Discussion Questions for Chapter 2

10/6/2004

1. The fundamental question of a GIS is WHERE?  Why is this question being increasingly asked by different organizations?
2. Give examples of inventory, policy analysis, and management GIS applications in local government.
3. Explain how local governments use GIS in tax assessment.
4. Other than tax assessment, what else can property databases be used for?
5. What are geodemographics?
6. What is market area analysis and how are geodemographic data used to do it?
7. How was a GIS used to identify people to send leaflets for marketing a new gas station?
8. What is the ecological fallacy?
9. What is one possible problem with using linear radial distance in defining a market area?
10. What are some of the shortcomings of targeting individuals for leaflet mailing and given these shortcomings why would you use a GIS?
11. What are the static and dynamic parts of logistics and how are GIS and GPS used for each?
12. In order to plan an emergency evacuation of the population of a city such as Santa Barbara, what GIS layers would you need?  What is the purpose of each layer?
13. What are some of the problems with using a GIS to evacuate a population?
14. What are the topological properties of connectivity, adjacency, and intersection?
15. Give one example each of operational, tactical, and strategic transportation and logistics GIS applications.
16. What is gap analysis?
17. Explain the different GIS data layers used in gap analysis.
18. Explain both human and GIS gap analysis methods.
19. What is nominal data?
20. What is a corridor in conservation planning and how can a GIS be used to identify where they are needed?
21. Should a GIS be a black box?  Are they?