Duane Francis Marble (December 10, 1931 – February 22, 2022) was an American geographer known for his significant contributions to

quantitative geography Quantitative geography is a subfield and methodological approach to geography that develops, tests, and uses scientific, mathematical, and statistical methods to analyze and model geographic phenomena and patterns. It aims to explain and predict t ...

and

geographic information science Geographic information science (GIScience, GISc) or geoinformation science is a scientific discipline at the crossroads of computational science, social science, and natural science that studies geographic information, including how it represe ...

(GIScience). Marble had a 40-year career as a professor at multiple institutions, retiring from the

Ohio State University The Ohio State University (Ohio State or OSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio, United States. A member of the University System of Ohio, it was founded in 1870. It is one ...

and holding a courtesy appointment as Professor of Geosciences at

Oregon State University Oregon State University (OSU) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Corvallis, Oregon, United States. OSU offers more than 200 undergraduate degree programs and a variety of graduate and doctor ...

afterward. His early work was highly influential in

computer cartography Computer cartography (also called digital cartography) is the art, science, and technology of making and using maps with a computer. This technology represents a paradigm shift in how maps are produced, but is still fundamentally a subset of trad ...

and is regarded as a significant contributor to the

quantitative revolution In geography, the quantitative revolution (QR) was a paradigm shift that sought to develop a more rigorous and systematic methodology for the discipline. It came as a response to the inadequacy of regional geography to explain general spatial d ...

in geography. His work on constructing a "Model Curricula" in GIScience is listed as the starting foundation built upon by the

Geographic Information Science and Technology Body of Knowledge __NOTOC__ The Geographic Information Science and Technology Body of Knowledge (GISTBoK) is a reference document produced by the University Consortium for Geographic Information Science (UCGIS) as the first product of its Model Curricula project, s ...

Education and field

Marble earned three degrees in geography from the University of Washington: his B.S., his M.A. in 1956, and his

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

in 1959. Here, he worked as a Ph.D. student under the influential quantitative geographer William Garrison. Marble was a member of a group of Garrison's students dubbed the "Space cadets," which included geographers such as

Brian Berry Brian Joe Lobley Berry (16 February 1934 – 2 January 2025) was a British-American human geographer and city and regional planner. He was the Lloyd Viel Berkner Regental Professor in the School of Economic, Political and Policy Sciences at ...

William Bunge William Wheeler Bunge Jr. (born 1928, La Crosse, Wisconsin; died October 31, 2013, Canada) was an American geographer active mainly as a quantitative geographer and spatial theorist. He also became a radical geographer and anti-war activist in th ...

, Michael Dacey,

Arthur Getis Arthur Getis (July 6, 1934 – May 13, 2022) was an American geographer known for his significant contributions to spatial statistics and geographic information science (GIScience). With a career spanning over four decades, Getis authored more tha ...

, and

Waldo Tobler Waldo Rudolph Tobler (November 16, 1930 – February 20, 2018) was an United States, American-Switzerland, Swiss geographer and cartographer. Tobler is regarded as one of the most influential geographers and cartographers of the late 20th centur ...

. Like many of the members of this cohort, Marble went on to a prominent career in spatial analysis, GIScience, and quantitative geography.

Career

Marbles 40 year long academic career included positions at multiple universities, including

Northwestern University Northwestern University (NU) is a Private university, private research university in Evanston, Illinois, United States. Established in 1851 to serve the historic Northwest Territory, it is the oldest University charter, chartered university in ...

, the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...

University at Buffalo The State University of New York at Buffalo (commonly referred to as UB, University at Buffalo, and sometimes SUNY Buffalo) is a public university, public research university in Buffalo, New York, Buffalo and Amherst, New York, United States. ...

, The Ohio State University, University of Oregon. During his early career, he made great contributions to establishing the discipline of GIScience,

. His co-edited publication ''Spatial Analysis: a Reader in Statistical Geography'' is regarded as one of the founding documents in the quantitative revolution in geography. Among other things, this publication is one of the earliest uses of the term "

spatial autocorrelation Spatial analysis is any of the formal techniques which study entities using their topological, geometric, or geographic properties, primarily used in Urban Design. Spatial analysis includes a variety of techniques using different analytic appro ...

," a central concept in

spatial analysis Spatial analysis is any of the formal Scientific technique, techniques which study entities using their topological, geometric, or geographic properties, primarily used in Urban design, Urban Design. Spatial analysis includes a variety of techni ...

and

technical geography Technical geography is the branch of geography that involves using, studying, and creating tools to obtain, analyze, interpret, understand, and communicate spatial information. The other branches of geography, most commonly limited to human geo ...

. Because of this publication and others, he is considered a significant figure in

, with the American Association of Geographers ''Marble Fund Award for Innovative Master’s Research in Quantitative Geography'' named in his honor. Later in his career, he was instrumental in establishing

Geographic information science Geographic information science (GIScience, GISc) or geoinformation science is a scientific discipline at the crossroads of computational science, social science, and natural science that studies geographic information, including how it represe ...

as a discipline and worked to develop educational material and curriculum. While at the University at Buffalo, Marbles established the first GIScience research unit. His work on the "Model Curricula" is credited in the GIS&T body of knowledge as the starting point for that body of work. After retirement, Marbles worked to promote computer science and quantitative knowledge in geography to combat his concerns that geographers were losing understanding of what happened behind the GUI of their

Geographic information systems A geographic information system (GIS) consists of integrated computer hardware and software that store, manage, analyze, edit, output, and visualize geographic data. Much of this often happens within a spatial database; however, this is not ...

. This led to him to help establish the AAG Marble Fund to promote quantitative geography and computer science research.

Publications

Marble published several peer-reviewed journals and book chapters during their career. They have authored, or served as a volume editor, for numerous books including:

GIS Master Bibliography

In 1991, Marble began work compiling a master bibliography for GIS related scholarly material. In 1999, this bibliography was merged with the Esri GIS Bibliography, with Esri serving as the curator.

Awards and recognition

University Consortium for Geographic Information Science The University Consortium for Geographic Information Science (UCGIS) is an academic non-profit organization dedicated to geographic information science, incorporated in 1995 in Washington, D.C. It fosters multidisciplinary cooperation among the a ...

Fellowship, 2011 *University Consortium for Geographic Information Science Education Award, 2007 *American Association of Geographers Honors Award, 1993 *In 2010,

Michael DeMers Michael N. DeMers is a geographer and professor emeritus of geography at New Mexico State University. Education and field DeMers obtained a B.S.Ed. in Earth science in 1974 and an M.S. in geography in 1980, both from the University of North Dakot ...

New Mexico State University New Mexico State University (NMSU or NM State) is a public, land-grant, research university in Las Cruces, New Mexico, United States. Founded in 1888, it is the state's oldest public institution of higher education, and was the original land-g ...

established the "Duane Marble Award for GIS Design and Education Research" to recognize the work of Marble in GIScience, GIS design, and GIS curriculum development. The award is available to NMSU geography Masters student whose thesis involves either novel GIS methods or GIS education.

AAG Marble Fund for Geographic Science

Marble established the Marble Fund for Geographic Science in 2005 with the help of

Esri Environmental Systems Research Institute, Inc., doing business as Esri (), is an American Multinational corporation, multinational geographic information system (GIS) software company headquartered in Redlands, California. It is best known for ...

CEO

Jack Dangermond Jack Dangermond (born 1945) is an American billionaire businessman and environmental scientist, who in 1969 co-founded, with Laura Dangermond, the Environmental Systems Research Institute (Esri), a privately held geographic information systems ...

. This fund exists to promote exposure to computer science concepts in geography undergraduate and graduate students through awards for GIScience research, each named for prominent quantitative geographers, including Marble's PhD advisor William Garrison. These awards include: *Marble-Boyle Undergraduate Achievement Award,

American Association of Geographers The American Association of Geographers (AAG) is a Nonprofit organization, non-profit learned society, scientific and educational society aimed at advancing the understanding, study, and importance of geography and related fields. Its headquar ...

*Marble Fund Award for Innovative Master's Research in Quantitative Geography, American Association of Geographers *William L. Garrison Award for Best Dissertation in Computational Geography

Personal life

Marble was married to Jacquelynne Marble for 65 years. They had two children and two grandchildren.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Marble, Duane 1931 births 2022 deaths American cartographers 20th-century American geographers 20th-century cartographers Geographic information scientists Ohio State University faculty Oregon State University faculty University at Buffalo faculty Northwestern University faculty University of Pennsylvania faculty University of Washington alumni People from Seattle