World Patterns of Geographic Literacy Based on Sketch Map Quality

This paper discusses world patterns of geographic literacy and illiteracy based on the quality of sketch maps of the world drawn by university students in first-year geography classes. The study, sponsored by the International Geographical Union and funded by the National Geographic Society, contains 3,568 sketch maps of the world collected from 75 sites in 52 countries. For the purposes of this paper, geographic literacy is equated with the number of nations and continents included on the sketch maps. The individual map scores are aggregated to determine the average number of items per map for each site and nation. Our set of maps provides a baseline of world variations in geographic literacy just prior to the end of the Cold War. The sketch map techniques can be used to monitor changes in geographic literacy.     

School Students' Understanding of Choropleth Maps: Evidence From Collaborative Mapmaking Using GIS

Abstract

Pairs of students from two age groups made choropleth maps using Arc View. Evidence from their discourse is used to assess aspects of their cartographic understanding as well as the nature of their collaboration. Students from both age groups spent a high percentage of their time talking about cartographic strategy and a low percentage of time on technical aspects of GIS functionality. Older students engaged in more reasoning and questioning. Key areas for teacher intervention include promoting better student understanding of what the mapped data mean (including directionality and numerical characteristics) and the most effective strategies for raising the level of students' conceptual exchange during collaborative learning.     

Exploring Saturation of Themes and Spatial Locations in Qualitative Public Participation Geographic Information Systems Research

Use of public participation geographic information systems (PPGIS) studies that collect local knowledge in a spatial format is increasing as a tool in natural resources management. Qualitative PPGIS studies have been conducted as individual interviews, as workshops, and in focus groups. As the number of qualitative PPGIS studies increases, so does the need to understand their quality. Saturation, the point when the researcher determines that the collection of additional data will provide minimal new information as it relates to a particular issue, directly reflects on the validity of the study. While the concept of saturation is well established, it is still inconsistently assessed and reported. Furthermore, how saturation applies to qualitatively collected spatial data has not been addressed. A method is presented to assess spatial saturation of qualitative PPGIS data from 19 focus groups that were conducted to investigate important places for recreation, livelihoods, and the environment in the Florida Panhandle.     

Qualitative GIS and the visualization of narrative activity space data

Qualitative activity space data, i.e. qualitative data associated with the routine locations and activities of individuals, are recognized as increasingly useful by researchers in the social and health sciences for investigating the influence of environment on human behavior. However, there has been little research on techniques for exploring qualitative activity space data. This research illustrates the theoretical principles of combining qualitative and quantitative data and methodologies within the context of geographic information systems (GIS), using visualization as the means of inquiry. Through the use of a prototype implementation of a visualization system for qualitative activity space data and its application in a case study of urban youth we show how these theoretical methodological principles are realized in applied research. The visualization system uses a variety of visual variables to simultaneously depict multiple qualitative and quantitative attributes of individuals' activity spaces. The visualization is applied to explore the activity spaces of a sample of urban youth participating in a study on the geographic and social contexts of adolescent substance use. Examples demonstrate how the visualization can be used to explore individual activity spaces to generate hypotheses, investigate statistical outliers, and explore activity space patterns among subject subgroups.     

Metropolitan Area Job Accessibility and the Working Poor: Exploring Local Spatial Variations Of Geographic context

Critical geographic perspectives argue that employment access in U.S. metropolitan areas is more complex than traditional understandings, calling for research utilizing approaches that reflect the spatially dynamic structure of cities. This study uses a job proximity indicator of employment access among the working poor, with cluster analysis and spatial regimes modeling, to explore the spatial dimensions of geographic context (neighborhood characteristics) at a localized scale. The findings indicate that: (1) patterns of high or low employment access are not consistent with neoclassical conceptualizations of metropolitan areas; and (2) the statistical relationship between geographic context indicators and the measure of job accessibility were not spatially constant, but varied across the urban landscape. This supports the critical geographic arguments that a high degree of complexity underlies the employment access problem. To better inform public policy, future empirical research needs access to more sophisticated data and methodological approaches to analyze this complex sociospatial phenomenon.     

从地图到地理信息系统与虚拟地理环境--试论地理学语言的演变

地理学语言是人类认识地球环境和人类社会交流与传递地理信息的重要媒介。该文从传统地图、计算机制图、地理信息系统与遥感，到虚拟地理环境的发展，阐述了地理语言的演变与发展特征。作为地理语言的最新发展，笔者认为虚拟地理环境可以让地理学语言变得更为贴近地理信息的使用者，并为当今可持续发展的公众参与提供一种新的交流平台。虚拟地理环境是区域自然环境和社会经济环境的虚拟模型，它在强调地理信息使用者身临其境之感受的同时，还追求超越现实的理解。     

基于GIS的呼和浩特市近百年街道时空演变及其特征分析

以历史文化名城——呼和浩特市城区为研究区,以GIS为技术平台,运用现代地图、古地图、遥感影像数据以及史料和现代文献,制作了6个典型时期历史街道GIS数据,定量与定性相结合分析了研究区近百余年的街道时空演变过程及其特征。结果显示：研究区近百年的街道时空演变具有“摊饼式”空间扩展特征、先集聚后分散的空间演变特征;解放初期至改革开放时期的街道演变具有向内填充式发展与向北缓慢扩展相结合演变的特点,而快速城市化时期研究区新增街道以原归化、绥远城为中心向四周延伸,呈现出向外扩展的空间演变特征;百余年后的今天,原归化城内的街巷基本消失,而绥远城内的街道基本上保持了清代的棋盘式格局;人口增加、城市规划与建设、集聚与分散以及地质地貌条件等是研究区街道时空演变的主要驱动因素。     

Providing the evidence: Geographic accessibility of maternity units in New Zealand

Abstract:  Public health planners should be providing evidence to the public that maternity units are fairly distributed. This research demonstrates how a Geographical Information System (GIS) can be used to provide information on travel time to the closest maternity unit from the 38 000 population census enumeration districts in New Zealand. The distribution of accessibility is mapped and regions and population groups that appear under-serviced are highlighted. We conclude by stating that GIS accessibility models provide important evidence for health policy and that the information generated from these models should be routinely produced for a wide range of health services and communicated to the public.     

土地利用变化研究中的GIS空间分析方法及其应用

土地利用变化研究尤其是空间变化研究 ,离不开 GIS的空间分析方法。该方法的数据基础主要是矢量格式的土地利用图件和遥感解译制图成果 ;模型基础包括 GIS的时空数据模型、属性数据模型和提取土地利用变化特征的原理模型 ;而数据处理过程则涉及GIS系统的数据转换功能、编辑功能、空间分析功能、数据库操作功能、空间统计分析功能以及图形显示功能等。本文结合北京市土地利用变化的实例分析 ,从上述三方面详细阐述了 GIS的空间分析方法及其在土地利用变化研究中的应用。     

Application of GIS Processing Techniques for Producing Mineral Prospectivity Maps—A Case Study: Mesothermal Au in the Swayze Greenstone Belt,Ontario, Canada

A Geographic Information System (GIS) is used to prepare and process digital geoscience data in a variety of ways for producing gold prospectivity maps of the Swayze greenstone belt, Ontario, Canada. Data used to produce these maps include geologic, geochemical, geophysical, and remotely sensed (Landsat). A number of modeling methods are used and are grouped into data-driven (weights of evidence, logistic regression) and knowledge-driven (index and Boolean overlay) methods. The weights of evidence (WofE) technique compares the spatial association of known gold prospects with various indicators (evidence maps) of gold mineralization, to derive a set of weights used to produce the final gold prospectivity map. Logistic regression derives statistical information from evidence maps over each known gold prospect and the coefficients derived from regression analysis are used to weight each evidence map. The gold prospectivity map produced from the index overlay process uses a weighting scheme that is derived from input by the geologist, whereas the Boolean method uses equally weighted binary evidence maps.The resultant gold prospectivity maps are somewhat different in this study as the data comprising the evidence maps were processed purposely differently for each modeling method. Several areas of high gold potential, some of which are coincident with known gold prospects, are evident on the gold prospectivity maps produced using all modeling methods. The majority of these occur in mafic rocks within high strain zones, which is typical of many Archean greenstone belts.     

基于GIS的重庆地区气温空间分布研究

在观测资料的基础上,利用GIS技术,结合DEM引入天文辐射和高程,研究了重庆地区的多年月平均气温空间分布.并采用独立于观测站外的气象哨的多年月平均观测资料进行了验证.结果表明:天文辐射和高程的气温分布模拟,能够较好地反映地形遮蔽对气温分布的影响.天文辐射的引入较好地把地形对气温要素的影响进行了量化,是对气象要素空间分布研究的一次有益尝试,对山区气象要素空间分布的研究有一定的借鉴作用.     

The Spatial Knowledge of Indigenous People in Mountainous Environments: A Case Study of Three Taiwanese Indigenous Tribes

This article recounts information gleaned from a case study of three indigenous tribes in Taiwan regarding the origin and nature of their spatial knowledge. Sketched mental maps and GIS 3D virtual environment (VE) are used by indigenous elders and hunters to delineate their traditional territories. Spatial components representing the predominant spatial elements are identified. Spatial structures used for locational positioning are analyzed, as are spatial reference systems for orientation and movement. The results show that spatial components are used for daily activities, as well as having historical and cultural meaning; a quadrant structure is used for spatial positioning; and instead of using the directional reference system of east, south, west, and north, these indigenous people rely on the orientation analogies of uphill, downhill, upstream, and downstream for direction.     

A Commentary on the Use of Touch for Accessing On‐Screen Spatial Representations: The Process of Experiencing Haptic Maps and Graphics

The growth of the Internet and the digital revolution have meant increased reliance on electronic representations of information. Geospatial information has been readily adapted to the world of cyberspace, and most Web pages incorporate graphics, images, or maps to represent spatial and spatialized data. But flat computer screens do not facilitate a map or graph experience by those who are visually impaired. The traditional method for compensating for nonvisual access to maps and graphics has been to construct hard‐copy tactile maps. In this article, we examine an electronic accommodation for nonvisual users—the haptic map. Using new and off‐the‐shelf hardware—force feedback and vibrotactile mice—we explore how touch can be combined with virtual representations of shapes and patterns to enable nonvisual access to onscreen map or graphic material.     

基于GIS的河南省公路客流空间运输联系研究

选取河南省公路客运为研究对象,通过河南省长途汽车客运班线调查的O-D数据和统计数据,在ArcGIS平台上通过VBA编程,运用最大输出量等指标,自动产生河南省空间运输联系网络图,以确定河南省公路客运联系模式。研究表明,郑州市作为省会极化效应明显,辐射范围波及全省;河南省公路客流的距离衰减规律明显,短途流所占比例较大。     

Spatial Dimensions of Urban Commuting: A Review of Major Issues and Their Implications for Future Geographic Research*

Modern urban transportation systems continuously challenge, and are challenged by, the changing nature of 21st‐century travel demand. Today, congestion is the norm in cities of the United States, and researchers and practitioners are seeking solutions to these problems. Urban commuting is identified as contributing to the suboptimal performance of transportation systems. This paper offers a review and critique of recent research on urban commuting, emphasizing geographical dimensions of this topic. Three broad areas of research related to urban commuting are discussed. These include (1) urban sustainability, (2) land use, and (3) geographic information systems (GIS). Major themes are examined in an effort to elicit thought on future geographic research. At the conclusion of the paper, summary remarks are provided and avenues for research are outlined.     

Comparative Accuracy in Four Civil War Maps of the Shenandoah Valley: A GIS Analysis*

This study compares the accuracy of four maps available to Union and Confederate officers during the 1862 Shenandoah Valley campaign of the American Civil War. It examines historical maps of the Valley of Virginia by the following cartographers: James W. Abert, Hermann Böÿe and Lewis von Buchholtz, Jedediah Hotchkiss, and Franz Kappner. Both simple and three‐tiered sinuosity measures are derived for reference points along study map representations of the Shenandoah river system. These data are then statistically compared to corresponding sinuosity data from USGS topographic quadrangles to identify the relative accuracies of the historical maps. This article offers evidence to refute the common historical assumption that Hotchkiss provided Maj. Gen. Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson with terrain intelligence that was far superior to that available to his Union opponents. Evidence indicates that maps by Union cartographers as well as the prewar Böÿe‐Buchholtz map were at least as accurate, or superior to, the work of Hotchkiss.     

Entropy Analysis of Multiple Scale Causality and Qualitative Causal Shifts in Spatial Systems*

Spatial systems are typically characterized by multiple controlling factors and processes operating at different spatial and temporal scales (multiple scale causality [MSC]). An entropy decomposition‐based approach to MSC is presented here in two contexts. First, given maps or distributions of an observed phenomenon at two or more scales, the contribution at more local or global (relative to the primary scale of observation) controls to the observed entropy can be estimated. Second, a theoretical treatment of the entropy decomposition equations shows that as the range of scale is increased by broadening or narrowing resolutions or by incorporating more controls, the influence of larger or smaller‐scale influences not only changes, but may change qualitatively, e.g., in terms of having positive (entropy‐increasing) or negative (information‐increasing) effects. Such qualitative causal shifts have implications for efforts to use any single causal explanation across the molecular to planetary spatial and instantaneous to geological range of scales relevant to physical geography. The entropy decomposition method is illustrated with an application to soil landscapes in the Ouachita Mountains, Arkansas.     

桌面地理信息系统的地图投影及其在全球空间研究中的应用

本文以国际上著名的桌面地理信息系统软件MapInfo为技术背景,探讨了怎样运用GIS进行地图数据的投影选择和实现投影变换的方法,并给出了全球空间研究中的两个投影选择与制图实例。