- The ways in which the elements of culture (e.g., language, religion, education, traditions) may influence the understanding and use of geographic information - The influences of social theories and political ideologies and actions on human perceptions of space and place - The constraints that political forces place on geospatial applications in public and private sectors
In the early 1990s social critiques of GIS from human geographers began to appear. These initial critiques set off an ensuing debate between GISers, defending GIS and human geographers, who critiqued GIS. This debate materialized in academic journals including: Political Geography Quarterly, Environment and Planning A, and Progress in Human Geography. Schuurman (2000) notes that the GIS debate, while unique to the discipline of Geography, was part of a larger debate in other disciplines about the effects of technology. This presentation will be limited (unfortunately) to two aspects of this debate. It will first discuss conditions within human geography that made GIS a target of human geographers' critique. Second, this paper will discuss the particular critiques that were directed at GIS by human geographers. Though the reaction of such critiques and their effect on GIS is an important topic there is not enough time and space to address these issues. See Schuurman (2000) "Trouble in the Heartland: GIS and its critics in the 1990s" in Progress in Human Geography for a thoughtful look at this debate and its effects on the discipline of GIS.