ABSTRACT

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book is about using the power of computers to do things with geographic data. It teaches a range of spatial skills, including: reading, writing and manipulating geographic data; making static and interactive maps; applying geocomputation to solve real-world problems; and modeling geographic phenomena. The book aims to make reproducible geographic data analysis workflows more accessible, and demonstrate the power of open geospatial software available from the command-line. It also aims at teaching methods and code; by the end of it one should be able to use geocomputational skills, to do “practical work that is beneficial or useful”. Geocomputation is closely related to other terms including: Geographic Information Science; Geomatics; Geoinformatics; Spatial Information Science; Geoinformation Engineering; and Geographic Data Science.