Ethics in GIS

GIS has potential to have drastic impact on peoples lives.

What is Ethics

A branch of philosophy that deals with the nature of right and wrong. Theory and standards that inform one’s moral practice.

  • Ethics and legality are not synonymous
    • Laws society has constructed may be informed by ethics

Ethics vs. Legality

Ethical but Illegal

TopHat Question 1

This branch of philosophy deals with the nature of right and wrong:

  • Logic
  • Ethics
  • Epistemology
  • Metaphysics

Ethics in Science

Research often involves handling the sensitive information:

  • Information will be used in a safe and respectful way
  • In some fields, ethics boards review research proposals to ensure best practices are used
    • How will the data be used?
    • Who will have access to data/results?
    • What identifying information will be used/released?

Data Privacy and Security

Higher resolution data = more accurate representation of the phenomena.

  • Allows for better decision making but infringes on privacy

  • How specific is too specific?

    • Point locations risk exposing personal information

Data Privacy and Security

Organizations have guidelines surrounding exposure of information.

  • Public health agencies don’t release information about individuals
  • Stats Canada masks census blocks with low response rates

The Power of a Line

What side of a border you live up on can have drastic impacts on outcomes. Where you live determines:

  • What rights you have
  • What schools you attend
  • How much your vote matters (if you even get to vote)
  • How much you pay in taxes
  • What services you have access too
  • Where you can travel

The Power of a Line

Borders are often arbitrary and modifiable.

  • Think back to the modifiable areal unit problem
    • The decisions of a few can impact many

Redlining

The systematic denial of services to marginalized groups by governments and banks used it to segregate communities

  • Direct impact on transfer of inter-generational wealth

Redlining

For much of the 20th century, redlining was legal and wide spread across North American cities.

TopHat Question 2

The modifiable areal unit problem is a serious issue. Instead of voters choosing their politicians, it allows politicians to choose their ______.

Data Representation

Every cartographic choice can have ramifications.

  • How we display data impacts how it is perceived
    • Maps influence the way people think
    • They can reinforce (or counter) biases
  • All maps lie, but some lie more than others.
    • Abstraction is a necessary part of map making
    • But it needs to be done carefully

All Maps Lie

Sometimes the lies are intentional.

  • Maps can be crafted to sway public opinion and influence political outcomes
  • This is a serious ethical issue

All Maps Lie

Sometimes the lies are careless oversights.

  • Different projections cause areas to be different sizes
    • May intention of the map maker
    • Nonetheless it will influence the way people think

All Maps Lie

Sometimes the lack of context is the issue.

  • Map over-represents republican votes
    • It may not be an intentional choice
    • Nonetheless it influences the way people think

US House of Representatives 2022 Election

All Maps Lie

There are strategies to correct these issues

  • Adjust the map area to give more context

US House of Representatives 2022 Election with Equally Sized Districts

All Maps Lie

There are strategies to correct these issues

  • Adjust the map area to give more context
  • Cartograms: Sacrifice spatial accuracy to emphasize other attributes

Who Has Access to GIS?

Many GIS products (e.g. ArcGIS Pro) have expensive licensing fees.

  • Beyond just the cost of the software:
    • Hardware to run GIS is not always accessible
    • Training takes time.
  • Options to make GIS more accessible to the public
    • But they can only go so far

Open Source GIS

Free to access; created and maintain by volunteers. There are open source alternatives for GIS:

  • QGIS is an application with similar functionality to ArcGIS Pro.

  • Python, R, JavaScript etc. are open source programming languages that have many GIS packages

  • Sites like stackexchange and docs pages (eg qgis)

    • They require a base level of knowledge first

TopHat Question 3

Open source software and documentation make GIS more

  • Profitable
  • Accessible
  • Difficult

Public Participation in GIS

There are many ways the public can be involved in GIS; the can participate actively or passively.

  • Public engagement is crucial way to increase representation of opinions and trust in institutions
  • Not all participatory approaches are centered on engagement
  • They can also be passive

Volunteer Geographic Information

The collection, processing, assembly, and dissemination of geographic data provided voluntarily.

  • Usually some sort of “wisdom of the crowds” is used to validate data, or else data verification and validation is performed by the organizing group
  • Equally likely to be used for commercial purposes:
    • E.g. Trip Advisor, Flickr, Twitter, etc.

Citizen Science

Allows interested volunteers and researchers to team up to address some scientific question.

  • Volunteers provide the “leg work” of data collection, data cleaning, and initial interpretation of field data; guided by scientific research experts
  • Participation levels can range from simple data collection through to contributing to academic journal submission.
    • The COCORAHS platform is a great example!

Participatory GIS

Prioritizes empowerment and inclusion of marginalized people.

  • Members of a community generate their own data
    • People share their data and combine into a community map/database
    • Coded into a GIS to systematize the knowledge and allow for spatial analysis
  • Emphasizes engagement throughout the GIS process

Inuit Land Use and Occupancy

Participatory GIS to safeguard Inuit rights to Arctic lands and waters.

  • Inuit People became increasingly concerned about resource extraction projects
  • Commissioned a study on land use and occupancy that was instrumental in the establishment of Nunavut

Inuit Land Use and Occupancy

No references to published work or other secondary sources of information:

  • Existing maps and information had significant colonial bias
  • 100 % Original Data collection from Inuit Sources

Positionality

Reflect on your relation to your work: a researcher’s privileges, biases, and preconceptions can impact the communities they are work with and the results they produce.

  • In the “hard” sciences, there is often a claim of total objectivity, but total objectivity is impossible
    • No one can be 100% objective
    • Must be acknowledged regardless of the field

Positionality

Some important questions to ask yourself, and points you may want to disclose depending on the context.

  • Who am I and where do I come from?
  • What is my relationship to the community/field I am working in?
  • What are my motivations for this work?
    • What biases may I have and how may my past experiences influence how I engage with this work?

TopHat Question 4

This is the concept of reflecting on your relation to your work, what your motivations are, and what biases you might have.

  • Objectivity
  • Positionality
  • GIS Ethics
  • Cartography

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