GIS (Geographic Information System) is a method for overlaying statistical information with maps to connect geography to information.

Advantages

  • GIS serves as an incredibly powerful tool for understanding and visualizing data that would otherwise be incredibly difficult to interpret.
  • It can help us understand the context of what makes a space a “place”- for example, archaelogists can use it to represent a time in history and understand the context of that time better. Essentially, it can create a virtual world.
  • It can be applied in non-geographic contexts as a spatial tool to understand data-for example, it can create a “deep map” that juxtaposes a variety of data in a spatial format to understand as a whole.

Shortcomings

  • GIS can , by its nature, imply a logic that does not exist. It is designed to tell a specific story with the data, and can hide the complexities and details that exist in real life.
  • It assumes a positivist epistemology, which means that knowledge is an objective truth that can be determined through scientific means. Critics would argue that knowledge relies heavily on perspective, and so GIS is inherently subjective. This is dangerous because it appears to be objective.
  • GIS also requires precision in data (it must have clear boundary points, for example). This can misrepresent data that is “fuzzier” and has less clear interpretations. This can be described as “reductionist” as it takes away some of the information inherent in the data.
  • GIS also relies on official (and often Western) databases for its data, which means its interpretations have a Western bias.
  • It cannot accurately represent networks of interconnections, as these do not map well to 2D (or even 3D) spaces.
  • It is still a non-intuitive and costly tool for humanities researchers. Humanities researchers are also unused to visual interpretations and reliant heavily on words.