Revisiting the "Is GIScience a science?' debate (or quite possibly scientific gerrymandering)

This article was motivated by a senior biologist calling a junior GIScientist's bluff, when she attempted to wave the flag for GISc (Geographic Information Science). Whether GISc is a science is a long-standing debate, and one that continuously resurfaces within the literature and within the everyday lives of a GIScientist; not least those that have senior biologists poking fun at their discipline. It is ever pertinent in the face of changing disciplinary boundaries, be they mergers of departments or shifts from departments to research groups and of changes in research funding regimes. Despite a number of previous articles, there is scope for further discussion, bringing that argument closer to a much larger and longer standing debate in science, that of the demarcation problem. The purpose of this article is to revisit the question of whether GISc is a science, applying the ideas formulated within the philosophy of science on the demarcation problem. The conclusion drawn is that GISc can indeed be considered a science.