Session Description: Ethical engagements with the multitude of GIS applications and uses, whether surreptitious or overt have marked recent developments in the field. Indeed, the variety of applications of GIS&T has led the U.S. Department of Labor to highlight "geographic technology" as a key high growth job field for the 21st century. While the potential benefits and risks of geographic technologies are becoming well known, these ethical issues are less widely engaged. For instance:
- Geographic technologies are surveillance technologies. The data they produce may be used to invade the privacy, and even the autonomy, of individuals and groups.
- Data gathered using geographic technologies are used to make policy decisions. Erroneous, inadequately documented, or inappropriate data can have grave consequences for individuals and the environment.
- Geographic technologies have the potential to exacerbate inequities in society, insofar as large organizations enjoy greater access to technology, data, and technological expertise than smaller organizations and individuals.
