Michael Goodchild is the world academic leader in the formulation and development of Geographical Information Systems (GIS), computer-based data manipulations permitting rapid and accurate mapping of spatial attributes of phenomena. GIS is a global business that has grown explosively over the past two decades. Professor Goodchild's expertise is much sought after by national and international government agencies and private corporations concerned with a wide range of environmental, economic and social matters. He was educated at Cambridge and McMaster University and taught at the University of Western Ontario for twenty years before becoming Director of the National Centre for Geographic Information and Analysis, the US centre of excellence in this field.