SBR-9707450 Michael F. Goodchild University of California, Santa Barbara This award supports research-agenda-building, research-coordination, and dissemination activities of one site of the National Center for Geographic Information and Analysis for a three-year period. Substantively, activity will focus on three scientific areas, each of substantial importance to geography and the ability to analyze geographic data. The first, cognitive models of geographic space, entails a set of research efforts to advance our understanding of how people conceptualize geographic spaces. Such research is critical if we are to optimize the utility of computer technologies to represent and manipulate geographic data. The second area, computational implementations of geographic concepts, aims to allow researchers to build computational models of geographic spaces and of the social and environmental processes which operate in them. The third research area is called geographies of the information society, and entails conceptualization and investigation of the effects of emerging information and communications technologies on the geography (location and interaction) individuals, organizations, and societies. Activities will center on the development of targeted research topics, calling of specialist meetings, solicitation of proposals for very small seed grants for the development of larger research proposals, and dissemination of agendas, results, and educational materials. The Center will remain a focal point for research and curricular development in geographic analysis.
