(Santa Barbara, Calif.) -- UC Santa Barbara geographers Michael Goodchild and Reg Golledge have been honored with awards by the University Consortium for Geographic Information Science, an affiliation of universities dedicated to understanding geographic processes and spatial relationships.

Goodchild was named UCGIS Educator of the Year. Golledge was honored as UCGIS Researcher of the Year. Both men are professors of geography at UCSB.

In lauding Goodchild, a pioneer in computer-based geographical information systems, the consortium called attention to his efforts to establish a curriculum for geographic information science and to his recent textbook, "Geographic Information: Systems and Science" (Wiley, 2001; written with Paul Longley, David Maguire, and David Rhine). "Michael Goodchild is a great educator who has impeccable credentials and who has done a great deal to foster and maintain a high standard of excellence in geographic information science education," said UCGIS president Art Getis, a professor of geography at San Diego State University. "His extraordinary research contributions to GI Science were recently recognized by his election to the National Academy of Science."

Goodchild is director of the National Center for Geographic Information and Analysis at UCSB and of the NCGIA's Center for Spatially Integrated Social Science. He also is associate director of the Alexandria Digital Library. He came to UCSB in 1988.

Golledge, who joined the UCSB faculty in 1977, has been a leading contributor to the development of electronic navigational aids for visually impaired people. He has also done research in urban and regional modeling, transportation, migration, and cognitive mapping.

"Dr. Golledge has had a remarkable career and he has been a leading contributor on a variety of geographic topics for nearly four decades," said Getis. "His important contributions include linking geography and other social science disciplines to geographic information science."