GIS DESIGN - A HERMENEUTIC VIEW

Innumerable GIS project failures during the past two decades may in pa rt be due to the implicit mental model carried by GIS designers, which is based on objectivist assumptions and a narrow view of scientific m ethod. Hermeneutic methods may be a useful alternative which can reali gn the way the designer approaches the nontechnical tasks of user requ irements analysis and conceptual database design. Several traditional human/geographic information communication models are discussed, and a n alternative hermeneutic model is introduced. Examples of concrete ap plication of hermeneutics to the GIS design process are presented, bas ed on the writings of philosophers, human-computer interaction special ists, and geographers.