Features an alphabetically arranged comprehensive and authoritative treatment of this subject matter. Authored by world experts and peer-reviewed for accuracy and currency, the entries explain the key software, data sets, and processes used by geographers and computational scientists. Nearly 200 topics include major overviews, such as Geoinformatics, Spatial Cognition, and Location-Based Services. Short entries define specific terms and concepts, such as the Global Positioning System, Digital Elevation/Terrain Model, and Remote Sensing. Larger entries include key citations to the literature, and (online) internal hyperlinks to definitional entries and current standards.
From the contentsPreface.- Active Database Technology.- Computational Geometry.- Critical Evaluation of Standards Proposals.- Data Semantics and Models.- Geoinformatics.- Geoprivacy.- Geosecurity.-Geospatial Data Versioning.- Graphical Aspects.- Human Spatial Reasoning.- Image Databases.- Interoperability and Standards.- Languages for Metadata Management.- Management of Raster and Vector Data.- Middleware Architectures.- Practical Approaches from Computational Geometry.- Real-Time Spatio-Temporal Databases.- Spatial Aspects of Bioinformatics.- Spatial Aspects of Mobile Computing.- Spatial Cognition.- Spatial Data Mining and Knowledge Discovery.- Spatial Extensibility of O-R DBMSs.- Systems Architectures.- Technology Forecasting and Transfer.- Traffic Management System.- Uncertainty and Imprecision.- Virtual Reality and 3D.- Visual Query Languages.- Wireless Networks.- Index.
From the reviews: "This single-volume reference work is a highly welcome ! addition to the rapidly advancing field of geographic information systems. Peer-reviewed entries from over 300 contributors cover 41 topical subfields, with an overall emphasis on computational aspects of GIS. The volume is adequately illustrated with 723 figures and 90 tables in black and white. A full bibliography and concise list of entry terms are provided at the back of the work. ! Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division geography students through professionals." (C. E. Smith, CHOICE, Vol. 45 (11), 2008) "The encyclopedia is divided into 41 fields, each one an important sub-area within GIS. ... the editors' organization of the material and comprehensive and systematic approach are superb and shall give students, eager readers as well as researchers an understanding of the topics in quite full depth and breadth. ! is lavishly illustrated with figures, graphs and tables, the design and execution of which are as perfect as the material they illustrate. ! it is sturdy and opens out nicely for study and reference." (Current Engineering Practice, 2008) "The focus here, however, is on the mathematical and computational aspects of GIS ! . This is very welcome to those practitioners who have been less exposed to some of the mathematical and computational aspects of GIS. This is also very welcome to the researcher or graduate student within any of the interdisciplinary areas that use GIS. ! I highly recommended it." (Pascal V. Calarco, ACM Computing Reviews, November, 2008)