The Figure indicates the overall structure of interdependencies between chapters, which readers may find helpful to refer to in tailoring their use of this book to their own particular interests and prior background.
- Chapter 1: motivation and introduction to GIS; preparatory material on general computing; and an overview of what makes “spatial special”
- Chapters 2 and 3: relational and graph databases; conceptual data modeling; foundations and formalisms for spatial concepts;
- Chapter 4: high-level modeling of space and time; object- and field-based models; time in GIS;
- Chapters 5 and 6: exposition of the core material; spatial algorithms and data structures; spatial indexes and access methods;
- Chapter 7: GIS architecture and distributed systems; web mapping; stream computing and sensor networks;
- Chapter 8: graphic design and cartography; GIS interface and interaction design; visualization of geospatial data;
- Chapter 9: ontology engineering and spatial reasoning; machine learning and deep learning; GeoAI; and
- Chapter 10: uncertainty and imperfection in spatial information; location privacy; critical GIS.