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Abstract The National Science Foundation will soon establish a National Center devoted to geographical research and education based on geographical information systems (GIS). The Center will be located at a university chosen on the basis of competitive proposals that will be evaluated primarily on the quality of their research agendas. The winning institution will be expected to involve government agencies and private firms in Center operations and programmes, and it will be expected to serve the national GIS community. The Center arose from a suggestion made by a member of the GIS research community. A large-scale database initiative and a Foundation commitment to Science and Technology Centers provided an institutional environment hospitable to the Center. There are similarities and differences in the approach taken toward GIS research, policy and applications in the United Kingdom (UK) and in the United States (US). Those similarities and differences offer promising topics for collaborative research on GIS itself and on GIS as an information technology affecting the discipline of geography. Cross-national UK-US research would be a productive step toward the globalization of GIS and GIS research.
Ronald Abler (Thu,) studied this question.