Michael Frank Goodchild (born February 24, 1944) is a British-American geographer. He is currently a professor of geography at the University of California, Santa Barbara. After nineteen years at the University of Western Ontario, including three years as chair, he moved to Santa Barbara in 1988, as part of the establishment of the National Center for Geographic Information and Analysis, which he has directed for over 20 years.
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His most influential work has involved research on Geographic Information Science (aka GIS or computer mapping). He is widely credited with coining "Volunteered Geographic Information" and is considered the world's foremost expert on the topic.
As a doctoral student at McMaster University, Goodchild rediscovered Castleguard Cave (20 kilometers long, the longest cave in Canada). His student Alan Glennon discovered an entrance and made significant discoveries to the Martin Ridge Cave System, Kentucky (51.8 kilometers long). Goodchild's dissertation advisor, Dr. Derek C. Ford, is a highly-influential Canadian geomorphologist and karst scientist.
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