By the same reasoning, I believe that a good approach to understanding the information produced by GIS is to investigate the properties of geographic data and the technologies and institutions that produce it. To understand the nature of the energy produced in a coal-fired power plant, one should study the properties, morphology, and geographic distribution of coal. To study the nature of something is to investigate its essential characteristics and qualities. This text explores the nature of geographic information. And the problems that the manufacturing process itself creates include uncertainties resulting from imperfections in the data, intentional or unintentional misuse of the machinery, and ethical issues related to what the information is used for, and who has access to it. GIS is like the machinery that transforms the data into the commodity-information-that is needed to solve problems or create opportunities. For that matter, GIS is comparable to any factory or machine that transforms a raw material into something more valuable. It seems to me that a coal-fired power plant is a pretty good analogy for a geographic information system. And cleaner methods cost more than most of us are willing or able to pay. Cleaner means of generating electricity exist, of course, but they, too, involve transforming energy from one form to another. Unfortunately, the solution itself causes another problem, namely emissions of carbon dioxide and other more noxious substances into the atmosphere. Combustion transforms the potential energy stored in the gas into electricity, which solves the problem of an office that would otherwise be too cold or too warm.
The energy used to heat and cool my office is still produced there by burning natural gas extracted from wells in nearby counties.
When I started writing this text in 1997, my office was across the street (and, fortunately, upwind) from Penn State's power plant.
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