From Applied Geography to GIS gains or losses

Lately, I was preparing some lab material for my course in Geodesy and map projections. And was finding it hard to find anything related in modern GIS or GeoInformatics literature. In effect, it is virtually impossible to find anything meaningful that students can be taught with the help of in their labs. I must say with deep regret and disappointment, that modern Geodesy and related GIS literature barely helps our students understand the process of making map projections, or ensuring an understanding of the process under which the earth is best represented on a flat paper.

I remember from my days as a Geography student that things were different for us. We had access to real material that would help us understand, in the best of ways the knowledge behind maps, map projections or statistical analysis on a map. We would be calculating with near accuracy how a line went through on a map and best represented, a isoline (temperature, rainfall or whatever else) it may be.

I believe this is partly because of the underlying effect that over reaching effect of GIS has had to do. I find natural resource managers, space technicians and civil engineers equally excited about the prospects GIS can bring to their data, processing, management and analysis requirements. This is a highly welcome change. However, over the years computational scientists and data analysts have also sought a share of this magnificent science. Leading the background of this science into near obscurity.

I remember making my surveys related maps and map projections using a book by a very well renowned Indian Professor Ram Lochan Singh. It was Elements of Practical Geography and I still have a photocopy of the book with me, since it was last published in 1981. The time when most people would need to make map projections manually, but would also know what latitudes and longitudes were. However, there were some other books that I recalled of such as Map work and practical geography by Bygott Johnny (1934), or Quantitative and statistical approaches to Geography by John Metthews (1981), coordinate systems and map projections by Maling (1973) and ofcourse a rather more recent Mathematics and Earth Science for Geography by Cyril Fleurant (2019).

I therefore have realised to look back to the earlier texts in Geography to be able to find the basic and non definition oriented material for our students, who definitely need to know in the beginning of any course or subject related to Geomatics the underlying material. I would also like to say here that modern GIS is what you will find in many books for a GIS specific course or remote sensing related course. But for course of allied nature, one has to look far and wide into early literature to make a meaningful course for their students.