GIS and Serious Games

Abstract

This article presents the interdisciplinary idea of combining geographic information systems (GIS) and serious games. We argue that further integration of GIS and serious game can have large ranging impact on learning and advancement of spatial knowledge and expertise in numerous application domains. In this regard, we draw heavily, although not exclusively, upon disaster management as an exemplar case study of the integration of GIS and serious games for education, spatial thinking skill development, and problem solving. We provide context for GIS and serious games through definitions of games, serious games, the difference between serious games and simulations, the idea of gamification, spatial representations, and serious games. GIS and serious game case studies are drawn from the research experiences of the authors that include (1) capacity development via emergency response exercises that incorporate geospatial tools with a real-time simulation exercise and (2) a virtual serious GIS game environment called serious GIS or SerGIS that allows for flexible creation of serious GIS game scenarios using real GIS tools. The article also provides discussion on evaluating spatial games as a means for further research on development and evaluation of new serious GIS games. The article concludes with a GIS and serious games research agenda.