Karen K. Kemp. Encyclopedia of Geographic Information Science.

Geographic information science is an information science focusing on the collection, modeling, management, display, and interpretation of geographic data. It is an integrative field, combining concepts, theories, and techniques from a wide range of disciplines, allowing new insights and innovative synergies for increased understanding of our world. By incorporating spatial location (geography) as an essential characteristic of what we seek to understand in the natural and built environment, geographic information science (GISci) and systems (GIS) provide the conceptual foundation and synergistic tools to explore this frontier.
GISci does not have a traditional home discipline. Its practitioners, educators, and researchers come from fields as diverse as geography, cartography, cognitive science, survey engineering, computer science, anthropology, and business. As a result of the diversity of the disciplinary origins among those working in the field, GISci literature is spread widely across the academic spectrum. Textbooks and journal articles tend to reflect the specific disciplinary orientations of their authors, and the vocabulary used in the field is an amalgam from these various domains. This can make it difficult for readers, particularly those just embarking on their GIS (systems or science) studies to understand the full context of what they are reading.
This  Encyclopedia of Geographic Information Science contains condensed but deep information about important themes relevant across the field, providing details about the key foundations of GISci no matter what their disciplinary origins are. In addition to contributions from some of the most recognized scholars in GISci, this volume contains contributions from experts in GISci’s supporting disciplines who explain how their disciplinary perspectives are expanded within the context of GISci: For example, “What changes when consideration of location is added?” “What complexities in analytical procedures arise when we consider objects in two, three, or evenfour dimensions (three space dimensions plus time)?” and “What can we gain by visualizing our analytical results on a map or 3D display?”

While this encyclopedia will most certainly find a place on academic bookshelves and in university libraries for reference by both students and faculty, it will also be of value to professionals in the rapidly emerging GIS professional community. As the field becomes recognized as a true, distinct profession, many are now seeking additional learning opportunities, often through nontraditional, self-study activities. A volume such as this is an invaluable reference for individuals or organizations who seek to understand the common ground across the many contributory disciplines and sciences that integrate as geographic information science.