从地理信息系统到虚拟地理环境的认知转变

自20世纪60年代初以来,地理信息系统引领了地理信息的分析与服务。然而,由于地理学家对于地理过程开展多维模拟的需求,同时许多大型工程需要对于不同方案的后果事先开展模拟评估,为此中国学者们在世纪相交之际开始了对于虚拟地理环境的探索。本文从地理信息系统到虚拟地理环境的认识上的转变着手,分析了虚拟地理环境的演进过程、当前的阶段定位与挑战,着重探讨了虚拟地理环境研究的新态势:基于虚拟地理环境的地理空间认知研究、虚拟地理环境与实验地理学新方向、大数据背景下的虚拟地理认知实验方法和虚拟地理环境与地理知识工程,并给出最新研究思路。

Cognitive Transformation from Geographic Information System to Virtual Geographic Environments

Since the beginning of 1960s, Geographic Information System (GIS) has been advanced in the analysis of geographic information and the services generated from it. Yet the rate of demands from geographers and large engineering projects continues to accelerate in the multi-dimensional geographic process simulation and the assessment of simulation results before those projects carried out. The set of increasing demands gives the Chinese scholars a sense of direction to explore the emerging concept Virtual Geographic Environments (VGEs) over the subsequent decades. In a broad sense, the VGEs is a collective term for all geographic environments except the real geographic environment while in the narrow sense, the virtual geographic environment can be considered as a computer-generated digital geographic environment in which the complex geographic systems are perceived and cognized by means of multi-channel human-computer interaction, distributed geographic modeling and simulation, and cyberspace geographic collaboration. From the very beginning, this paper elaborates on the transformation from the understanding of GIS to VGEs. In the second place, the evolution process of VGEs is analyzed including its current developing stage and a series of challenges it faced with. Aimed at facilitating the research on geoscience in the context of advanced technologies and accumulated geospatial information, this paper describes the new perspectives of VGEs research as followed: geographic space based on VGEs cognitive research, VGEs and experimental geography, virtual geographic cognitive experimental methods, and VGEs and geographic knowledge engineering in the context of big data. It can be foreseen that the study of VGEs is gradually moving towards an open, group-participated, collaborative scientific research paradigm. This is also a true reflection of the development trend of scientific research in the field of geography.