Geographic Inquiry Process

[KrissyLukens]

I thought I saw somewhere recently that the 5-step geographic inquiry process: ask, acquire, explore, analyze, act, had been simplified to a 3-step process: ask, explore, act.

Can anyone confirm this? Thanks!

[CharlieFitzpatrick]

Hi Krissy, Esri still emphasizes the 5-step process as key for GIS and indeed other things. Some people like to dispense with steps wherever possible ... cooking, building financial stability, building a relationship, governing ... and some people take even the simple "ready aim fire" dictum as at least one step too many ... but we recommend people engage carefully in all 5 steps (including backing up or starting over as new data becomes visible) if seeking a positive result, particularly in education.

[KrissyLukens]

Thanks Charlie - I agree, and am glad that 5-step process was not distilled down to something simpler.

My question however, was less for "application/education" purposes, but more for "presentation" purposes when presenting to a VERY GENERAL audience about WHAT GIS is, and how it is used (and I have 10 minutes to do this.) - so, more for "infomercial" purposes, I thought I had see a simpler process used to describe the GIS process. The audience I will be presenting to are not necessarily educators - it is a wide range of careers, occupations, ages, etc. 

[CharlieFitzpatrick]

For "What GIS is and how it is used," there are many alternatives, and my preference is to show "what GIS is" via the first couple of slides in the doc http://esriurl.com/gisinedintro

To show "how GIS is used," I show the industries page and say "The same tools and procedures are used in different ways on different data for different purposes in different industries." People use the technology to understand the world, solve problems, and make decisions.