 The "GISTBoK" is intended to be used in a variety of applications, including curriculum design, educational assessment, educational program accreditation, professional certification, hiring practices, and project RFP's.All of these activities are elements of the current trend toward regulation and standardization of the geospatial professions, and much of the opposition to the "Body of Knowledge" comes from those opposed to this trend, especially in academia, who feel that GIS&T is too diverse, interdisciplinary, and subjective to be regulated.One counterargument to this opposition is that the body of knowledge approach enables a flexible form of regulation that accommodates a diversity of skills and viewpoints.