A Framework for Research on Spatial Analysis Relevant to Geo-Statistical Informations Systems in Europe

The paper emphasises the importance of a research programme focused on developing and making widely available GIS relevant spatial analysis technology. It outlines generic criteria able to discriminate between GIS-relevant and GIS-irrelevant spatial analysis tools and outlines a list of six researchable spatial analysis themes. It is argued that presently there is an opportunity to develop a EU based spatial analysis research programme and then install the technology in the World's GIS. (authors' abstract)Series: Discussion Papers of the Institute for Economic Geography and GIScienc

Areal interpolation and the UK’s referendum on EU membership

I show how results from the United Kingdom’s referendum on membership of the European Union can be remapped from local authority level to parliamentary constituency level through the use of a scaled Poisson regression model which incorporates demographic information from lower level geographies. I use these estimates to show how the geographic distribution of signatures to a petition for a second referendum was strongly associated with how constituencies voted in the actual referendum

Le problème de l'agrégation spatiale en géographie

The spatial aggregation problem in geography. — the geographical analysis of zonal data is faced with a number of methodological problems. particularly important are those that result from the spatial aggregation of data for natural and indivisible units to areal units which are modifiable and arbitrary. the paper examine the geographical aspects of this aggregation problem, it reviews the evidence which points to the severity of the problem, and discusses ways of overcoming it by the development of a more appropriate geographical approach to the study of spatially aggregated data.L'analyse géographique des données spatialisées est confrontée à nombre de problèmes méthodologiques. Ceux qui résultent de l'agrégation spatiale de données d'entités naturelles et indivisibles en unités spatiales modifiables et arbitraires sont cruciaux. L'article étudie les aspects géographiques de ce problème de l'agrégation, il recense les faits qui démontrent l'acuité du problème et discute les manières de les surmonter par le développement d'une approche géographique plus appropriée à l'étude des données spatialement agrégées.Openshaw Stan. Le problème de l'agrégation spatiale en géographie. In: Espace géographique, tome 10, n°1, 1981. pp. 15-24

Forecasting global climatic change impacts on Mediterranean agricultural land use in the 21st Century

The paper describes the development of a prototype Synoptic Prediction System (SPS) for the European Union (EU) funded Mediterranean desertification and land use project (MEDALUS III). The prototype SPS was designed to forecast the possible impacts of global climatic change on agricultural land use patterns across the Mediterranean region of the EU. Designing such a system was a challenging task because many of the theoretically desirable data sets were either unavailable or did not exist, whilst significant uncertainties were apparent in the available data. Additionally, process knowledge was woefully deficient as virtually all the principal mechanisms for linking the dynamics of the climate and physical environment with the associated socio-economic systems were poorly understood. In order to make the best predictions of the geographical impacts of climatic change for around 75 years hence we developed an integrated, synoptic, GIS, scenario based modelling approach as we believed it was the best available option. So, the paper describes the development of a prototype Synoptic Prediction System (SPS) which employs a mix of GIS, neurocomputing, and fuzzy logic technologies to attempt the almost impossible yet important task of forecasting agricultural land degradation risk under various climate change scenarios. The paper focuses on methods developed to enrich the available data, the quantitative approach to modelling and forecasting land use using neural networks, and the fuzzy logic based translation of the modelling results into land degradation terms

Modelling and Optimising Flows Using Parallel Spatial Interaction Models

The paper demonstrates some of the benefits that high performance computing has to offer geographers. It reports the results of porting and then using very large spatial interaction models on the Cray T3D parallel supercomputer in modelling and spatial optimisation applications that would otherwise have been judged computationally infeasible. Keywords optimisation, simulated annealing, parallel design, data parallel, retail networks, modelling Background The entropy-maximising spatial interaction model is used for modelling many different types of flow data in both research and applied contexts. Examples of flow data are: journey to work trips, airline traffic, retail behaviour, world trade and telephone traffic in which flows of people, money, information etc., connect origin zones to destination zones. These zones have a geographical expression on maps whilst the flow data provides a useful summary of the very complex processes and behaviour patterns that generated them; for example..

Using GIS To Explore The Technical And Social Aspects Of Selection For Radioactive Waste Disposal Facilities

This working paper reviews the current situation regarding radioactive waste disposal in the UK and questions the pursuance of a purely engineering approach to gaining public support. Past histories concerning the siting of nuclear industry facilities; power stations and latterly, waste repositories, are briefly discussed and used to demonstrate that more attention needs to be paid to the geographical and social science if current proposals for a rock laboratory, and ultimately an operational repository, at Longlands Farm near Sellafield are to succeed. The usefulness of Geographical Information Systems (GIS) and associated spatial information technologies are highlighted. Suggestions are made as to how these may be made available for public use via the Internet in adopting a more open approach to public information, consultation and participation. 1. Introduction: identifying the problem The radioactive waste disposal problem has been with us now for nearly half a century. After the..