Blog week 1
What is Open GIScience?
+ thoughts on GIScience in undergraduate education
March 1st, 2021
Open GIScience incorporates the world of geospatial analysis with the world of Free /Open Source software and Open Science. A free software is not only accessible to anyone at no cost, but also it allows users to have an active role in its development, modification and distribution. It is free as in it has no cost, but it is also free as in anyone with the ability to do so can modify and redistribute it. On the other hand, open source software is also accessible at no cost and the users can develop tools as they please but they may not be able to redistribute the software. Instead, it becomes part of a larger pool of existing tools that anyone in the community can use. Lastly, Open Science refers the idea that all data, methodology, tools (software), should be open to public scrutiny ensuring that the research is more accurately replicable.
What this means for geospatial analysis is quite simple. As Singleton et al. (2016) argue, there are problems of scientific replicability in the field of geospatial analysis that could be mitigated by including clear workflows on scientific papers, and making sure that all data and software used is publicly accessible.
Collaboration and transparency are at the core of Open GIScience. However, in academic institutions that systematically value individual work more than collaboration, integrating GIScience into undergraduate teaching may create problems with current frameworks of evaluation. In any case, Open Source and Open Science create a great chance for undergraduate students like us to become more savvy in the way this collaborative communities work, and how we can contribute and learn from them.
In terms of learning, the challenge that I see is that solutions for the problems we are going to be studying or ideas that try to solve them are readily accessible online. Therefore, this could be counterproductive if the goal is for us to come up with these solutions. On the other hand, if the goal of the class is to build on and learn from already available knowledge online, then the priority of evaluation should be on our understanding and correct implementation or adaption of these tools and ideas into our own analyses.
Relevant articles
- Rey, S. J. 2009. Show me the code: spatial analysis and open source.Journal of Geographical Systems 11 (2):191–207. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10109-009-0086-8
- Singleton, A. D., S. Spielman, and C. Brunsdon. 2016. Establishing a framework for Open Geographic Information science. International Journal of Geographical Information Science 30 (8):1507–1521. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13658816.2015.1137579