*Reprinted here, first published on GISuser.com

Expert Feature – Geo Geek Speak: Common Terms, Defined E-mail
Experts – Gretchen N. Peterson
Written by Gretchen Peterson
11 August 2011

Are you a GeoGeek or wanna-be GeoGeek? If so and you want to participate in GeoGeek discussions then this fabulous and updated list of new GeoSpeak terms will serve you well… enjoy! (@gletham)

The other day I read a tweet that used the term thin data. It wasn’t about mapping thin people, but rather about a map that had so little information to show (not in itself a problem) that the designer chose to spruce it up a bit with gradients (a problem). This map, The Mobile Mason-Dixon: Android in South, iOS in North, is a great example of how thin data can become a problem if the designer decides to add useless and potentially confusing flourishes to data.

Besides thin data there are a lot of other terms out there that are trotted out in our daily geo-geeking on the world wide web and this article aims to define a smattering of them.

To clarify, this isn’t about defining common abbreviations, though Learon Dalby (@learondalby) points us to a great list (courtesy of Mike Mahaffie) of acronyms. Incidentally, this list includes the gem: GIS Maturity Assessment. This is a term that you might think describes the level of maturity of your GIS coworkers, which is a lot more interesting to think about than the term’s real definition, which is the level of maturity of the GIS hardware and software in an organization.

RESPONSIVE DESIGN Refers to designing separate, but related, interfaces for different browser window sizes and different devices.

NOGIS Technology to make maps is now being used by web developers, not just geographers, and with this new usage environment has come a discarding of traditional approaches (e.g., static time dimension) and additions of new spheres of need (e.g., tiling). It should be noted that NoGIS is not the antithesis of GIS.

OPEN DATA Government data made available to anyone who wants to use it, along with the services, policies, integration protocols, and discover/share mechanisms that go along with it.

GEOGLOBALDOMINATION Used when someone is going to or has just met up with some other geoprofessionals, to refer to their get-together.

GEOGLITTER The exact definition of this is unknown, but it is often used to connote happiness in a GIS context. The term brings vibrancy to the field, so to speak. My own example of a literal interpretation of geoglitter is shown below:
geoglitter by petersongis

GeoGlitter

FOSS4G This stands for Free and Open Source Software for Geospatial. It is a conference to be held Sept. 12-16, 2011 in Denver, CO.

CRISIS MAPPING Mapping natural and man-made disasters on a platform that allows input from a lot of non-professionals, either experiencing the disaster first hand (e.g., locations of recent London riot incidents) or remotely by helping to produce infrastructure basemaps to aid in relief efforts (e.g., Haiti road mapping).

COMMUNITY MAPPING This refers to the Esri effort to build basemaps using local government data via templates. The data are considered more authoritative but only accessible with Esri technology.

VOLUNTEERED GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION/VGI Similar to crisis mapping in that it involves groups of volunteers putting together geographic information, usually in response to an event.

GEOECONOMY A new term used to denote the profitability that currently exists in the large demand for geospatial goods and services.

PALEOGEO Old-school, non-collaborative, mapping in static time.

OPEN STANDARDS Standards for geospatial content and services as organized by the OGC (Open Geospatial Consortium).

GEOBEER In reference to the fact that many geo colleagues seem to also be home-brew aficionados.
WHERECAMP Usually held after the Where 2.0 conference, this is a gathering of people to discuss geospatial technologies, trends, cartography, map art, and so on. It is an unconference in that the attendees decide, on the day of the event, what to learn and discuss. The next one is in Phoenix on October 1, 2011.

GEOJORTS One can only imagine.

GEOBUZZWORDS See all of the above words, for example.

*Thanks to Chris McClain and Tina Cary for their helpful input.

About The Author
Gretchen N. Peterson writes on the subjects of GIS analysis, cartography and ethics. Ms. Peterson is the owner of the geospatial analysis firm PetersonGIS. You can follow her on Twitter @PetersonGIS

COMMUNITY INPUT

Do you have any new, cool, web2.0 GeoGeek terms to add to this list? Tweet a suggestion to @pertersonGIS and @gletham

At a conference for salmon scientists recently, I found a disconnect between those wanting to know more about GIS and those who wanted to teach about GIS. There was a lack of common vocabulary with which to describe the GIS procedures to the non-GIS professionals. GIS professionals cannot gain much traction with the non-initiated when we insist on using professional jargon with those who don’t have a clue what we are talking about.

For instance, there was need for explanation to point out that there is a difference between a GPS unit and the software that inputs data from a GPS unit (ArcPad, for example). Another phenomenon of note is a tendency to use the term Google Earth to mean aerial imagery as in, “Put the data on top of Google Earth.” This is a wide-spread colloquial usage that I’ve heard from many people.

On the subject of things that non-GIS people have trouble understanding, Twitter friend @tpstigers says, “Nobody ever understands projections, and I despair of working explanations.” For this particularly difficult concept I too flounder on a regular basis. The only time I feel I have truly successfully imparted the idea of projection to a non-GISer was the time when I sat with a scientist colleague in front of ArcGIS. With a map of the world on-screen I changed the projection on the fly several times. Seeing it change while I discussed the merits and drawbacks of various projections got the message across in a matter of several minutes.

Another Twitter friend, @ebwolf, states that “I always take a deep breath and seriously consider my audience before I say ‘large scale’ or ‘small scale’.” Considering I’ve had trouble with these terms even with other GISers I’d go a step further and advise to never use these terms if you can help it, at all. @geografa explains scale this way, “Large scale, large details. Small scale, small details.” @ebwolf chimes back in with reference to a Goodchild paper explaining that scale is a legacy concept anyway, so don’t use it. Personally, I prefer to use the simple (yet slightly dumber sounding) terms zoom in and zoom out as in, “Do you want that map to be zoomed in quite a bit or zoomed out?”

At the end of all this discussion @spara pitched in, “Now how to explain reference fraction in a meaningful way.” I don’t think I’m going to go there. If you have any grand ideas please let us know.

In honor of the holiday season, when it seems we encounter chocolate at every turn (and if we don’t we feel that it is okay to buy some for ourselves), I’ve come up with Toblerone’s First Law*, which states, the closer you are to chocolate the more you will want to eat it.

*Geography non-geeks may want to know that Tobler’s First Law states, “Everything is related to everything else, but near things are more related than distant things.” It is a foundational concept in spatial analysis.

There is a cartographic maxim that the features you put on your map should, if at all possible, be represented in a stylistically real way. What this means is that water features are often blue, meadows might be denoted in green, a camp site symbol looks like a little tent, a railroad is symbolized with what looks like a miniature railroad, and so forth and so on.

The term for a word that itself is very much like the thing it is describing (hiss, boo, buzz) is onomatopoeia. Don’t you think we should have a cool sounding word like that for map features that look like the real thing? Onomapopoeia maybe?