Geospatial technologies are often and rightly described as “powerful.” With power comes the ability to cause harm – intentionally or unintentionally - as well as to do good. In the context of GIS&T, Practical Ethics is the set of knowledge, skills and abilities needed to make reasoned decisions in light of the risks posed by geospatial technologies and methods in a wide variety of use cases. Ethics have been considered from different viewpoints in the GIS&T field. A practitioner's perspective may be based on a combination of "ordinary morality," institutional ethics policies, and professional ethics codes. By contrast, an academic scholar's perspective may be grounded in social or critical theory. What these perspectives have in common is reliance on reason to respond with integrity to ethical challenges. This entry focuses on the special obligations of GIS professionals, and on a method that educators can use to help students develop moral reasoning skills that GIS professionals need. The important related issues of Critical GIS and Spatial Law and Policy are to be considered elsewhere.
Balancing data access, security, and privacy is a significant challenge in the digital environment. This entry examines the conflicts among these elements, which enable innovation but create vulnerabilities. Open data access fuels advancements in tools like navigation apps and AI systems but risks breaches, as seen with ransomware targeting cloud systems. Data privacy laws aim to protect autonomy but can hinder progress, while emerging cyberthreats, such as quantum computers cracking encryption, erode public trust. Technological solutions offer potential solutions: homomorphic encryption enables secure data computations, federated learning preserves privacy in AI training, and differential privacy shields individual identities in analytics. Decentralized systems empower users, and AI-driven security detects threats effectively, though scalability and ethical concerns persist. Real-world applications, from healthcare collaborations to smart city planning, demonstrate how these technologies align these elements, fostering innovation without compromising safety. Emerging trends, such as secure multi-party computation and personal data vaults, offer improved control, but ethical issues, including surveillance risks, require careful consideration. This enrty identifies strategies to balance these elements, supporting innovation while protecting trust, autonomy, and ethical responsibility.