Geoscientists used to work in a “data poor, theory rich” environment, but in the last few years this has changed.  The advent of new data collection techniques, such as new sensors and geodemographic collection and estimation, as well as Web-based informal input have led to an explosion in the amount and variety of geospatial data.  GIS is an excellent system for integrating, managing, and analyzing geographic information.  In recent years ESRI has added exploratory spatial data analysis (ESDA) tools, new analytical methods (e.g. geographically-weighted regression, kriging, and point clustering), and better ways to integrate with other analysis and modeling packages (e.g. SAS and R).  All of this is encouraging a return to inductive investigation and increasing use of data mining techniques in academic research.