Arthur Getis

Arthur Getis earned both his B.S. and M.S. in Geography from Pennsylvania State University. In 1961, he earned his Ph.D. in geography at University of Washington Department of Geography. Here, he worked as a doctoral student under William Garrison, a prominent geographer and leader of the quantitative revolution in geography.{{cite journal |last1=Murray |first1=Alan T. |title=The Art of Geographical Analysis |journal=Geographical Analysis |date=2023 |volume=55 |issue=4 |pages=759–768 |doi=10.1111/gean.12359 |bibcode=2023GeoAn..55..759M |s2cid=257360246 |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/gean.12359 |access-date=9 February 2024|url-access=subscription }}{{cite web |title=William L. Garrison Award for Best Dissertation in Computational Geography |url=https://www.aag.org/award-grant/william-l-garrison-award-for-best-dissertation-in-computational-geography/ |website=American Association of Geographers |access-date=2 August 2023}} His doctoral dissertation focused on individual behaviors and how they manifest as collective spatial patterns. This experience would set him on a path to researching spatial statistics as they apply to fields such as retail, public health, and crime clustering, among others.

Arthur Getis held many academic positions during his four decades-long career. After graduating from the University of Washington, Getis took a position at Michigan State University as an assistant professor where he worked from 1961 to 1963.{{cite web |last1=Arthur |first1=Getis |title=Arthur Getis CV |url=https://geog.sdsu.edu/People/Pages/getis/getis_cv.pdf |website=Department of Geography |publisher=San Diego State University |access-date=27 April 2025}} While at Michigan State University, Getis served on the Social Science College Research Committee, and invented a Cartogram that was designed to focus the eye on a particular feature.{{cite book |last1=Bunge |first1=William |title=Theoretical Geography |date=1962 |publisher=Lund Series in Geography |isbn=9789140024565 |page=43 |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Theoretical_Geography/rCkqTJYcFR8C?hl=en |access-date=27 April 2025}} Getis left MSU for a position at Rutgers University Livingston College in 1963, where he did groundbreaking research in the discipline of spatial analysis. In 1977, Gettis took a position in the geography department at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, where he served as department head. In 1990, Getis left University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign to work at the University of California, Santa Barbara, where he headed a new joint Ph.D. program. In addition to these academic positions, he also held visiting professorships at the University of Bristol and the University of Cambridge.

During his career, Getis focused his research on spatial descriptive statistics, where he focused on topics like spatial autocorrelation, k-function analysis, and their applications to real-world problems.{{cite journal |last1=Getis |first1=Arthur |title=A History of the Concept of Spatial Autocorrelation: A Geographer's Perspective |journal=Geographical Analysis |date=16 July 2008 |volume=40 |issue=3 |pages=297–309 |doi=10.1111/j.1538-4632.2008.00727.x|bibcode=2008GeoAn..40..297G |doi-access=free }} Working with Keith Ord, he created the innovative and highly influential Getis-Ord family of statistics.

Getis collaborated with numerous geographers throughout his career to advance GIScience, Geographic Information Systems (GIS), and geography as a whole. With Luc Anselin, Getis worked to explore the then-new technology of GIS. As the concept of computer cartography was only introduced in 1959 by Waldo Tobler, and the term "geographic information systems" introduced in the 1960s by Roger Tomlinson, this research was extremely influential in laying the foundation for GIS, and modern cartography.{{cite journal |last1=Waldo |first1=Tobler |title=Automation and Cartography |journal=Geographical Review |date=1959 |volume=49 |issue=4 |pages=526–534 |doi=10.2307/212211|jstor=212211 |bibcode=1959GeoRv..49..526T }}{{cite news|title=Putting Canada on the map: Father of digitized mapping recounts how a stroke of luck led him to develop the world's first geographic information system |first=Lynn |last=Greiner |work=The Globe and Mail |date=17 December 2007 |url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/technology/putting-canada-on-the-map/article1092101/}} Getis worked with geographer Michael Goodchild to establish GIScience foundations in academia, advancing the discipline.

Getis worked with Manfred M. Fischer to found the Journal of Geographical Systems in 1994. This journal focuses on both theoretical and applied spatial modeling, methods, and results.{{cite web |title=Journal of Geographical Systems |url=https://www.springer.com/journal/10109 |website=Springer |access-date=2 August 2023}} Getis served as one of the editors-in-chief for this journal from 1994 to 2007, and as an honorary editor from 2008 until his death in 2022.{{cite web |title=Journal of Geographical Systems: Editors |url=https://www.springer.com/journal/10109/editors |website=Springer |access-date=2 August 2023}}

Getis served on the board of directors for the University Consortium for Geographic Information Science (UCGIS) from 1997 to 2001, when he was elected the organization's president, serving between 2001 and 2002. After serving as president of UCGIS, Getis was on the executive committee until 2004.

Getis published more than 100 peer-reviewed journals and book chapters during his career that have been cited over 25,000 times, giving him an h-index of 53.{{google scholar id|O3aZnqIAAAAJ}} His 1963 publication Temporal Land Use Pattern Analysis With the Use of Nearest Neighbor and Quadrat Methods is noteworthy for appearing in the first Michigan Inter-University Community of Mathematical Geographers (MICMOG) series. His most influential, and highly cited paper, "Analysis of spatial association by use of distance statistics" lead to the creation of the Getis-Ord family of statistics. In addition to these, Getis helped author or edit eleven books, many still widely in use in geography classes. Several of these books were co-authored with his wife, Judy (Marckwardt) Getis, who held a master's degree in geography from Michigan State University and was a respected author.{{cite web |title=JUDITH GETIS Obituary |url=https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/sandiegouniontribune/name/judith-getis-obituary?id=21539258 |website=Legacy |publisher=San Diego Union-Tribune |access-date=2 August 2023}}

These books include:

• {{cite book |last1=Getis |first1=Arthur |last2=Bjelland |first2=Mark |last3=Getis |first3=Victoria |title=Introduction to Geography |date=2018 |publisher=McGraw Hill |isbn=978-1-259-57000-1 |edition=15th}}
• {{cite book |last1=Fischer |first1=Manfred M. |last2=Getis |first2=Arthur |title=Handbook of Applied Spatial Analysis: Software Tools, Methods and Applications |date=2010 |publisher=Springer Berlin, Heidelberg |isbn=978-3-642-03646-0}}
• {{cite book |last1=Fellmann |first1=Jerome |last2=Bjelland |first2=Mark |last3=Getis |first3=Arthur |last4=Getis |first4=Judith |title=Human Geography |date=2009 |publisher=McGraw-Hill Education |isbn=978-0073522852 |edition=11}}
• {{cite book |editor1-last=Getis |editor1-first=Arthur |editor2-last=Lacambra |editor2-first=J. |editor3-last=Zoller |editor3-first=H. |title=Spatial Econometrics and Spatial Statistics |date=2004 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan London |isbn=978-1-4039-0797-4}}
• {{cite book |last1=Getis |first1=Arthur |last2=Getis |first2=Judith |last3=Quastler |first3=Imre |title=The United States and Canada: The Land and the People |date=2000 |publisher=McGraw-Hill |isbn=978-0072356779 |edition=2}}
• {{cite book |last1=Boots |first1=Barry |last2=Getis |first2=Arthur |title=Point Pattern Analysis (Scientific Geography Series) |date=1988 |publisher=SAGE Publications, Inc |isbn=978-0803925885 |edition=1}}
• {{cite book |last1=Getis |first1=Arthur |last2=Boots |first2=Barry |title=Models of Spatial Processes: An Approach to the Study of Point, Line and Area Patterns |date=1978 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0521103541 |edition=1}}

{{main|Getis-Ord Statistics}}

File:USA Contiguous Population Over 65 2020.jpg

The most influential work of Getis is his and Keith Ord's creation of the Getis-Ord family of statistics, which includes the Getis-Ord General G{{cite web |title=How High/Low Clustering (Getis-Ord General G) works |url=https://pro.arcgis.com/en/pro-app/latest/tool-reference/spatial-statistics/h-how-high-low-clustering-getis-ord-general-g-spat.htm |website=Esri |access-date=2 August 2023}} and Getis-Ord Gi*{{cite web |title=How Hot Spot Analysis (Getis-Ord Gi*) works |url=https://pro.arcgis.com/en/pro-app/latest/tool-reference/spatial-statistics/h-how-hot-spot-analysis-getis-ord-gi-spatial-stati.htm |website=Esri |access-date=2 August 2023}} statistic. Based on a 1992 paper titled "The Analysis of Spatial Association by Use of Distance Statistics" and a 1995 paper titled "Local Spatial Autocorrelation: Distributional Issues and an Application", the Getis-Ord family of statistics are used extensively in spatial statistics. These are used to detect clustering of high or low values within a study area. The Getis-Ord family of statistics compliment Moran's I and Geary's C in looking at the spatial autocorrelation of phenomena in a study area.

The Getis-Ord family of statistics has been applied across a variety of disciplines, including epidemiology/public health, land use, crime analysis, and economics. They are used as the basis for "Hot spot analysis," "High/Low clustering analysis," and the creation of "Hot spot" maps by Esri software, such as ArcGIS.

During his career, Getis received many honors and awards.

These awards include:

• Regional Science Association International Founder's Medal (2012){{cite web |title=RSAI Founder's Medal |url=https://regionalscience.org/index.php/awards/rsai-founder-s-medal.html |website=Regional Science Association International |access-date=2 August 2023}}
• UCGIS Fellows grade (2010)
• American Association of Geographers Distinguished Scholarship Honors (2002){{cite web |title=AAG Honors Recipients |url=https://www.aag.org/award-grant/aag-honors/#:~:text=Distinguished%20Scholarship%20Honors&text=Candidates%20may%20be%20recognized%20for%20transformative%20scholarship%20in%20any%20sub,exemplary%20behavior%20in%20scholarly%20practice. |website=American Association of Geographers |access-date=2 August 2023}}
• North American Regional Science Association Walter Isard Distinguished Scholarship award (1997){{cite web |title=Walter Isard Distinguished Scholarship award |url=https://www.narsc.org/newsite/awards-prizes/narsc-awards-prizes/#:~:text=Walter%20Isard%20Award%20for%20Scholarly%20Achievement&text=Established%20in%201994%2C%20the%20award,Regional%20Science%20throughout%20their%20careers. |website=North American Regional Science Association |access-date=2 August 2023}}

The Journal of Geographical Systems, and Journal Regional Geography both published memorials for Getis. In 2024, the Journal of Geographical Systems published a special issue titled "Arthur Getis: A LEGEND in Geographical Systems."{{cite journal |last1=Murray |first1=Alan T. |last2=Anselin |first2=Luc |last3=Rey |first3=Sergio J. |title=Arthur Getis: a legend in geographical systems |journal=Journal of Geographical Systems |date=2024 |volume=26 |issue=2 |pages=181–190 |doi=10.1007/s10109-024-00443-2 |url=https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10109-024-00443-2 |access-date=28 July 2024|doi-access=free }}

Getis was born and raised in Pennsylvania and was the youngest child of Samuel and Sophie (Zeitzew) Getis. He met Judith (Marckwardt) Getis while at the University of Washington, who he married in 1961 and had three daughters with. He enjoyed traveling, tennis, bridge, and scrabble.

• {{Annotated link|Alexander Stewart Fotheringham}}
• {{Annotated link|Dot distribution map}}
• {{Annotated link|Duane Marble}}
• {{Annotated link|George F. Jenks}}
• {{Annotated link|Michael DeMers}}
• {{Annotated link|Otsu's Method}}
• {{Annotated link|Quantitative geography}}
• {{Annotated link|Technical geography}}

{{Reflist}}

{{Geography topics}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Getis, Arthur}}

Category:20th-century American geographers

Category:Geographic information scientists

Category:Rutgers University faculty

Category:University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign faculty

Category:University of California, Santa Barbara faculty

Category:University of Washington alumni

Category:Pennsylvania State University alumni

Category:1934 births

Category:2022 deaths

Category:Spatial statisticians