Geography and Technology

"Just as new technologies have profoundly affected both research possibilities and the knowledge base of other disciplines, such as biology, physics, or medicine, so too are the revolutionary new geographic technologies developed during the past decades extending frontiers in geographic research, education, and applications." (Douglas Richardson, Executive Director, Association of American Geographers) "Geography and technology are not just related; each fundamentally defines the other. How we understand and use the earth is conditioned by technology, even as technology itself has developed as part of the effort to remake places and alter the meaning of geographical distance. In light of the scope of technological change in today's world, this book's focus on the geography-technology nexus is vital. It represents a research agenda of signal importance as the twenty-first century opens." (Alexander B. Murphy, President, Association of American Geographers) "Geographical questions about nature-society relations, climate change, processes of economic and political globalization, the shifting grounds of health, conflict and democratization across the globe, all entail critical analysis of technological change. This book reflects on the ways in which geographical and technological processes are mutually produced, as part of a vital research agenda for the coming century." (Victoria A. Lawson, Vice President, Association of American Geographers)

• I — Geography and Technology Interfaces.- 1. Geography and Technology.- 2. Communications Technology and the Production of Geographical Knowledge.- 3. Federal Funding, Geographic Research, and Geographic Technologies: 1904–2004.- II — Technologies That Changed Geography.- 4. The Imbrication of Geography and Technology: The Social Construction of Geographic Information Systems.- 5. Computers and Geography: From Automated Geography to Digital Earth.- 6. Remote Sensing of Selected Biophysical Variables and Urban/Suburban Phenomena.- 7. New Digital Geographies: Information, Communication, and Place.- III — New Geographies with New Technologies.- 8. From Globes to GIS: The Paradoxical Role of Tools in School Geography.- 9. Fieldwork in Nonwestern Contexts: Continuity and Change.- 10. The Camera and Geographical Inquiry.- 11. Film Networks and the Place(s) of Technology.- 12. Motor Vehicles on the American Landscape.- 13. Airspaces: Air Transport, Technology, and Society.- 14. A World on Demand: Geography of the 24-Hour Global TV News.- 15. Democracy and Technology.- 16. Technologies Applied to Public Health.- 17. “Real” Bodies, “Real” Technologies.- 18. Geotechnology, the U.S. Military, and War.- IV — The Environment and Technology.- 19. Earth Pulses in Direct Current.- 20. The Impact of Technology Upon In Situ Atmospheric Observations and Climate Science.- 21. Population-Environment Interactions with an Emphasis on Land-Use/Land-Cover Dynamics and Role of Technology.- 22. Capacity Building and Geographic Information Technologies in African Development.- 23. Natural Hazards and Technology: Vulnerability, Risk, and Community Response in Hazardous Environments.- V — The Worlds Before Us.- 24. The GIS Revolution in Science and Society.- 25. Why Technology?Narratives of Science and the Bewitchment of an Image.