GIS provides a context, an information resource, and an environment for geo- graphical thinking and research . . . [GIS] is open rather than closed [and] can accommodate pluralistic research styles. 1 All theory . . . is gray. In mapmaking, good results are more important than theo- retical knowledge. A useful map can only be produced by a meticulously careful process of design and the most precise reproduction. 2 [O]ur most recent examples show that paradigms provide scientists not only with a map but also with some of the directions essential for map-making. 3 0. Introduction Geographic Information Science (GIS) is a scientiic inter-discipline aiming to discover patterns in, and produce visual displays of, spatial data. Businesses use GIS to determine where to open new stores, and GIS helps conservation biologists identify ield study locations with relatively little anthropogenic inluence. 4 GIS products include topographic and thematic maps of the Earth’s surface, climate maps, and spatially referenced demographic graphs and charts. The annual global GIS market (approximately $10 billion 5 ) is of the same order of magnitude as CERN’s total budget to date (approximately $13 billion 6 ), which it is only an order of magnitude less than the annual biotechnology global market. In addition to its social, political, and economic importance, GIS is worthwhile to explore in its own right due to its methodological richness, and because it is an instructive ana- logue to other sciences. The lack of attention to the sciences of GIS and cartography by the history and philosophy of science (HPS), science and technology studies (STS), and related ields – though not geography or sociology – clearly merits rem- edy. This chapter works towards a philosophy of GIS and cartography, or PGISC. PGISC its well in this volume on rethinking natural kinds in light of scientiic practices. Collecting and collating geographical data, building geographical data- bases, and engaging in spatial analysis, visualization, and map-making all require organizing, typologizing, and classifying geographic space, objects, relations, and processes. I focus on the use of natural kinds in data modeling and map generali- zation practices, showing how practices of making and using kinds are contextual, fallible, plural, and purposive. The rich family of kinds involved in these activities are here baptized mapping kinds. 13 Mapping kinds in GIS and cartography Rasmus Grønfeldt Winther Natural Kinds and Classification in Scientific Practice, edited by Catherine Kendig, Taylor & Francis Group, 2015. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/ucsc/detail.action?docID=4217943. Created from ucsc on 2018-04-10 04:42:46. Copyright © 2015. Taylor & Francis Group. All rights reserved.