Spatial Thinking
Aus Geoinformation HSR
Version vom 27. Oktober 2012, 23:26 Uhr von Stefan (Diskussion | Beiträge)
In a conference, Robert Weibel (Weibel 2012) proposed to discuss and compile a set of laws and theses coming from GIS Science which could be of interest to a broader audience.
Hereafter there is a first compilation of such candidate laws and theses of spatial thinking:
- "Tobler's First Law": "Nearby things are more related than distant things", Spatial Autocorrelation (Tobler 1970).
- "First Law of Cognitive Geography": "People think closer things are more similar" (Montello and Sarah Fabrikant)
- "Limited Map Space Conflict": All important places are at the corners of four map sheets. (Goodchild 2004)
- "Modifiable Areal Unit Problem" (MAUP): A potential source of error that can affect spatial studies which utilise aggregate data sources into higher level units and scales (Ratcliffe)
- "Spatial heterogeneity problem": Space is non-stationary and has uncontrolled variance (included by the MAUP but considering only variety, not scale/aggregation). Means that sampling is problematic; one must visit all of it to understand its full complexity. Results depend explicitly on the bounds of the study. (Goodchild 2004)
- "Scale/resolution problem": A fundamental property of any geographic representation. Two characteristics: spatial resolution and spatial extent. Conflict over "large" and "small". What does it mean in digital data? (Goodchild 2004)
- "Problem of absolute vs. relative areal measurements" (absolute no. of persons/people should be represented as density i.e. people per square). (Goodchild 2004).
References:
- Weibel, R. (2012): "Keynote OGRS 2012 Conference", 26. october 2016, unpublished.
- Openshaw, S. (1984): "The modifiable areal unit problem", In: Concepts and Techniques in Modern Geography 38: 41., see also http://www.jratcliffe.net/research/maup.htm
- Goodchild, M. (2004): "Spatial Thinking..." (p.53 and 54 ). http://www.csiss.org/SPACE/workshops/2004/SAG/files/goodchild_spatial.pdf
- Tobler, W.R. (1970): A computer movie simulating urban growth in the Detroit region. Economic Geography46: 234-240