Six GIScience Ideas That Must Die

Abstract

In 2015, John Brockman edited a volume of chapters contributed by leading thinkers from various domains discussing common scientific ideas hindering further scientific progress. While starting with the provocative slogan of This Idea Must Die, the book’s chapters and their authors (for most parts) do not argue that those existing – often foundational scientific theories from various domains – are false, but instead that their widespread, and often unquestioned, utilization has started to hinder the evolution of new theories. Through this work, we would like to foster a similar discussion in our community, by suggesting six ideas in GIScience/geoinformatics that may benefit from retiring to make room for new perspectives. Our suggestions are somewhat controversial, and readers are encouraged to keep an open mind.