Applied GIS and Spatial Analysis

403 pages | 2004 | PDF | 22.6Mb Applied work in geographical information systems (GIS) and spatial analysis has been a persistent component of research activity in geography and regional science for several decades. This introductory chapter of this book establishes the background to the contemporary flurry of applied activity, explains the structure of the book and introduces the contents of the chapters that constitute the various parts into which the book has been divided. The history of applied spatial modelling has been a chequered one. If we ignore the elements of simple numerical reporting in the early commercial geographies of the nineteenth century, then we can probably trace the origins of applied quantitative spatial analysis to the fields of transportation modelling, especially at the University of Pennsylvania, in the early 1960s (Herbert and Stevens, 1960; Harris, 1962). athematical geography became prevalent in planning circles both in the USA and in Europe from this time onwards. The early 1960s also witnessed the emergence of statistical geography: the search for patterns or similarities in spatial data sets and the testing for significance, with the aim of providing universal spatial theories and laws (or at least theories that worked well in the real world). Although this was often very empirical in nature, it seldom extended beyond the academic geography community. There are excellent summaries in Haggett (1965) and Haggett et al. (1977). Quote: Download: (Size: 22.6Mb) RapidShare Quote: MY OTHER PUBLICATIONS