Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Alternative GIS (alt.gis) and the Six Senses of the New Mind: Is alt.gis Transforming GIS into a Liberation Technology?

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Advances in Spatial Data Handling and Analysis

Part of the book series: Advances in Geographic Information Science ((AGIS))

Abstract

The past twenty years have witnessed the emergence of alternative GIS (alt.gis) practices that are quite different from conventional GIS activities. Intellectually tied to the critical cartography pioneered by J.B. Harley in the late 1980s and early 1990s, alt.gis has evolved from early discussions on GIS & Society, critical GIS, PPGIS, feminist GIS, map stories/geonarratives, deep maps to qualitative GIS, neogeography, crowdsourcing, volunteered geographic information (VGI), geoweb, post-colonial computing, geogames, geodesign, and spatial humanities. This paper develops a preliminary framework to loosely knit together the diverse intellectual threads for Alt.gis. This paper argues that Daniel Pink’s framework for the six senses of the whole new mind (design, story, symphony, empathy, play, and meaning) captures the six major Alt.gis practices remarkably well. Mainstream GIS development has been predominantly concentrating on automated cartography/map-making, spatial modeling, geo-computation, and database development with the goal for efficiency, which tend to be closely associated with the left-side/slow thinking capabilities of the human brain. In contrast, Alt.gis focuses more on geo-narratives, qualitative/mixed methods, story-telling, and synthesis with the goal for achieving equity and social justice, which tend to be more closely associated with the right-side/fast thinking capabilities of the human brain. Evidently, Alt.gis has enabled GIS users to transcend what Heidegger called the enframing nature of technology and has led them explore new territories with greater sensitivities. In this sense, Alt.gis has become an enabling technology that continues to empower GIS users in their quest for a better, more equitable and sustainable world.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 84.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    See Wilson (2012) for a more comprehensive list of bibliography on critical GIS, which considerably overlaps with the literature of alt.gis as reviewed in this paper.

  2. 2.

    According to Pink (2006), “high concept” refers the functions of the left side of the brain and “high touch” is related to the functions of the right side of the brain, which constitutes the whole new mind. We need both to succeed.

References

  • Agnew J (2011) Space and place. In: Agnew J, Livingston DN (eds) The sage handbook of geographical knowledge. Sage, Los Angeles, CA, pp 316–330

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Ahlqvist O, Ramanathan J, Loffing T, Kocher A (2012) Geospatial human-environment simulation through integration of massive multiplayer online games and geographic information systems. Trans GIS 16(3):331–350

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Aitken S, Craine J (2009) Into the image and beyond: affective visual geographies and GIScience. In: Cope M, Elwood S (eds) Qualitative GIS: a mixed methods approach. Sage, Thousand Oaks, CA, pp 139–153

    Google Scholar 

  • Barnes TJ, Sheppard E (2010) ‘Nothing includes everything’: towards engaged pluralism in anglophone economic geography. Prog Hum Geogr 34(2):193–214

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bennett WL, Segerberg A (2011) Digital media and the personalization of collective action: social technology and the organization of protests against the global economic crisis. Info Commun Soc 14(6):770–799

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Caquard S (2011) Cartography I: mapping narrative cartography. Prog Hum Geogr. doi:10.1177/0309132511423796

    Google Scholar 

  • Castree N, Chatterton P, Heynen N, Larner W, Wright M (eds) (2010) The point is to change it. Antipode book series. Wiley-Blackwell, Oxford and Malden

    Google Scholar 

  • Crampton JW, Graham M, Poorthuis A, Shelton T, Stephens M, Wilson MW, Zook M (2013) Beyond the geotag: situating ‘big data’ and leveraging the potential of the geoweb. Cartograph Geogr Inf Sci 40(02):130–139

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dangermond J (2009) GIS: designing our future. Available on-line at: http://www.esri.com/news/arcnews/summer09articles/gis-designing-our-future.html (last accessed 5 June 2013)

  • Davis C (2013) Aleppo satellite images reveal destruction wrought by Syria War. Available on-line at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/06/aleppo-satellite-images-reveal-destruction_n_3713640.html

  • de Smith M, Longley P, Goodchild MF (2011) Geospatial analysis: a comprehensive guide, Kindle edn. Troubador Publishing, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Diamond L, Plattner M (eds) (2012) Liberation technology: social media and the struggle for democracy. JHU Press, Baltimore

    Google Scholar 

  • Dodge M, Kitchin R (2013) Crowdsourced cartography: mapping experience and knowledge. Environment and Planning A 45(1):19–36

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Egenhofer MJ, Mark DM (1995) Naive geography. In: AU Frank, W Kuhn (eds) Spatial information theory: a theoretical basis for GIS, Lecture Notes in Computer Sciences No. 988. Springer, Berlin, pp 1–15

    Google Scholar 

  • Elwood SA, Mitchell K (2012) Mapping children’s politics: spatial stories, dialogic relations and political formation. Geografisker Ann Series B Hum Geogr 94(1):1–15

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • ESRI (2012) Telling stories with maps: a white paper. Available on-line at: http://storymaps.esri.com/downloads/Telling%20Stories%20with%20Maps.pdf

  • Gardner H (2006) Five minds for the future. Harvard Business School Press, Boston

    Google Scholar 

  • Genovese E, Roche S (2010) Potential of VGI as a resource for SDIs in the North/South context. Geomatica 64(4):439–450

    Google Scholar 

  • Gilbert M, Masucci M (2011) Information and communication technology geographies: strategies for bridging the digital divide. Praxis (e) Press—University of British Columbia, Vancouver

    Google Scholar 

  • Goodchild MF (2010) Towards geodesign: repurposing cartography and GIS? Cartogr Perspect 66(Fall):55–69

    Google Scholar 

  • Graham M (2011) Time machines and virtual portals: the spatialities of the digital divide. Progress in Development Studies 11(3):211–227

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Haklay M (2010) The tyranny of place and OpenStreetMap. http://povesham.wordpress.com/2010/07/10/the-tyranny-of-place-and-openstreetmap/

  • Haklay M (2013) Neogeography and the delusion of democritisation. Environ Plan A 45(1):55–69

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Harris TM, Weiner D, Warner TA, Levin R (1995) Pursuing social goals through participatory geographic information systems. In: Pickles J (ed) Ground truth: the social implications of geographic information systems. Guilford Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Kahneman D (2013) Thinking, fast and slow. Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Kane P (2004) The play ethic: a manifesto for a different way of living. MacMillan, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Kwan M (2007) Affecting geospatial technologies: toward a feminist politics of emotion. Prof Geogr 59(1):27–34

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kwan M (2008) From oral histories to visual narratives: re-presenting the post-September 11 experiences of the Muslim women in the USA. Soc Cult Geogr 9(6):653–669

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kwan M, Ding G (2008) Geo-narrative: extending geographic information systems for narrative analysis in qualitative and mixed-method research. Prof Geogr 60(4):443–465

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mennis J, Mason MJ, Cao Y (2013) Qualitative GIS and the visualization of narrative activity space data. Int J Geogr Inf Sci 27(2):267–291

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pink DH (2006) A whole new mind: why right-brainers rule the world. Riverband

    Google Scholar 

  • Schuurman N (2006) Formalization matters: critical GIScience and ontology research. Ann Assoc Am Geogr 96(4):726–739

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Steinitz C (2012) A framework for geodesign: changing geography by design. ESRI Press, Redlands

    Google Scholar 

  • Stephens M (2013) Gender and the GeoWeb: divisions in the production of user-generated cartographic information. GeoJournal (forthcoming)

    Google Scholar 

  • Sui DZ (2004) GIS, cartography, and the third culture: geographical imaginations in the computer age. Prof Geogr 56(1):62–72

    Google Scholar 

  • Sui DZ (2005) Beethoven, picasso and GIS: is spatial really special? GeoWorld 9:22–24

    Google Scholar 

  • Sui DZ (2008) Geography and GIS in second life. GeoWorld 9:19–21

    Google Scholar 

  • Sui DZ (2009) Mashup and the spirit of GIS and geography. GeoWorld 12:15–17

    Google Scholar 

  • Sui DZ, Goodchild MF, Elwood S (2012) Volunteered geographic information, the exaflood, and the growing digital divide. In: Sui DZ, Elwood S, Goodchild MF (eds) Crowdsourcing geographic knowledge: volunteered geographic information in theory and practice. Springer, Berlin, pp 1–20

    Google Scholar 

  • Tuan Y (1977) Space and place: the perspective of experience. University of Minnesota, Minneapolis

    Google Scholar 

  • Wallace DB, Gruber HE (1989) Creative people at work. Oxford University Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilson MW (2012) Critical GIS reading list. Available on-line at: www.criticalGIS.com (last accessed 23 Aug 2013)

  • Wood D (2010) Everything sings: maps for a narrative atlas. SIGLIO, Los Angeles

    Google Scholar 

  • Young J, Gilmore M (2013) The spatial politics of affect and emotion in participatory GIS. Ann Assoc Am Geogr 103(4):808–823

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

Critical comments by Francis Harvey and Nadine Schuurman on an earlier draft of this paper are gratefully acknowledgement. The author is solely responsible for any remaining problems.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, USA

    Daniel Z. Sui

Authors
  1. Daniel Z. Sui
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Daniel Z. Sui .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geography, Environment and Society, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA

    Francis Harvey

  2. Dept. of Geography and Resource Management, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China

    Yee Leung

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2015 Springer International Publishing Switzerland

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Sui, D.Z. (2015). Alternative GIS (alt.gis) and the Six Senses of the New Mind: Is alt.gis Transforming GIS into a Liberation Technology?. In: Harvey, F., Leung, Y. (eds) Advances in Spatial Data Handling and Analysis. Advances in Geographic Information Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-19950-4_1

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation