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David Lawrence

I read both of these articles and posted my reflection:

I really enjoyed reading about the bringing back geography article, I can relate to the article personally. I recently took a regional geography class last semester and it was very surprising to notice how many of the students didn’t know too much about capitals and where places were in other parts of the world. For years it seems I’ve always thought that the capital of Canada was Toronto or Quebec, but no it is Ottawa. This is very sad indeed because my Dad was born in Canada and I should have known this stuff before. At the present time I tell my friends about how I am focusing and studying Geography at the community college. “Geography? “What are you going to do with that as a profession?” that’s the answer I get back at least 90 percent of the time. But by reading the article by Dobson it brings out a clearer picture of what I can do with geography. He acknowledges the idea that it does matter for grownups by involving formulation for foreign policy, designing and use of GIS, and anything that involves locations, movements, flows, etc.
I thought it was very interesting to learn about the history of geographers and how geography is different today. It makes a lot of sense to know of how geographers in the past were using the method of finding new land, sailing the oceans, hiking and adventuring new terrain, and then eventually towards westward expansion. I learned in the article that today geographers use technological advanced devices such as the internet, GIS, Garmin, satellites, politics, etc. The information that caught my attention the most was how we used to have geographers for our presidents in the past, but today that is not the case. I wonder if as soon as I receive a Geosciences degree and come up with a good resume, then send it to Washington and see if they are willing to hire a Geographer to work with the President of the United States. With the oil spill, flash floods, and other natural disasters going on presently, I am sure that it would be great idea.
So the next article is about the ESRI program that we are going to learn about online it looks like. I definitely agree with the approach that our world today is dealing with numerous tribulations. It is amazing to know how much GIS is used in order to deal with the data involved in the world to not only towards so called problems, such as global warming, but also towards other professional fields, such as criminal justice.
It is obvious to find that GIS has increased substantially thanks to computer/electronic development and the internet. Just out of curiosity I looked online to see the jobs available in Utah that include a GIS network. Most of the jobs are governmental but it is clear to see that there is high number of opportunities such as; City Surveyor, Wildlife Technician, Water Resource Engineer, and plenty of Geographic Intern jobs.
I am excited to learn more about this subject and hope that everybody else in the class will enjoy learning and interacting about this subject as much as I do. Thanks for the article information Adam.

David Lawrence

Discussion 2

Does spatial technology favor certain phenomenon and perspectives of Earth and humanity at the expense of others? Well this is a very good question and it definitely put my mind to work because of the uniqueness. When I hear the word phenomenon, it reminds of things like aurora beurialas, lightning, and UFO’s, ha maybe not UFO’s but anyways I think it per tends to the idea of observing our earth and putting things into perspective. But to the the expense of others? That's where I need to think and it's a very good question. I would have to say mostly no, because spatial technology is an awesome part of life and I believe that is helps us out and is not used intentionally to hurt or detriment us. It gives us the ability to understand and learn more about our planet which is very fundamental and intriguing. But at the same time it may take some of our tax paying money towards the government, for example, helping NASA to put some of the necessary tools to outer space maybe? But not 100% sure. Spatial technologies have already changed the nature of society and will have far reaching further effects on businesses, jobs, industry, and personal use. Research is always needed and the impacts of the results are endless.
Does spatial technology invade personal privacy for the advancement of business, military, science, and surveillance? Well that all depends on who is using the technology. I'm comfortable with people using it for reasons such helping people out, keeping people safe, learning about what's out there, you know, mainly It's okay as long as it's positive. But there are people out there who can abuse it and use it for negative affects. Something ethical on this case would be in accordance with approved moral behavior and norms, a fair responsibility over citizens and always including the thought, is this right or wrong. Something unethical would be unlicensed people getting into governmental information and technology and using it to destroy lives and put other people in danger. According the 4^th amendment of the constitution it states that the federal government cannot perform an unreasonable search or seizure on an American. But although ever since 911, they have constituted other laws to kind of bend this a little and I really feel bad for some of the innocent people that have moved into our country with no intent to harm and yet may have been invaded of their privacy. But don't get me wrong, the spatial technology that our government uses for the advancement of business, military, science, and surveillance is awesome. It gives a lot of people jobs out there, and it gives out country a peace of environment for the most part. And if my life was in danger, I would have no problem at all of someone looking into personal information as long as it is with the intent of saving my life. Thanks for the questions Adam, enjoyed it.

David Lawrence_Discussion 3

Is spatial technology lead by technology and market place over human need? This is a very thoughtful question and it is important for me to find out more information about this. When I first read the question, it reminded me a lot about the 'space race' we have had with Russia and other countries as far as getting our technologies out to outer space and which countries were getting it out there the before the others. Getting our technologies out there is a great accomplishment I believe, as long as it is going to benefit us as human beings. Although it does come to my mind however, that maybe we can get a little carried away with some of the technologies that we have and want to use for reasons that all lot of people could be unaware of, and that can be unfair. There are so many benefits that GIS capabilities are offering for us, I learned that communications, software, hardware, standards data availability, applications, and future spatial browsing are all being applied when it comes to spatial technology. Some future reliable and beneficial spatial information will be in reference to better Onstar like services for humans and we already know what it does for us today! I myself had a free 3 month long trial of Onstar and have got to say, that it can be very handy when your on a hot date and it makes finding that new restaurant a lot easier, quicker, and safer.
Does spatial technology remain a tool for the powerful and maintain the status quo?

I believe that spatial technology will always be powerful tool for us and will hopefully be able to maintain the status quo. As long as our world economy improves and stays at a functionary level, then we will definitely encourage more spatial technology for people. My brother works for L3 communications and is always telling me about the job opportunities out there and how they are just recently at a high rate level of recruitment. L3 communications is government owned and operated company that deals with a lot of aerospace electronic products that are needed to be used for military equipment and are in large part of the homeland defense of our country. A lot of Businesses and Real Estate companies especially rely on spatial technology to determine the specs and surroundings of a particular area in very limited amount of time. It is just absolutely amazing how much different it was just only 20-30 years ago on how companies used to look up data for their company needs. Only a little bit of MACS and other small computer types were available and a whole lot of paperwork, which could take an employee a whole lot more time to find solutions for the company back then in accords to today. I believe that it creates more different types of job opportunities in towards a lot of aspects to the companies in relation to having less people to work on certain functions because to of the spatial technology making the job quicker.