{{Short description|American geographer and spatial statistician}} {{Infobox scientist | name = Arthur Getis | image = ArthurGetis.png | alt = | caption = | birth_date = {{Birth date|1934|07|06}} | birth_place = Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, US | death_date = {{Death date and age|2022|05|13|1934|07|06}} | death_place = San Diego, California, US | alma_mater = Pennsylvania State University<br>University of Washington | thesis_year = 1961 | doctoral_advisor = William Garrison | known_for = Getis-Ord Statistics | thesis_title = A theoretical and empirical inquiry into the spatial structure of retail activities | thesis_url = https://digital.lib.washington.edu/researchworks/handle/1773/5646 | workplaces = Rutgers University<br>University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign<br>University of California, Santa Barbara<br>San Diego State University }} '''Arthur Getis''' (July 6, 1934 – May 13, 2022) was an American geographer known for his significant contributions to spatial statistics and geographic information science (GIScience).<ref name="Fischer1">{{cite journal |last1=Fischer |first1=Manfred M. |title=In memoriam: Professor Arthur Getis (July 6, 1934 – May 13, 2022) |journal=Journal of Geographical Systems |date=2022 |volume=24 |issue=3 |pages=281–283 |doi=10.1007/s10109-022-00390-w|bibcode=2022JGS....24..281F |s2cid=250510161 }}</ref><ref name="Fischer2">{{cite web |last1=Fischer |first1=Manfred M. |title=In Memoriam: Professor Arthur Getis (July 6, 1934 – May 13, 2022) |url=https://regionalscience.org/index.php/news/obituaries/item/3035-in-memoriam-professor-arthur-getis-july-6,-1934-%E2%80%93-may-13,-2022.html |website=Regional Science |access-date=2 August 2023}}</ref><ref name="Hewings1">{{cite web |last1=Hewings |first1=Geoff |title=Dr. Arthur Getis (1934–2022) |url=https://ggis.illinois.edu/news/2022-05-18/dr-arthur-getis-1934-2022 |website=UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS URBANA-CHAMPAIGN: Department of Geography & Geographic Information Science |access-date=2 August 2023}}</ref><ref name="Obituary">{{cite web |title=OBITUARY: Arthur Getis |url=https://www.dignitymemorial.com/obituaries/san-diego-ca/arthur-getis-10752410 |website=Dignity Memorial |access-date=2 August 2023}}</ref> With a career spanning over four decades, Getis authored more than one hundred peer-reviewed papers and book chapters, greatly influencing GIScience and geography as a whole.<ref name="warf2010">{{cite book |editor1-last=Warf |editor1-first=Barney |title=Encyclopedia of Geography |date=2010 |publisher=SAGE Publications, Inc. |pages=1275 |url=https://doi.org/10.4135/9781412939591.n498 |access-date=27 April 2025 |chapter=Getis, Arthur (1934-) |doi=10.4135/9781412939591.n498 |isbn=978-1-4129-5697-0 }}</ref><ref name="UCGIS1">{{cite web |title=Arthur Getis |url=https://www.ucgis.org/arthur-getis |website=University Consortium for Geographic Information Science |access-date=2 August 2023}}</ref> The Getis-Ord family of statistics, one of the most commonly used in spatial analysis, is based on his and J. Keith Ord's work and is still widely used in the creation of hot spot maps.<ref name="Mitchell1">{{cite book |last1=Mitchell |first1=Andy |title=The ESRI Guide to GIS Analysis, Volume 2. |date=2005 |publisher=Esri Press |isbn=978-1589481169 |edition=1}}</ref><ref name="Getis1">{{cite journal |last1=Getis |first1=Arthur A. |last2=Ord |first2=J. K. |title=The Analysis of Spatial Association by Use of Distance Statistics |journal=Geographical Analysis |date=1992 |volume=24 |issue=3 |pages=189–206 |doi=10.1111/j.1538-4632.1992.tb00261.x|bibcode=1992GeoAn..24..189G }}</ref><ref name="Ord1">{{cite journal |last1=Ord |first1=J.K. |last2=Getis |first2=Arthur |title=Local Spatial Autocorrelation Statistics: Distributional Issues and an Application |journal=Geographical Analysis |date=1995 |volume=27 |issue=4 |pages=286–306 |doi=10.1111/j.1538-4632.1995.tb00912.x|bibcode=1995GeoAn..27..286O |doi-access=free }}</ref>
==Education and field== Arthur Getis earned both his B.S. and M.S. in Geography from Pennsylvania State University.<ref name="Fischer1" /><ref name="Fischer2" /><ref name="Obituary" /> In 1961, he earned his Ph.D. in geography at University of Washington Department of Geography.<ref name="Fischer1" /><ref name="Fischer2" /><ref name="Obituary" /> Here, he worked as a doctoral student under William Garrison, a prominent geographer and leader of the quantitative revolution in geography.<ref name="warf2010" /><ref name="Murray2023">{{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 }}</ref><ref name="AAG1">{{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}}</ref> His doctoral dissertation focused on individual behaviors and how they manifest as collective spatial patterns.<ref name="Fischer1" /><ref name="Fischer2" /> 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.<ref name="Fischer1" /><ref name="UCGIS1" />
==Career== 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.<ref name="ArthurCV">{{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}}</ref> 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.<ref name="ArthurCV"/><ref name="Bunge1962">{{cite book |last1=Bunge |first1=William |title=Theoretical Geography |date=1962 |publisher=Lund Series in Geography |isbn=9789140024565 |page=43 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rCkqTJYcFR8C |access-date=27 April 2025}}</ref> Getis left MSU for a position at Rutgers University Livingston College in 1963, where he did groundbreaking research in the discipline of spatial analysis.<ref name="Fischer1" /> In 1977, Gettis took a position in the geography department at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, where he served as department head.<ref name="Fischer1" /> 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.<ref name="Fischer1" /><ref name="Hewings1" /> In addition to these academic positions, he also held visiting professorships at the University of Bristol and the University of Cambridge.<ref name="Obituary" />
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.<ref name="Fischer1" /><ref name="Getis7">{{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 }}</ref> Working with Keith Ord, he created the innovative and highly influential Getis-Ord family of statistics.<ref name="warf2010" /><ref name="Fischer1" /><ref name="Mitchell1" />
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.<ref name="Tobler1">{{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 }}</ref><ref>{{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/}}</ref><ref name="Fischer1" /> Getis worked with geographer Michael Goodchild to establish GIScience foundations in academia, advancing the discipline.<ref name="Fischer1" /><ref name="UCGIS1" />
Getis worked with Manfred M. Fischer to found the Journal of Geographical Systems in 1994.<ref name="warf2010" /> This journal focuses on both theoretical and applied spatial modeling, methods, and results.<ref name="Springer1">{{cite web |title=Journal of Geographical Systems |url=https://www.springer.com/journal/10109 |website=Springer |access-date=2 August 2023}}</ref> 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.<ref name="Springer2">{{cite web |title=Journal of Geographical Systems: Editors |url=https://www.springer.com/journal/10109/editors |website=Springer |access-date=2 August 2023}}</ref>
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.<ref name="UCGIS1" /><ref name="Fischer2" /> After serving as president of UCGIS, Getis was on the executive committee until 2004.<ref name="UCGIS1" />
==Publications== 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.<ref name="UCGIS1" /><ref>{{google scholar id|O3aZnqIAAAAJ}}</ref> 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.<ref name="warf2010" /> 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.<ref name="warf2010" /><ref name="Getis1" /><ref name="UCGIS1" /> In addition to these, Getis helped author or edit eleven books, many still widely in use in geography classes.<ref name="Obituary" /><ref name="UCGIS1" /> 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.<ref name="Hewings1" /><ref name="Judith1">{{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}}</ref>
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}}<ref name="warf2010" /> *{{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}}<ref name="warf2010" /> *{{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}}<ref name="warf2010" />
==Getis-Ord family of statistics== {{main|Getis-Ord Statistics}} thumb|Hotspot map of the Estimated 2020 Population Over 65 in the contiguous United States of America. 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<ref name="Esri1">{{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}}</ref> and Getis-Ord Gi*<ref name="Esri2">{{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}}</ref> statistic.<ref name="Hewings1" /><ref name="Mitchell1" /> Based on a 1992 paper titled "The Analysis of Spatial Association by Use of Distance Statistics"<ref name="Getis1" /> and a 1995 paper titled "Local Spatial Autocorrelation: Distributional Issues and an Application",<ref name="Ord1" /> the Getis-Ord family of statistics are used extensively in spatial statistics.<ref name="Fischer1" /><ref name="Hewings1" /><ref name="UCGIS1" /> These are used to detect clustering of high or low values within a study area.<ref name="Mitchell1" /> 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.<ref name="Fischer1" />
The Getis-Ord family of statistics has been applied across a variety of disciplines, including epidemiology/public health, land use, crime analysis, and economics.<ref name="Fischer1" /> 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.<ref name="Mitchell1" /><ref name="Esri1" /><ref name="Esri2" />
==Awards and honors== During his career, Getis received many honors and awards.<ref name="Hewings1" /> These awards include:
*Regional Science Association International Founder's Medal (2012)<ref name="RSAI1">{{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}}</ref> *UCGIS Fellows grade (2010)<ref name="UCGIS1" /> *American Association of Geographers Distinguished Scholarship Honors (2002)<ref name="warf2010" /><ref name="AAG2">{{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}}</ref> *North American Regional Science Association Walter Isard Distinguished Scholarship award (1997)<ref name="warf2010" /><ref name="NARSC1">{{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}}</ref>
===Memorials===
The Journal of Geographical Systems, and Journal Regional Geography both published memorials for Getis.<ref name="Fischer1" /><ref name="Fischer2" /> In 2024, the Journal of Geographical Systems published a special issue titled "Arthur Getis: A LEGEND in Geographical Systems."<ref name="Murray2024">{{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 |bibcode=2024JGS....26..181M |doi-access=free }}</ref>
==Personal life== Getis was born and raised in Pennsylvania and was the youngest child of Samuel and Sophie (Zeitzew) Getis.<ref name="Obituary" /> He met Judith (Marckwardt) Getis while at the University of Washington, who he married in 1961 and had three daughters with.<ref name="Obituary" /><ref name="Judith1" /> He enjoyed traveling, tennis, bridge, and scrabble.<ref name="Obituary" />
==See also== {{Div col|small=yes}} * {{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}} {{div col end}}
==References== {{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 Category:San Diego State University faculty