x The Power of Where PREFACE there that I had my first aha! moment, realizing that geography and systems modeling provide a framework to understand everything, that systems interconnect, and that the world is a system of systems. I am sure this kind of clarifying moment has been shared by many people, but when I experienced it, I felt like a whole new door of understanding had been opened. The 1960s brought many changes. It was the early days of what would later be called the digital revolution, which began to impact everything from science and business to the way people worked. As I continued my graduate school studies, I became increasingly interested in the subjects of this book—geography, computer mapping, and spatial analysis. I also came to realize that together, science and technology could be valuable in many fields. Since then, GIS has become essential infrastructure for managing hundreds of thousands of organizations around the world. Almost 60 years have passed since the day I flew home from Minnesota, but my excitement about the potential of integrating geographic science with the advancing technology of GIS has only grown. Times have changed, but the memory of that aha! moment remains as vivid today as the day I had it peering through a tiny window over Las Vegas. This book is about the power of where and the geographic approach. It includes maps, stories, and GIS apps that demonstrate the value of using geographic science to create better understanding and transform how people do their work. I did not write this book alone. Rather, it has been assembled with the help of my colleagues across Esri and the GIS user community. It represents many of the latest concepts behind Left to right: Rocky Mountains; Utah farmland; Las Vegas, Nevada. Flying home from the University of Minnesota in 1966, I found myself in a window seat, absorbed by the views of the Upper Midwest landscape from 30,000 feet. As a new graduate student, I reflected on the teachings of one of my mentors, John Borchert, who first introduced me to the concepts of quantitative geography. His research focused on abstracting and modeling geography by creating digital map data and developing system models that described spatial relationships, patterns, and geographic processes. This fundamental work allowed him to build theoretical models that could help predict many types of human and economic behaviors, including social interaction, transportation flows, and even consumer visits to stores. These basic models were building blocks for understanding how cities evolved, with many valuable lessons for urban planners. Professor Borchert taught me that the city—and the world—is a vast series of complex interconnected systems that if digitized and analyzed properly could explain so much about the world we live in. He also advocated strongly that the world should use geography as a basis for planning and managing the future. As my flight home continued and the airliner reached the Rocky Mountains in Colorado, I could see spatial systems everywhere: stream networks as part of a hydrology system, road networks interconnecting places, and as the flight passed over Utah’s farmlands, agriculture as its own kind of system. As we reached Las Vegas, yet another type of urban system appeared, surrounded by the vast Mojave Desert. It was
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