ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the various positions taken by University Consortium for Geographic Information Science participants in assessing the importance of geographic information systems (GIS) and Society research to national needs. Research addressing the many interrelationships between GIS and society is often a component of other GIS research and of more general research into the relationships between information technologies in general and society. The legal and ethical perspective is concerned with the changing legitimacy and ethical setting of GIS, the various formal and informal mechanisms governing access to spatial data, and the consequences of the proliferation of, and access to, proprietary spatial databases. A public participation GIS perspective investigates how a broader effective use of GIS by the general public and by community and grassroots groups can be attained. The chapter concludes with an evaluation of relative priorities of the research agenda in GIS and Society and an assessment of the principal research challenges in this field.
