Nationality Canada Fields Ontology Role Scientist | Name David Mark Thesis 1977 | |
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Institutions Simon Fraser University
University of Ottawa
University of British Columbia
University of Western Ontario
University at Buffalo Residence Buffalo, New York, United States Alma mater University of British Columbia, Simon Fraser University | ||
Doctoral advisor Thomas K. Poiker | ||
Dr david mark outstanding alumni introduction video
David Mark is a SUNY Distinguished Professor in the Department of Geography at the University at Buffalo, USA.
Contents
- Dr david mark outstanding alumni introduction video
- Education and Professional career
- Contributions to Geographic Information Science
- References
David Mark has made several contributions to research and education in Geographic Information Science (GIScience). His current research interests are in human spatial cognition and language.
Education and Professional career
He worked at three universities between 1976 and 1978: Simon Fraser University, University of Ottawa, and University of British Columbia. He was an Assistant Professor of Geography at the University of Western Ontario from 1978 to 1981. In 1981, he moved to the Department of Geography at the University at Buffalo as an Assistant Professor. Mark became to Associate Professor in 1983 and to the rank of Professor in 1987. In 2007, he was conferred with the title of SUNY Distinguished Professor.
Contributions to Geographic Information Science
David Mark is a scientist, specializing in the field of Geographic Information Science (GIScience). He has authored or coauthored more than 230 scholarly papers which have been cited over 10,000 times. He researches cognitive and linguistic foundations of how geographic information is conceptualized and used. In the 1970s and 1980s, he pioneered methods for representing topography for digital computers, including the earliest methods for the Triangular Irregular Network data model. He is credited for a popular water flow routing GIS algorithm, which specifies how to eliminate spurious pits from digital elevation models. In 1990, David Mark organized with Andrew U. Frank the NATO Advanced Study Institute in Las Navas del Marquez (Spain). This meeting was the origin of research in spatial cognition and linguistics for the field of GIScience. Mark has co-authored several widely cited papers on geographic categorization, geographic reasoning, and the ontology of geographic features. In the early 2000s, Mark and Andrew Turk created the area of study called "Ethnophysiography" to study how language and culture are related to people's naïve conceptualizations of the physical landscape. He continues to work on most of these topics, with special focus currently on establishing a foundational ontology of the landscape.