GIS, Users, Developers, and Spatial Statistics: On Monarchs and Their Clothing

The development and documentation of software for the analysis of geographical data is maturing, and the needs and desires of varying user communities are becoming clearer. Certainly today there are more users in more communities, and in general much more data than before, even though data is more accessible in some countries than in others. Many more users are now meeting geographical data through geographical information systems software (GIS). GIS are general-purpose environments for handling geographical data, and do not assume that the user will need to make predictions or draw inferences from the data, or error propagation in geographical data analysis. Indeed, much of current progress in GIS is in making it easier for users to construct maps at the front end and in providing open and consistent data base support at the back end. Neither of these two areas lie close to the central concerns of statistical data analysts, such as making predictions with associated uncertainties, but can be of great value to them. In meeting and undertaking dialogues with users and developers, it seems both valid and important to attempt to explore some of the assumptions the different communities hold themselves, have about each other, and the tasks they undertake separately and jointly. Some of the points to be made will draw in the ontology discourse in geographical information science (GIScience), which may be helpful in throwing light of different assumptions made by different communities, not just technical/motivational, but also related to the sociology of organizations and of scientific disciplines. The paper3 discusses these issues in general terms, but more specifically touching on tools and methods that may propagate between communities of users, and on difficulties associated with the use of inference in inappropriate settings. In particular, we will present and discuss selected examples of analytical practice that are