Geographic Information Science

Objectives

GIS will be analyzed under a science and historic perspective: Is there a science behind the GIS? When and where did they begin? What are the factors responsible for their creation and evolution?  What are the contributions given by several disciplinary fields? 

The nature of spatial information and the integrating character of the analysis approaches and methods used by GIS and their growing application in different sectors of activity have contributed for a greater disciplinary convergence around the usually referred to as ¿geographic problems¿. The curricular unit will explore these ¿geographic problems¿ that express the main issues raised using geographic information and associated technologies, setting the limits and scope of this new knowledge area.

Geographic Information Systems have the potential to improve our understanding of the real-world forms and processes. This potential is related with GIS functions, or key geographical information activities, that can be enhanced using geographic information technologies and geographic information systems.