Dr. Derek Thompson

 
Education

PhD  Geography, Indiana University, 1966
MA   Geography, Manchester University, 1962
BA    Geography, Manchester University, 1960

Research Interests

• Geographic information systems
• Locational analysis and modelling
• Improvement in geographic education

Dr. Thompson undertakes research in the domain of spatial reasoning, applied to human geography problems, supported from time to time by grants and contracts from federal and state agencies. He has three thrusts in this endeavor: geographic information science, locational analysis and modelling, and improvement in geographic education. The first, represented by his co­authored 1992 book, Fundamentals of Spatial Information Systems, includes research on the spatial semantics of geographic databases. The second encompasses research by himself and graduate students on a variety of location problems that incorporate spatial reasoning in decision making, such as the location of public facilities, transportation infrastructure, and the drawing of boundaries for school or legislative districts. The development of curriculum materials and resources for improving geographic education at any level builds upon the research of spatial reasoning and the tools of geographic information systems. To this end Dr. Thompson pioneered in the establishment and subsequent development of laboratories for Computer Mapping and Spatial Analysis and Spatial Learning. He has recently completed a three year project, the Urban World Hypermap Learning Environment Project, funded by the Fund for the Improvement of PostSecondary Education (FIPSE) of the U.S. Deparment of Education, and is writing a guide to the National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI) for geography school teachers.