Rise of New Data

• We are experiencing a data revolution - data is everywhere!
• But, are data enough? We need insights!

⊕Rowe, F. 2021. Big Data and Human Geography. In: Demeritt, D. and Lees L. (eds) ConciseEncyclopedia of Human Geography. Edward Elgar Encyclopedias in the Social Sciences series.

Data Science

Loukides (2011): > “gathering data, massaging it into a tractable form, making it tell its story, and presenting that story to others.”

⊕Loukides, Mike. What is data science?. " O’Reilly Media, Inc.", 2011.

Is that all?

• A lot of the new data is spatial data
  
• Spatial is special
  
• We don’t want to reinvent the (GISc) wheel

How can we bring the best of both worlds together?

Geographic Data Science

• Systems engineering [Geo-infrastructure]
• Methods [Explicitly spatial AI/ML/Stats]
• Epistemology [Adequate conceptualisation]

⊕Singleton, A. and Arribas‐Bel, D., 2021. Geographic data science. Geographical Analysis, 53(1), pp.61-75.

Why?

• Fully tap into the new data revolution
• Data are different (“half-baked”)
• New data allow more flexibility (+ data, - structure)

Benefits

• Fully leverage the new data revolution
• Do not “reinvent the wheel”
• New questions & answers

What are we doing?

• Proving training in geographic data science skills
• Enabling closer interaction with industry
• Building platforms that enable data sharing and access