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Revista cartográfica
On-line version ISSN 2663-3981Print version ISSN 0080-2085
Abstract
LOPEZ-VAZQUEZ, Carlos; GONZALEZ-CAMPOS, María Ester and BERNABE-POVEDA, Miguel Ángel. New steps against scientific gerrymandering: A new operational definition of geographic information science. Rev. cartogr. [online]. 2023, n.107, pp.95-111. Epub Oct 30, 2023. ISSN 2663-3981. https://doi.org/10.35424/rcarto.i1070.4669.
Sometimes there are clear and natural limits to the scope of action of a science, and in other cases they are simply convenient ones. Geographic Information Science (GISc) is a transversal science, with contacts with all geosciences but also with various formal sciences such as Mathematics, Logic and Computer Science. A first approach to specifying the limits of a science is through its definition. Definitions of GISc are often so expansive that they have been rightly criticized for practicing gerrymandering, in particular with the rest of the geosciences. To avoid this, an operational definition is proposed that places GISc among the sciences that handle Data and not Information. This solves the gerrymandering problem without really implying a significant cut of what is usually considered within GISc. As an unforeseen consequence, this delimitation will allow it to be characterized as Formal Science, leaving it as the only geoscience with this characteristic.
Keywords : Geographic Information Science; Spatial Data Science; Gerrymandering; Formal Science; DIKW paradigm.