2012 Redlands Panel on Business and Society: Thinking Ethically about the Use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS)

Friday March 9, 2012
Casa Loma Room, 9:00am to 12:30pm (continental breakfast available at 8:30am)

Harlan Onsrud, Ph.D.
Professor of Spatial Information Science and Engineering University of Maine

David DiBiase
Director of Education and Industry Solutions, Esri
Advisory Board Member of the MGIS Program, Penn State University

Diana Sinton, Ph.D.
Director of Spatial Curriculum and Research, University of Redlands

Geographic Information Systems (GIS) technology begins with the premise that problem solving can be enhanced when geographic information is properly analyzed. But as GIS becomes a standardized tool in business and government to address social, economic and environmental questions, how is it changing the relationship between individuals and the world in which they live? The panelists will examine this general question through a number of topics, including the responsibilities that GIS engineers have to the privacy of citizens, the standards to which GIS professionals should adhere when using geospatial applications, the legal implications of the ownership of geospatial data and, importantly, the social impacts, both positive and negative, that result from the use of GIS.