Discovering Geographic Knowledge in Data Rich Environments

1 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Similar to many scientific and applied research fields, geography has moved from a data-poor and computation-poor to a data-rich and computation-rich environment. The scope, coverage and volume of digital geographic datasets are growing rapidly due to new high-resolution satellite systems, initiatives such as the U.S. National Spatial Data Infrastructure and the automated collection of point-of-sale, logistic and behavioral data. In addition, the types of geographic data collected are expanding from the traditional vector and raster data models to include georeferenced multimedia data. This trend is likely to continue if not accelerate in the foreseeable future. Traditional spatial statistical and spatial analytical methods were developed in an era when data collection was expensive and computational power was weak. The increasing volume and diverse nature of digital geographic data easily overwhelm mainstream spatial analysis techniques that are oriented towards teasing scarce information from small and homogenous datasets. Traditional statistical methods, particularly spatial statistics, have high computational burdens. These techniques are confirmatory and require the researcher to have a priori hypotheses. Therefore, traditional spatial analytical techniques cannot easily discover new and unexpected patterns, trends and relationships that can be hidden deep within very large and diverse geographic datasets. The National Center for Geographic Information and Analysis (NCGIA) – Project Varenius workshop on " Discovering geographic knowledge in data-rich environments " brought together a diverse group of stakeholders with interests in developing and applying new techniques for exploring large and diverse geographic datasets. This included geographers, geographic information scientists, computer scientists and statisticians. The synergy created by the discussions prior to, during and after the three-day workshop resulted in the identification of research priorities and directions for continued development of " geographic knowledge discovery " (GKD) theory and techniques. This research report summarizes the activities surrounding the Project Varenius workshop on " Geographic knowledge discovery in data-rich environments. " Section 1 comprises an overview of the workshop. Section 2 lists the workshop participants. Section 3 provides the position papers submitted in response to the open Call for Participation. Section 4 summarizes the workshop presentations and discussion. Many detailed recommendations for continued research and development in GKD theory and techniques emerged during the three-day workshop. Participants also identified several cross-cutting research issues. These issues are: • What are the new questions for geographic research? A fundamental question for the geographic and related research communities is " What questions do we want to …