Michael Frank Goodchild (born February 24, 1944) is a British-American

geographer A geographer is a physical scientist, social scientist or humanist whose area of study is geography, the study of Earth's natural environment and human society, including how society and nature interacts. The Greek prefix "geo" means "earth" a ...

. He is an Emeritus Professor of

Geography Geography (from Greek: , ''geographia''. Combination of Greek words ‘Geo’ (The Earth) and ‘Graphien’ (to describe), literally "earth description") is a field of science devoted to the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, an ...

at the

University of California, Santa Barbara The University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara or UCSB) is a public land-grant research university in Santa Barbara, California with 23,196 undergraduates and 2,983 graduate students enrolled in 2021–2022. It is part of the U ...

. After nineteen years at the

University of Western Ontario The University of Western Ontario (UWO), also known as Western University or Western, is a public research university in London, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on of land, surrounded by residential neighbourhoods and the Thames R ...

, including three years as chair, he moved to Santa Barbara in 1988, as part of the establishment of the National Center for Geographic Information and Analysis, which he directed for over 20 years. In 2008, he founded the

UCSB Center for Spatial Studies The UCSB Center for Spatial Studies (spatial@ucsb) is a research center at the University of California, Santa Barbara. The center was founded in 2008 by Michael Goodchild, and focuses on spatial thinking across domains, spatial intelligence, ge ...

Education

*Ph.D., Geography,

McMaster University McMaster University (McMaster or Mac) is a public research university in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. The main McMaster campus is on of land near the residential neighbourhoods of Ainslie Wood and Westdale, adjacent to the Royal Botanical Ga ...

, Hamilton, Ontario, 1969 *B.A., Physics, Downing College, Cambridge, Cambridge, England, 1965

Scholarship

His most influential work has involved research on Geographic Information Science (aka GIS). He is widely credited with coining " Volunteered Geographic Information" and is considered the world's foremost expert on the topic.

Caves and karst

As a doctoral student at

, Goodchild rediscovered Castleguard Cave (20 kilometers long, the longest

cave A cave or cavern is a natural void in the ground, specifically a space large enough for a human to enter. Caves often form by the weathering of rock and often extend deep underground. The word ''cave'' can refer to smaller openings such as sea ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

). His student Alan Glennon discovered an entrance and made significant discoveries to the Martin Ridge Cave System,

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia ...

(51.8 kilometers long). Goodchild's dissertation advisor, Derek C. Ford, is a Canadian geomorphologist and karst scientist.

Honors

* Fellow of the

British Academy The British Academy is the United Kingdom's national academy for the humanities and the social sciences. It was established in 1902 and received its royal charter in the same year. It is now a fellowship of more than 1,000 leading scholars spa ...

, 2010 – *

Foreign Member of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the judges of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural knowledge, including mathematic ...

, 2010– * Researcher of the Year,

University Consortium for Geographic Information Science The University Consortium for Geographic Information Science (UCGIS) is an academic non-profit organization dedicated to geographic information science, incorporated in 1995 in Washington, D.C. It fosters multidisciplinary cooperation among the a ...

, 2010; *

Prix Vautrin Lud The ''Prix International de Géographie Vautrin Lud'', known in English as the Vautrin Lud Prize, is the highest award in the field of geography. Established in 1991, the award is named after the 16th Century French scholar . The award is given i ...

, St Dié-des-Vosges,

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

, 2007; * Member,

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, a ...

, 2006–; * Honorary Doctor of Laws,

Ryerson University Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU or Toronto Met) is a public research university located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The university's core campus is situated within the Garden District, although it also operates facilities elsewhere in Tor ...

, 2004; * Honorary Doctor of Science,

, 2004; * Professor,

Wuhan University Wuhan University (WHU; ) is a public research university in Wuhan, Hubei. The university is sponsored by the Ministry of Education. Wuhan university was founded as one of the four elite universities in the early republican period of China and i ...

, 2003–; * Faculty Research Lecturer,

, 2003; * Founder's Medal, Royal Geographical Society, 2003; * Educator of the Year, University Consortium for Geographic Information Science, 2002; * Foreign Fellow, Royal Society of Canada, 2002–; * Member, National Academy of Sciences, 2002–; * National Associate of the

National Academies A national academy is an organizational body, usually operating with state financial support and approval, that co-ordinates scholarly research activities and standards for academic disciplines, most frequently in the sciences but also the humani ...

, 2001–; * Lifetime Achievement Award, Environmental Systems Research Institute (

ESRI Esri (; Environmental Systems Research Institute) is an American multinational geographic information system (GIS) software company. It is best known for its ArcGIS products. With a 43% market share, Esri is the world's leading supplier of GIS ...

), 2001; * Honorary Doctor of Science,

Keele University Keele University, officially known as the University of Keele, is a public research university in Keele, approximately from Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire, England. Founded in 1949 as the University College of North Staffordshire, Keele ...

, 2001; * Award of Distinction for Exceptional Scholarly Contributions to Cartography, Canadian Cartographic Association, 1999; * Honorary Doctor of Science,

Université Laval Université Laval is a public research university in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada. The university was founded by royal charter issued by Queen Victoria in 1852, with roots in the founding of the Séminaire de Québec in 1663 by François de Montm ...

, 1999.

References

External links

Mike Goodchild's homepage
{{DEFAULTSORT:Goodchild, Michael 1944 births Living people Alumni of Downing College, Cambridge McMaster University alumni British geographers Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences American geographers Recipients of the Vautrin Lud International Geography Prize University of California, Santa Barbara faculty Foreign Members of the Royal Society Fellows of the British Academy Geographic information scientists Recipients of the Royal Geographical Society Founder's Medal Corresponding Fellows of the British Academy