Chapter 2 — Question 14

We have emphasized throughout the chapter that GIS representations of geographic phe-
nomena are necessarily finite, notwithstanding the naturally continuous or curvilinear
nature of the objects that we study. We are thus approximating, and are making errors
by doing so. Do you think there is any way of computing what the errors are that we
are making?

Answer
In essence, the answer is “no,” we cannot compute such errors. After all, to do
the computation of error would require another representation that does faith-
fully represent the real phenomenon. If such a representation could be had, we
might as well use that one, and not the one that provides the error.
However, we are quite often in a position to estimate the order of magnitude of
error, i.e., an approximate idea of how big the error is, that we make in finitely
representing a continuous phenomenon. The answer to the previous question
provides a little hint in that direction.

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