What's so special about spatial?

This article was organised with the purpose of arguing publicly that geographic information (GI) is well differentiated from other multimedia content areas (thus the maxim, 'spatial is special'). The primary argument is that space is basic and fundamental (as is time), and as such subsumes other content areas: cultural heritage, medical/technical, and business information - all of which have spatial components. A place for everything, and everything in its place. A solid foundation of base GI would contribute to the European Commission's highest goals at present - growth, competiveness and employment. GIS Europe is doing its part by inviting four distinguished members of the European GI community to address the topic, 'why spatial is special'. The views come from spatial analysis and statistics, administration and policy, and even the cognitive sciences - in respect of the semantics of geographic information.