Keynote Address

Humanistic GIS: An Individual's Pursuit of Poetic Dwelling on the Digital Earth

Bo Zhao, Assistant Professor in Geography at the University of Washington

To make GIS empathetic, a new research agenda ‘Humanistic GIS’ is proposed to incorporate the human experience into the process of GIS design, development, and critique. Unlike traditional approaches that recognize GIS as a mere tool/technology, a science or a social construct, this research agenda scrutinizes GIS by its consistent mediation between human and place, and defines its essence as a geospatial way of revealing. Humanistic GIS prioritizes GIS-mediated experience over the immediate physical experience of a place. Through the examination of various GIS-mediated experiences, the intentionality of GIS is revealed and further exemplified by four major types: embodiment, hermeneutic, autonomy, and background. Humanistic GIS analyzes the complicated implications of GIS through value structure, especially when uncovering those unintended but vital influences, including but not limited to, physiological discomfort, fake geospatial information, competition with GIS and surveillance. It must be noted that this research agenda is not to replace today’s prosperity of GIS. Instead, to improve it on the basis of both technological advances and by adding the humanistic perspective. Thus, a sustainable pathway can be paved by GIScientists to ultimately reconcile the ever-increasing livelihood demands and rapid proliferation of contemporary GIS.