Lasting Impression
The marriage of computerized
maps and databases has spawned a worldwide geographic information system
industry. One of the industry's roots can be traced to a 1988 National
Science Foundation grant to fund a center devoted to the study of
geographic information science. The recipient of the $9.8 million grant
was a research consortium of three universities: the University of
California – Santa Barbara, the State University of New York – Buffalo
and the University of Maine.
The goal was to establish a National Center of Geographic Information
and Analysis, known as NCGIA, to expand research efforts in collecting,
analyzing and understanding geographic information, and to evaluate the
social, legal and institutional implications of the ever-increasing use
of GIS technology. NCGIA became an international leader through its
trademark "specialist meetings" and cutting-edge research. In addition,
NCGIA developed educational materials in GIS-sponsored programs for
educators at all levels and supported an outreach program. During the
period of the award, NCGIA organized several major international
conferences; developed a core curriculum in GIS for undergraduate
courses worldwide; and published extensively, including 54 books.
Today, NCGIA continues as a research consortium among the three founding
universities. The UMaine site has grown to a research operation with
approximately $3 million external annual funding from a variety of
federal agencies. Approximately 50 graduate students are currently
pursuing master's and doctoral degrees on spatial information science
and engineering-related research. Current research activities, focusing
on the design of next-generation information systems, include cognitive
and ontological foundations, spatio-temporal modeling, mobile computing,
image understanding and location privacy.
"Lasting Impression" features a memorable person or event in UMaine
history.
