I don’t want to steal Andro’s thunder by talking too much about it, as I think he’s still writing an article, but when Sadie and Jackie first told me about GIS (Geographic Information Systems) I was totally blown away. Maps have always fascinated me: as a boy I would spend hours poring over them, wondering why there was a big highway leading out to some middle of nowhere town like Lompoc, CA (there’s an Air Force base there, is why). As I’ve delved into memory and spatial navigation I’ve come to appreicate maps even more, as they’re one of the most efficient ways of storing and manipulating information. The magic of GIS is that it allows researchers to combine different layers of information to look for correlations. Ever wonder how political parties know where to send campaign materials? Try typing your zip code into the form at www.gis.com, and you’ll have a pretty good idea why you get lumped into particular segments of the population (I’m in the “Laptops and Lattes” segment, which infuriates me more than I can express tactfully).

I don’t know if Google Maps actually integrates with GIS, but some clever people have figured out how to use it to display additional layers of information a la GIS, like housing on Craig’s List or crime statistics in Chicago.

(cdm | GoogleGIS)