Spatial Thinking of Computational Intensity in the Era of CyberGIS

The transformation of spatial data into knowledge and understanding through spatial analysis has become an important and ubiquitous element of research and education in numerous fields, especially with support provided by geographic information science and systems (GIS). However, as the complexity and size of spatial data and sophistication of associated analysis approaches have significantly increased, spatial analysis has become increasingly computationally intensive. The focus of this chapter is to address the fundamental challenge of representing and evaluating computational requirements for optimal use of cyberGIS to enable computationally intensive spatial analysis. The chapter describes a computational intensity map (CIM) approach to representing computational requirements of spatial analysis and guiding cyberGIS-enabled spatial analysis. Computational intensity maps (CIMs) are conceptualized to apply the analytical capabilities of cartographic maps and critical spatial thinking to the representation of computational requirements. This map-based formalization allows for the exploitation of critical spatial thinking to evaluate computational requirements for cyberGIS-enabled spatial analysis.