INTRODUCING THE FIRST EDITION OF THE GIS&T BODY OF KNOWLEDGE

D. DiBiase

Penn State University

dibiase@psu.edu

A formal “body of knowledge” is a comprehensive inventory of the intellectual content that defines a field. Following the lead of such allied fields as Computer Science and Information Technology, a team of seven editors and over 70 contributors completed the first edition of a Geographic Information Science and Technology Body of Knowledge (GIS&T BoK) in 2006. Specifying 329 individual topics in terms of over 1,600 formal educational objectives, the GIS&T BoK is designed for use by curriculum planners and evaluators, certification and accreditation bodies, current and prospective students, and geospatial professionals in government, industry, and academia. This presentation will describe the background, form, content, and uses of the first edition of the GIS&T BoK, and will solicit contributions to a forthcoming second edition.