Basic Geographic Information Science
What is the nature of reality at geographic scales, and how can this be captured and processed by computational systems? How do people reason about geographic space and use geographic information as professionals or in everyday life? What are the multiple roles of geographic information systems in the information society? Philosophers, geographers, computer scientists, industrial engineers, and other GI Science specialists conduct research to provide answers to such questions.

Geographic Environmental Science
How does location influence environmental processes? How can the integration of geographic information and methods improve the power and effectiveness of environmental models? A geographic information systems enable models of physical processes to be integrated with demographic data to assess natural and technological hazards. Environmental engineers, geologists, geographers, and other GI Science specialists work together to develop methods for addressing environmental problems.

Geographic Social Science
Where is the best location for a new school or business? Why did ancient peoples locate their villages at particular locations? How can we know whether a handful of cases of a rare infectious disease, or few suspicious fires, is a meaningful cluster of just a chance occurrence? Anthropologists, geographers, industrial engineers, and other GI Science specialists provide solutions to such issues of national concern.