Computing Geographically: Bridging Giscience and Geography

✍ Scribed by David O'Sullivan

• Publisher: The Guilford Press
• Year: 2024
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 331
• Edition: 1
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

Geographic information science (GISc) and systems (GIS) have grown rapidly in recent decades, increasingly on a separate track from geographic thought. As geography's "big ideas"--such as space, place, boundaries, scale, process, and relationality--have evolved, what does this mean for their computational representation? This book considers how key concepts have developed in geography and are represented (or not) in GISc, with a view to bridging gaps between the two. David O'Sullivan shows how revisiting the theoretical underpinnings of geography offers insights on enduring GIS challenges--including map projections, the modifiable areal unit problem, scale and map generalization, and the nature of space and place--while also enriching geographic thought. The book uses examples from across geography's subdisciplines to promote understanding. Chapters are self-contained essays that can easily form the basis of classroom discussions. The companion website provides the figures, code to produce versions of selected figures, updated web links, and other resources.

✦ Table of Contents

Cover
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Preface
Acknowledgments
Contents
List of Figures
Chapter 1. Building Bridges
A History of My Spaces
Becoming a GISer (1996–2000)
Becoming a Geographer (2000–2004)
Becoming a Bridge (2004–)
Reflections
Plan of the Book
On the Imperfectibility of Representations
How to Read the Book
Chapter 2. Location and Space
The Nature of Space
Absolute Space
Relative Space
Relational Space
Space in Giscience
Absolute Space in GIS
Relative Space in Quantitative Geography
Prospects for Relative/Relational Giscience
Data Structures That Include Adjacency
The Voronoi Model of Space
Object Fields
Graph Databases
Spatial Analysis and Spatial Models
From Space to Everything else
Chapter 3. Scale and Projection
Scale in Geographical Theory
Scale as Size or Scope
Scale as Hierarchy
Scale as Socially Constructed
The End of Scale?
Scale in Giscience
Scale and the Web Map
Scale and Map Projection
Scale-Dependencies: Resolution and Generalization
The Salience of Scale
Chapter 4. Place and Meaning in Space
From Space to Place
Making Space Legible: Addressing the World
Place: The Intersection of Space With Experience
Everything in Its Place
Place in Relational Space
Place in Giscience
Place as Vague Location: Gazetteers
Place as Geographical Context
Place and Meaning
Place in Mind: Cognitive Maps
Toward Computable Place?
Chapter 5. Lines and Areas
Drawing Lines: The Originary Power of Maps
The Map and the State
New Lines and Countermapping
Territory and Territoriality
Escaping the Territorial Trap
Fiat and Bona Fide Boundaries and Objects
When the Map Is and Is Not the Territory
Exclaves: Territory Interruptus
Territory, Borders, and Movement
Territory and Property: Cadastral Data
Territory and Governance: Statistical Aggregations
The Arbitrariness of Boundaries
The Modifiable Areal Unit Problem
Regionalizing Space
Moving On From Geometry
Chapter 6. Relations, Networks, Flows
Relations, Space, and Place
Mathematical Graphs
Relations Do Not a Network Make
Network Science
Local Properties
Network Distance and Path Lengths
Centrality
Connection, Disconnection, and Communities
Functional Roles and Blockmodels
Small Worlds
Graph Drawings as (Possible) Projections
Networks Are Flows Frozen in Place
Chapter 7. Time and Dynamics
Time and Space: A Coin With Two Sides
Cartography and Giscience's Problem With Time
The Trouble With Snapshots
Hägerstrand's Time Geography
The Space-Time Aquarium
Limits to Time Geography
Beyond Time Geography: Mobilities and Human Dynamics
From Time to Dynamic Processes
Chapter 8. Process and Pattern
Process Philosophies
Process, Space, Place, and Pattern
Related Strands in Geographical Thought
Postscript: Process in General and Process in Particular
The Place of Complexity Theory
Getting to Grips With Complexity
Reflecting on Complexity
Simulation Models
Cellular Automata
Agent-Based Models
CA and ABMs as Geographical Process Models
Process and Pattern Revisited
Chapter 9. Doing Giscience Doing Geography
Common Ground: A Space to Think
Doing Giscience: Representation as Process and Practice
Toward Doing Differently
Finally…
References
Index
About the Author