American influence on Japanese human geography: A focus on the quantitative and GIS revolutions

Japanese geography has been greatly influenced by American academia since the Second World War. The first wave was the quantitative revolution, which occurred at the end of the 1950s. Sophisticated analytical techniques and fine spatial models were introduced to Japanese geography and used in empirical studies, especially in the field of urban/transportation geography in the 1970s. The second wave was the new geography in the 1980s, including behavioral, radical and humanistic approaches. The third wave was the GIS revolution in the 1990s, which has been promoting a problem-solving approach focusing on policy matters. In this paper, I discuss how American geography has impacted on the development of Japanese human geography during this half century.     

Teaching GIS in the Gulf Co-operation Council Universities – With a case study of the geography department, University of the United Arab Emirates

Within universities there has developed a clear theoretical convergence between Geographical Information Systems (GIS) and geography (Antenuccl, 1991). Studies have revealed that one of the qualified departments to teach GIS within universities is the geography department. This study focuses on: the importance of establishing GIS as a major curriculum element within universities. In geography departments, economic geography students require a strong statistical/mathematical background to allow them to work with major databases. They should know how to design a specific database for economic activities, such as agriculture and manufacturing, and tertiary industry and how to relate this database to a map, so that changes can be monitored more accurately. In any aspect of geography spatial location is a key factor and GIS allows spatial patterns to be interpreted with great facility. Therefore it is important that students have a good knowledge not only of computers and related software on economic geography, but also on GIS systems (Burrough, 1993). The work of geography students from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and other Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) geography departments is examined to evaluate the importance of training in GIS technology. This paper evaluates the effects of implementing GIS as a tool in teaching economic geography. At present there are 15 geography departments in the GCC which offer economic geography. Of those 15 departments, only 3 provide GIS courses within their curriculum, and 4 have basic equipment, although 6 additional departments are to introduce GIS in the near future. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

GIS and quantitative geography

The purpose of this paper is to explore the development of the GIS revolution within the field of geography in the 1980s and 1990s, taking into consideration the influence of external and internal factors on disciplinary change. Geography is rapidly changing by the impact of external factors on geographical research and also as a consequence of economic recession and cutbacks in higher education. Most geography departments in universities have tried to approach this impact by promoting or shifting to human geography as an applied science, and by offering relevant skills through GIS as an approach to contemporary problems. It is concluded that quantitative geography is essential for the further expansion of GIS within geography and also for the survival of geography. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Web GIS--网络时代的地理信息系统

概述WebGIS的构成，特色、设计思想，实现方法等，通过与传统GIS比较，展望其未来在GIS领域扮演的角色。     

The changing iconography of Japanese political geography

Our world is very fluid, very complex, constantly moving, made up of a great number of interdependent components. Therefore, the locus and the orbit of a particular area play an important role in geography and in politics. The purpose of this study is to examine the iconography of orbit and freedom of movement through an analysis of the transformation of the international politico-economic structure and its impact on Japan and to make clear the footsteps of Jean Gottmann on political geography. Due to its locus being on the crossroad of international power struggles, Japan had accepted different iconographies of orbits every time she faced great mutation in her history. This, in turn, accelerated the synchronism, synergism and synthesis of different iconographies that came to converge at the crossroad. The integration of imported cultures with the Japanese traditional culture promoted the transformation of Japanese society and community to emphasize the freedom of movements. The flexibility of Japanese society and the unifying iconography of Japanese community have enabled Japan to adapt and readapt to changing politico-economic phases. Interested in the relationship between freedom of movement and iconography, Jean Gottmann spent a considerable portion of his academic life inquiring into the changing dynamics of Japanese iconography on the global scene. After a quarter-century pursuit, he contributed to the establishment of political geography in Japan.     

The changing iconography of Japanese political geography

Our world is very fluid, very complex, constantly moving, made up of a great number of interdependent components. Therefore, the locus and the orbit of a particular area play an important role in geography and in politics. The purpose of this study is to examine the iconography of orbit and freedom of movement through an analysis of the transformation of the international politico-economic structure and its impact on Japan and to make clear the footsteps of Jean Gottmann on political geography. Due to its locus being on the crossroad of international power struggles, Japan had accepted different iconographies of orbits every time she faced great mutation in her history. This, in turn, accelerated the synchronism, synergism and synthesis of different iconographies that came to converge at the crossroad. The integration of imported cultures with the Japanese traditional culture promoted the transformation of Japanese society and community to emphasize the freedom of movements. The flexibility of Japanese society and the unifying iconography of Japanese community have enabled Japan to adapt and readapt to changing politico-economic phases. Interested in the relationship between freedom of movement and iconography, Jean Gottmann spent a considerable portion of his academic life inquiring into the changing dynamics of Japanese iconography on the global scene. After a quarter-century pursuit, he contributed to the establishment of political geography in Japan.     

利用GIS的空间分析功能进行油气储层综合评价

探讨油气储层地质信息的特点及利用地理信息系统GIS(Geographical Infomation System)进行储层评价的优越性,通过储层综合评价数据库的建立,以GIS的空间数据分析为手段,利用GIS的特征提取与特征合并功能,提取隐含在地质、地球物理及测试等数据中的判别有利储层的特征信息。通过G1S的拓扑叠加功能分析各储层综合评价因素的相关性,对研究区进行储层综合评价。     

基于知识推理的节水型城市评估系统

对专家系统和地理信息系统之间的有效集成与综合应用进行研究,以节水型城市建设、申请及考核的相关指标为例,建立基于专家系统开发工具CLIPS的节水型城市评价知识库,进而以跨平台的Qt/C++为编程语言,实现专家知识库系统和基于ArcEngine组件的地理信息系统集成,完成基于知识推理的节水型城市评估系统原型机.以甘肃张掖为例,演示了专家系统和地理信息系统集成在水资源管理领域的应用,显示出地理信息系统与专家系统的集成可作为解决非结构化、不确定的地学问题的有效手段,具有广阔的应用前景.     

Geomorphology and GIS in Japan: Background and characteristics

Japanese geomorphology has historically adopted methods and concepts from research in western countries and applied them to landforms in Japan and the flow of information has, in the past, been very much unidirectional. This situation is becoming more balanced, with increasing activity of Japanese geomorphologists within the international research arena. Accordingly, many sub-fields of geomorphology in Japan are now making important contributions at the international scale. However, GIS applications in Japanese geomorphology have been more limited, at a time of rapid expansion of GIS in geomorphology within western countries. Although in some countries, technical and financial limitations might inhibit GIS popularisation; this explanation cannot be applied to Japan, given the high level of technological resources within the country. It is suggested here that there are certain historical and cultural aspects of Japanese society, which may have contributed to delayed GIS propagation within Japan. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Social epidemiology as medical geography: Back to the future

There is something very traditional about Nancy Krieger’s decidedly modern work. She advances a social epidemiology that is multidisciplinary, advancing a “quantitative population science” that is also spatial in its approach and method of analysis. Many geographers see their work as affirming the potential of medical cartography and geography as disciplines critical to public health studies of disease incidence. This article argues that the history of epidemiology and public health are historically spatial and geographic, a link lost in the research of many twentieth century health researchers. A review of the history of medical geography, and of public health, insists upon the spatiality of disease studies as a critical groundwork not simply for contemporary disease studies but for the history of disease studies as they have slowly developed over for more than 200 years.     

Applications of GIS to urban planning and management: Problems facing Japanese local governments

Japanese local governments consist of about 3,380 municipalities in 2000. The total survey undertaken in 1997 says that GIS was implemented in 455 (14.3%) out of 3,182 municipalities that answered to the survey. This paper considers GIS utilization, especially focusing on urban planning and management in Japanese local government. Typical GIS applications in the urban planning and management are divided into three businesses: inquiry on the content of urban plan decision, register management, and planning. The most successful GIS application in the local government is an inquiry system on the content of urban plan decision. ‘Mappy’, Urban Plan Information Inquiry System developed by Yokohama City, is introduced as an example. The register management treats the registers for urban planned road, urban park, and urban open space, and the receipt book for development permission application. GIS can systematize their management based on maps. District diagnosis system using GIS performed two analyses in Ichikawa City. One is the calculation of area and ratio for land-use. The other is the measurement of land-use purity. GIS can calculate the degree of purity (namely occupancy rate) of specified land-use in the land-use zoning system. Most of Japanese local governments implement GIS and obtain moderate results. However, it is reported that some municipalities that paid huge amount of budget to implement GIS hardly used them. The final section will consider various issues in the use of administrative GIS. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

基于RS、GIS技术对贵州土地利用/覆被演化信息图谱研究

自陈述彭先生提出地学信息图谱后,许多学者探讨了地学信息图谱的理论、方法和应用。近年来我国许多学者运用地学信息图谱进行了各方面的地学研究,但是利用遥感影像进行岩溶地区的研究是一个新的探讨。本文主要利用TM遥感影像解译的数据和地理信息系统(GIS)建立岩溶地区(贵州省)的土地利用／覆被演化的信息图谱。     

地学信息图谱方法前瞻

地学信息图谱是地理学发展的新契机。地学信息图谱研究不仅局限于表现,更是一种分析方法。地学信息图谱是图形、方法和认知三者的综合与统一。从地理学自身、GIS技术和"数字地球"战略三方面分析了地学信息图谱发展的背景。通过古代阴阳理论、物理学、生物学以及传统地图学,阐述了信息分析中的图谱方法。结合信息时代的特点,阐述了地学信息图谱方法的切入点。根据地理学发展的现状,提出地学信息图谱研究的起步工作主要有三方面：区域地理单元及其等级体系;地理单元的遥感影像特征分析;地学信息的表达方法。着重讨论了地学信息图谱研究关键要解决的三方面的地理学问题：地理对象的概括、地理学基本问题的分类、地理信息及其表达。     

Japan's traditional view of nature and interpretation of landscape

Recently a few Japanese geographers became aware that the concept of nature in modern geography differs from that of traditional Japanese thought. As modern geography in Japan was formed by the influence of European geography, most academic geographers in Japan have followed the occidental view that proposed an opposition between cultural and natural landscapes and that, due to the belief in man's power, sees the former as superior to the latter. From an economic view point, in fact, the European concept of nature which is opposed to culture has contributed to land exploitation that caused the destruction of Japan's natural landscape.The time has come to consider the traditional Japanese idea of nature as Kami (gods) in comparison with the binary opposition of nature/culture which derives from modern rationalism. Kami who represent elements of nature belonged to a Pantheon in ancient Japan. Some examples of the Kami's names and their English explanations are as follows: Amaterasuomikami (godess of sun), Oyamatsumi-no-kami (god of the mountain's spirit), Nozuchi-no-kami (god of the field's spirit). In ancient Japan people believed that natural landscapes were created and inhabited by these Kami, and that the will of these Kami controlled the cultural domain. However, people provided shrines for Kami to placate their reckless domination. In this context, culture is in the hands of nature. This idea of nature's superiority to culture can explain the Japanese geographical concept of landscape.     

Fiddling on a different planet?

The recent commentaries in this journal by both [Hamnett, C., 2003. Contemporary human geography: fiddling while Rome burns, Geoforum 34, 1–3] and [Johnston, R., Hepple, L., Hoare, A., Jones, K., Plummer, P., 2003. Contemporary fiddling in human geography while Rome burns: has quantitative analysis been largely abandoned—and should it be? Geoforum 34, 157–161] do not recognise the phenomenal success of GIS in exporting a version of academic geography to the world at large. The note documents this success and explores possible implications for the discipline should it chose to engage with both the geographic information industry and the science that supports it.     

Geographic Information Systems: A Tool to Support Geography and Environmental Education?

Geographic information systems (GIS) education is at a crossroads in the United States. Since its inception in the early 1990s, GIS has diffused slowly into select groups of K-12 classrooms through the efforts of geography and environmental educators. However, many of the assumptions underpinning the initial period of enthusiasm for the technology are now being questioned. This paper reviews issues identified as barriers to dissemination in order to help shape and inform the next phase of GIS implementation. First, the existing arguments for GIS in elementary and secondary education in the United States are reviewed and evaluated. Second, considerations related to developing an improved pedagogical foundation for GIS are explored. Finally, implications and suggestions for guidelines for the next decade of dissemination and implementation of GIS are discussed. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

重大工程地下环境信息系统的设计与实现

地下环境信息系统是运用岩土工程、地理学、计算机图形学、计算数学等多学科理论和方法，以GIS技术为基础，结合数据库处理、C 语言编程、OpenGL编程技术、三维图像处理技术建立的对地下环境信息进行数据综合管理和分析的大型信息管理系统。结合笔者开发的广东省东深供水改造工程地下环境信息系统特点，阐述了重大工程地下环境信息系统的功能特征：探讨了GIS二次开发的主要技术，包括：SQL Server数据库处理技术、OpenGL三维图形编程技术、C Builder面向对象编程技术、MAPGIS二次开发技术等；建立了地层三维模型，并提出了映射变换和插值技术相结合的地层切剖原理，以及在地层三维显示和分析中实用的径向基函数插值、滑动最小二乘插值、分片Lagrange插值等方法；开发了数字制图与分析、地基基础设计计算与稳定性分析、三维空间分析的主要功能；提出了地面结构景观和地下空间一体化分析的研究方向，并初步实现其分析功能。最后，在东深供水改造工程中进行了成功应用。     

地理学研究进展与前沿领域

现代地理学涵盖自然地理学、人文地理学和地理信息科学，其发展趋势是：相邻学科的交叉、渗透与融合，加强地理学内部的综合研究，地理过程的微观研究进一步深化，结合实践拓宽应用研究领域，实验与研究手段的现代化，理论思维模式的转变。地理学应在陆地表层过程与格局、全球环境变化及其区域响应、自然资源保障与生态环境建设、区域可持续发展及人地系统的机理与调控、地理信息科学和数字地球战略等前沿领域开拓创新，为促进地球系统科学的发展、协调人地关系等做出积极的贡献。     

遥感在土地利用／覆被动态监测中的应用

遥感能够快速获取土地利用变化信息。研究区1992年和2002年两时像TM卫星数据,采用遥感、地理信息系统相结合的技术方法,完成了研究区10年间土地利用动态变化情况监测,取得了较好效果。     

Urban analysis with GIS

This paper discusses how GIS (Geographic Information System) can contribute to the research field of urban analysis. The purpose of urban analysis is to explain the processes of spatial distributions in urban areas. For this purpose, urban analysts often need to manipulate large amounts of spatial data. This is the reason why urban analysis cannot advance without GIS. Analysts can visualize urban affairs using GIS and find the processes of spatial distributions. For example, in this paper, land use distributions in Nagoya City, Japan are visually analyzed with ArcView GIS. This analysis demonstrates that GIS can contribute to urban analysis. After this analysis, future work is discussed based on the reviews of recent studies on urban analysis using GIS. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.