating GISs—this juxtaposition of a conference and a workshop on the same topic allowed many of the ideas to be presented and discussed before the workshop began, and led to greater focus.The report begins with a general discussion of the nature of interoperability, and the consequences of progress toward its goals. This is followed by sections that review the meeting’s efforts to define the conceptual framework of interoperability, and appropriate theory; identify efforts that could help build the organizational infrastructure for research; outline research needs; and identify specific research topics. The report also includes a selection... https://escholarship.org/uc/item/2bm2k3v4 Thu, 13 Aug 2015 00:00:00 +0000 Goodchild, Michael F. Egenhofer, Max J. Fegeas, Robin https://escholarship.org/uc/item/1hf6d3fx The Workshop focused on research issues concerning the cognition of scale in geographic information, and concerning scale in the cognition of geographic information. This document reports on the plenary presentations, discussions, and outcomes of a 3-day meeting of cognitive psychologists, human geographers, and computer scientists in Santa Barbara, CA in May 1998. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/1hf6d3fx Thu, 13 Aug 2015 00:00:00 +0000 Montello, Daniel R. Golledge, Reginald G. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/7fk3f1sz The goal of this NCGIA-Varenius workshop and research initiative was to find new automated methods for filtering large amounts of raw geographic data into more user-consumable forms of knowledge. This includes: i) spatial data mining; ii) content-based and knowledge-based retrieval; iii) development of multi-media spatial data types; iv) on-line analytic processing; v) refinement of non-parametric statistics; vi) incorporation of computational intelligence techniques (such as neural networks and AI expert systems) into spatial data analysis. A key objective of the "geographic knowledge discovery" (GKD) workshop was to bring together the diverse stakeholders in GKD and spatial data mining. This report provides an overview of the workshop, lists the workshop participants, and provides the position papers submitted in response to the open Call for Participation. The final section summarizes workshop presentations and discussion. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/7fk3f1sz Wed, 12 Aug 2015 00:00:00 +0000 Miller, Harvey J. Han, Jiawei https://escholarship.org/uc/item/6839x0kt The workshop on "Cognitive Models of Dynamic Geographic Phenomena and Their Representations" was designed to bring together cognitive psychologists, geographers computer scientists, and others to discuss theories and methods for understanding dynamic geographic phenomena or for implementing dynamic representations of geographic events. The workshop was held on the University of Pittsburgh campus on October 28-31, 1998. This report summarizes the activities of the workshop, including the discussion of open research questions and awarding of seed grants to participants. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/6839x0kt Wed, 12 Aug 2015 00:00:00 +0000 Hirtle, Stephen MacEachren, Alan M. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/5d64t774 This Specialist Meeting (Santa Barbara, CA, 15-17 Oct. 1998) brought together individuals with deep experience with public participation GIS to share experiences about alternative GIS designs and applications to better reflect community interests and involve and empower its members. The meeting also explored the unintended consequences of PPGIS in marginalizing people and communities. The participants presented case studies in a diversity of social contexts. Key themes of the meeting included: identifying community information needs and how PPGIS might contribute to those needs; the multiple ways in which PPGIS are being designed and implemented; the impacts on communities arising from differential access to GIS hardware, software, data, and expertise; the nature of GIS knowledge distortion and the ways in which socially differentiated communities and their local knowledge might be represented within a PPGIS; changes in local politics and power relationships arising from the use... https://escholarship.org/uc/item/5d64t774 Wed, 12 Aug 2015 00:00:00 +0000 Craig, Will Harris, Trevor Weiner, Daniel https://escholarship.org/uc/item/4x09h56d This three-day specialist meeting in Santa Barbara, CA (8-10 Oct. 1998) convened 25 participants to explore the nature of identity in an era of vastly increased movement of people, goods, and information, yet also an era in which information and geographic-information technologies portend an equally increased ability to trace and record those movements, not just at border crossings but virtually everywhere. Will the ease of movement of ideas spell the end of spatially bounded communities? Will the threat of surveillance give new life to the most insular, place- and non-place bound communities? Or will, perhaps, the “fragmented identities” celebrated by postmodernists become the norm? This report addresses these interrelated questions and provides summary abstracts from participants and a synthesis of meeting discussions and recommendations. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/4x09h56d Wed, 12 Aug 2015 00:00:00 +0000 Curry, Michael Eagles, Munroe https://escholarship.org/uc/item/0h0720bm Participants in this specialist meeting (Santa Barbara, CA, September 1999) explored research questions at the nexus of Geography, Education, Psychology and Cognitive Science regarding "Integrating Research &amp; Education in the Spatial Domain" and  "Spatial Problem Solving in the K-12 and Undergraduate Arenas." Participant position papers on these themes are included in this report. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/0h0720bm Tue, 11 Aug 2015 00:00:00 +0000 Research Unit on Spatial Cognition and Choice, UCSB NCGIA Varenius https://escholarship.org/uc/item/07v18010 This white paper is based on outcomes from a workshop in Santa Barbara CA in September 1999. Questions relating to the spatial skills and abilities necessary for transition from childhood to the workplace were examined by 30 multidisciplinary experts. This white paper presents a summary of the two general foci of the meeting along with the general research topics that the group deemed critical along with specific research questions within each critical topic. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/07v18010 Tue, 11 Aug 2015 00:00:00 +0000 Golledge, Reginald Bell, Scott Goodchild, Michael https://escholarship.org/uc/item/8dj9c1nx The specialist meeting at the Asilomar Conference Center was intended to advance the understanding of accessibility in the Information Age. Discussions were structured around three primary themes regarding (1) the conceptualization and measurement of accessibility, (2) the visualization and representation of information space within Geographic Information Systems (GIS), and (3) the social issues that should inform the measurement and representation of accessibility. Fifteen position papers and summaries from discussion groups are presented in this report. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/8dj9c1nx Thu, 6 Aug 2015 00:00:00 +0000 Janelle, Donald G. Hodge, David C. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/7mh0r0bt This document from 1995 and the addendum from 1996 represent NCGIA's proposal for Varenius—a program of research initiatives to advance geographic information science in the context of digitial worlds and the information society. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/7mh0r0bt Mon, 3 Aug 2015 00:00:00 +0000 National Center for Geographic Information and Analysis https://escholarship.org/uc/item/53q629nv This report describes research results in the first year of Varenius—a project to advance geographic information science within the context of an information society. The key strategic areas of research include (1) cognitive models of geographic space, (2) computational implementations of geographic concepts, and (3) geographies of the information society. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/53q629nv Mon, 3 Aug 2015 00:00:00 +0000 Goodchild, Michael F. Kemp, Karen K.