I found this article quite interesting, in both its recap of traditional Network analyses (i.e. Djikstra’s formula) as well as how the network features of GIS are some of GIScience’s earliest and most popular uses. I find the point on how Graph Theory is ultimately the thought holding this immense function together. On this train of thought, I was very surprised to hear that a ‘non-topological’ network existed and is still used to some degree. How a network can be formed without information linking the network to other nodes makes no sense to me, and seems to defeat the point of creating a network.
I like how the author states that Network GIS is a sub-discipline of GIScience, and goes so far as to claim it’s the only one with linear referencing, which I assume since many GIS functions rely on network analysis, ultimately anything that uses a network incorporates this (making it seem not that out of the ordinary).
Lastly, I found the use of Network Analysis in multi-disciplinary fields like microbiology and neurology very interesting, and definitely would use this as an argument that network analysis is purely a tool. As a tool it’s extremely powerful in that it’s a simple to use and understand data structure which can use many algorithms for interesting analyses.
-MercatorGator