On April 20, Prof. LV Guonian of Nanjing Normal University gave a report entitled “Re-discover GIS” at the 116th Earth Observation and Digital Earth Forum of RADI.
Prof. Lv introduced the origin of GIS and its relationship with geography, the relationship between GIS and Earth System Science studies, and that between GIS development and IT development successively from the perspective of re-understanding geographic information. Based on the new understanding of the GIS basic data model and structure, he explained the theoretical basis for whether the scientific concept of space and time could serve as the foundation for the GIS data model, accordingly created a new GIS data model, and established the possibility of the third law of geography based on the first and second laws. He also gave a detailed account of the difference between cartographic representation and geographic scene representation, introduced the geographic language and used it to describe the evolution of cartography and the relationship between GIS and new media.
Prof. Lv is head of the key lab for virtual geographic environment under the Ministry of Education, and of the national key discipline of cartography and geographic information system of Nanjing Normal University, specialized in basic GIS theories, research methods, key technologies and their application. He has published over 20 books, textbooks and atlases and over 100 papers.
