RECENT PUBLICATIONS

Virginia in Our Century. Jean Gottmann . Regional Analysis. L. Needleman (ed.) Readings in Canadian Geography. Robert M. Irving (ed.) Imperial Texas: An Interpretive Essay in Czdturak Geography. Donald W. Meinig Portugal and Brazil in Transition. Raymond S. Sayers (ed.) Germany: An Introductory Geografihy. Thomas H. Elkins Nigeria. William Schwarz Urbanization of art African Community: Voluntary Associations in Bamako. Claude Meillassoux Filzland. W. R. Mead Statistical Analysis in Geography. Leslie J. King Climate and Agriculture: An Ecological Survey. Jen -Hu Chang The Hydrologic Cycle and the Wisdom of God: A Theme in Geoteleology. Yi -Fu Tuan Grasslands of the Monsoon. R. 0. WHYTE World Mipation in Modern Times. Franklin D. Scott (ed.) Humart Migration: A Guide to Migrant Literature in English, 1955-1962. J. J. Mangalam Mexico's Natural Gas: The Beginning of an Industry. Fredda Jean Bullard Conservation in the United States. Richard M. Highsmith , Jr ., J. Granville Jensen , and Robert D. Rudd The Urban Neighborhood: A Sociological Perspective. Suzanne Keller The Immigrant Upraised: Italian Adventurers and Colonists in an Expanding America. Andrew F. Rolle A History of the Vikings. Gwyn Jones Methods of Geographic Instruction. John W. Morris (ed.) Virginia Place Nmes: Derivations, Historical Uses. Raus Mc Dill Hanson     

Book Reviews

Aryeetey-Attoh, SamuelGeography of Sub-Saharan Africa Chew, Sing C. and Denemark, Robert A.(eds) The Underdevelopment of Development: Essays in Honor of Andre Gunder Frank Chinn, Jeff and Kaiser, RobertRussians as the New Minority: Ethnicity and Nationalism in the Soviet Successor States Curtis, Sarah and Taket, AnnHealth and Societies: Changing Perspectives Dudley, Nigel; Jeanrenaud, Jean-Paul and Sullivan, FrancisBad Harvest? The Timber Trade and the Degradation of the World's Forests Ellis, Steven and Mellor, AnthonySoils and Environment Gradus, Yehuda and Lithwick, Harvey (eds)Frontiers in Regional Development Green, Milford B. and McNaughton, Rod B. (eds)The Location of Foreign Direct Investment: Geographic and Business Approaches Greenberg, Michael and Schneider, DonaEnvironmentally Devastated Neighborhoods: Perceptions, Policies, and Realities Griffiths, Ieuan Ll.The African Inheritance Harrison, Lynn C. and Husbands, Winston (eds)Practicing Responsible Tourism: International Case Studies in Tourism Planning, Policy, and Development Jensen, John R.Introductory Digital Image Processing: A Remote Sensing Perspective Pacione, MichaelGlasgow: The Socio-Spatial Development of the City Platt, Rutherford H.Land Use and Society: Geography, Law, and Public Policy Rhodes, Martin (ed.)The Regions and the New Europe: Patterns in Core and Periphery Development Salant, Priscilla and Waller, Anita J.Guide to Rural Data Schnell, Izhak; Sofer, Michael and Drori, Israel Arab Industrialization in Israel: Ethnic Entrepreneurship in the Periphery Shelley, Fred M.; Archer, J. Clark; Davidson, Fiona M. and Brunn, Stanley D.Political Geography of the United States Taffe, Edward J.; Gauthier, Howard L. and O'Kelly, Morton E.Geography of Transportation     

NEW PUBLICATIONS

The Changing Fuce of Toronto—A Study in Urban Geography. Donald Kerr and Jacob Spelt . California and Use of the Ocean; A Planning Study of Marine Resources. Roger R. Revelle (ed.). California and the World Ocean; Conference Proceedings. Forestry In Communist China. S. D. Richardson . The Mark Jefferson Paris Peace Conference Diary. Geoffrey J. Martin (ed.). Wisconsin State University, Platteuille Southwestern Archueology. John C. Mc Gregor . Western Europe. E. D. Laborde . A Geography of China. T. R. Tregear . The Historian's Guide to Ordnance Survey Maps. J. B. Harley and C. W. Phillips . Report on a Field Study of Soils of Australia. James Thorp . Planning in Chinese Agriculture: Socialisation and the Private Sector, 1956–1962. Kenneth R. Walker . The Italian South: Economic Development in Mediterraneun Europe. Gustav Schacter . Yesterday's People: Life in Contemporary Appalachia. Jack E. Weller . New Mexico Place Names: A Geographical Dictionary. T. M. Pearce (ed.). The Caribbean: Mexico Today. A. Curtis Wilgus (ed.). The Tarai Region of U.P.: A Study in Human Geography. Lekh Raj Singh . Der Orient: Die Steppen und Wüsten der Nordhemisphere mit Ihren Randgebieten. Oskar Schmieder . An Atlas of Latin America-Affairs. Ronald M. Schneider and Robert C. Kingsbury . The Common Wealth in Ocean Fisheries. Francis T. Christy , Jr . and Anthony Scott . The Englishwoman in America. Isabella Lucy Bird . Migrants and Malaria. R. Mansell Prothero . Regionalism in America. Merrill E. Jensen . My Life in the Mountains and on the Plains: The Newly Discovered Autobiografihy. David Meriwether , edited by Robert A. Griffen . Norden, Crossroads of Destiny. Vincent H. Malmstrom . Merchants & Scholars: Essays in the History of Exploration and Trade. Edited by John Parker . Macrogeography and Income Fronts. Wm . Warntz . The Odyssey World Atlas. Landsplanlaegnings Problemer. Med skitse til en landsplanlaegning i Dan mark. Johannes Humlum .     

Unsupervised regionalization of the United States into landscape pattern types

We present a pattern-based regionalization of the conterminous US – a partitioning of the country into a number of mutually exclusive and exhaustive regions that maximizes the intra-region stationarity of land cover patterns and inter-region disparity between those patterns. The result is a discretization of the land surface into a number of landscape pattern types (LPTs) – spatial units each containing a unique quasi-stationary pattern of land cover classes. To achieve this goal, we use a recently developed method which utilizes machine vision techniques. First, the entire National Land Cover Dataset (NLCD) is partitioned into a grid of square-size blocks of cells, called motifels. The size of a motifel defines the spatial scale of a local landscape. The land cover classes of cells within a motifel form a local landscape pattern which is mathematically represented by a histogram of co-occurrence features. Using the Jensen–Shannon divergence as a dissimilarity function between patterns we group the motifels into several LPTs. The grouping procedure consists of two phases. First, the grid of motifels is partitioned spatially using a region-growing segmentation algorithm. Then, the resulting segments of this grid, each represented by its medoid, are clustered using a hierarchical algorithm with Ward’s linkage. The broad-extent maps of progressively more generalized LPTs resulting from this procedure are shown and discussed. Our delineated LPTs agree well with the perceptual patterns seen in the NLCD map.     

BOOK REVIEWS

Book reviewed is the article: Small-State Security in the Balkans . Aurel Braun. South American Development: A Geographical Introduction . Rosemary D. F. Bromley and Ray Bromley. Interregional Migration, National Policy and Social Justice . Gordon L. Clark. Marketing Architectural and Engineering Services . Weld Coxe. A Geography of the Third World . J. P. Dickenson, C. G. Clarke, W. T. S. Gould, R. M. Prothero, D. J. Siddle, C. T. Smith, E. M. Thomas-Hope, and A. G. Hodgkiss. Wildlife and Man in Texas: Environmental Change and Conservation . Robin W. Doughty. At the Sea's Edge . William T. Fox. Englewood Cliffs Geography and Ecology . I. P. Gerasimov. Urbanization in Contemporary Latin America. Critical Approaches to the Analysis of Urban Issues . Alan Gilbert in association with Jorge E. Hardoy and Ronaldo Ramírez, eds. The Coming of the Transactional City . Jean Gottmann. College Park Visions of City and Country: Prints and Photographs of Nineteenth-Century France . Bonnie L. Grad and Timothy A. Riggs. Worcester Soviet Geography Today: Physical Geography . N. A. Gvozdetskiy, ed. Adaptive Responses of Native Amazonians . Raymond B. Hames and William T. Vickers, eds. Urban and Regional Industrial Research: The Changing UK Data Base . Michael Healey, ed. Cuando se Acaban los Montes . Stanley Heckadon Moreno. A Panama Forest and Shore: Natural History and Amerindian Culture in Bocas del Toro . Burton L. Gordon. Pacific Grove Mozambique: From Colonialism to Revolution, 1900–1982 . Allen Isaacman and Barbara Isaacman. Soviet Natural Resources in the World Economy . Robert G. Jensen, Theodore Shabad, and Arthur W. Wright, eds. The Changing Geography of the United Kingdom . R. J. Johnston and J. C. Doornkamp, eds. Pluralism and Political Geography—People, Territory and State . Nurit Kliot and Stanley Waterman, eds. Landmarks Preservation and the Property Tax . David Listokin. Irrigation Horticulture in Highland Guatemala: The Tablón System of Panajachel . Kent Mathewson. Her Space, Her Place: A Geography of Women . Mary Ellen Mazey and David R. Lee. Man, A Geomorphological Agent . Dov Nir. Dordrecht The Book of America: Inside the 50 States Today . Neal R. Peirce and Jerry Hagstrom. Rivers . Geoffrey E. Petts. Proceedings, United States/Australia Workshop on Design and Implementation of Computer-Based Geographic Information Systems . Donna Peuquet and John O'Callaghan, eds. Outdoor Recreational and Resource Management . John Pigram. Remaking the City: Social Science Perspectives on Urban Design . John S. Pipkin, Mark La Gory and Judith R. Blau, eds. The Crust of Our Earth: An Armchair Traveler's Guide to the New Geology . Chet Raymo. Englewood Cliffs Concepts and Themes in the Regional Geography of Canada J. Lewis Robinson. Vancouver Secondary Cities in Developing Countries: Policies for Diffusing Urbanization . Dennis A. Rondinelli. Beverly Hills Legal Foundations of Environmental Planning , Vol 1. J. G. Rose. Can We Delay a Greenhouse Warming? Stephen Seidel and Dale Keyes. Mobilizing Human Resources in the Arab World . R. Paul Shaw. Prairie Mosaic: An Ethnic Atlas of Rural North Dakota . William C. Sherman. The Future of Conflict in the 1980s . William J. Taylor, Jr. and Steven A. Maaranen, eds. The Visual Display of Quantitative Information . Edward R. Tufte. U.S. 40 Today: Thirty Years of landscape Change in America . Thomas R. Vale and Geraldine R. Vale. Madison Silent Violence: Food, Famine and Peasantry in Northern Nigeria . Michael Watts. Readings in Historic Preservation: Why? What? How? Norman Williams Jr., Edmund Kellogg and Frank Gilbert, eds.     

宁夏中部干旱带盐池县植被生态需水规律研究

以宁夏中部干旱带盐池县为研究对象,对区域植被生态需水的内涵及类型划分进行了分析,并结合彭曼-蒙特斯模型逐月估算了区域林草植被潜在蒸散量,采用Jensen公式结合实测的区域土壤特征曲线确定了土壤水分修正系数,为植被生态需水量的确定奠定了基础。通过对不同类型林草植被生态需水占比分析,可知当前盐池县草地的生态需水量远高于林地,是盐池县生态需水的主体。通过对植被生态需水与降雨平衡的时间变化规律分析可知,除7、8、9月份以外,盐池县各类林草植被生态需水均处于严重亏缺状态,其中缺水量最为严重的是4月份;从植被类型上分析,可知林地中无论是生态需水亏缺量还是盈余水量均以灌木林地为最,而草地中以天然草地为最。进一步对盐池县各生态分区需水特征进行分析,可知一级生态分区中,风沙区的生态需水比例远大于黄土丘陵区;二级生态分区生态需水比例由大到小依次为花马池镇、王乐井乡、大水坑镇、高沙窝镇、惠安堡镇、冯记沟乡、青山乡、麻黄山乡。一级生态分区中风沙区的生态需水系数及生态需水模数均大于黄土丘陵区;二级各生态分区中生态需水系数及模数由大到小依次为花马池镇、王乐井乡、大水坑镇、惠安堡镇、高沙窝镇、青山乡、冯记沟乡,最小为麻黄山乡。盐池县降雨消耗性生态需水量最小值占蒸发总量的比例为30.51%,适宜值占蒸发总量的比例为72.91%,比例都比较高,其余的的蒸发量属于无效蒸发水量,仍然占有一定的比重,这依然为区域植被建设留有一定的空间,但要通过合理的水资源调控手段进行调配。     

An analytic solution to the alibi query in the space–time prisms model for moving object data

Moving objects produce trajectories, which are stored in databases by means of finite samples of time-stamped locations. When speed limitations in these sample points are also known, space–time prisms (also called beads) (Pfoser and Jensen 1999 Pfoser, D. and Jensen, C.S. 1999. “Capturing the uncertainty of moving-object representations”. In Advances in spatial databases (SSD’99), Hong Kong, China, July 20–23, 1999, Vol. 1651, 111–132. Lecture notes in Computer Science.  [Google Scholar], Egenhofer 2003 Egenhofer, M. 2003. “Approximation of geopatial lifelines”. In SpadaGIS, workshop on spatial data and geographic information systsems, 4SpaDaGIS–Workshop on Spatial Data and Geographic Information Systems, Milano, Italy, March 2003. University of Genova.  [Google Scholar], Miller 2005 Miller, H. 2005. A measurement theory for time geography. Geographical Analysis, 37(1): 17–45. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) can be used to model the uncertainty about an object's location in between sample points. In this setting, a query of particular interest that has been studied in the literature of geographic information systems (GIS) is the alibi query. This boolean query asks whether two moving objects could have physically met. This adds up to deciding whether the chains of space–time prisms (also called necklaces of beads) of these objects intersect. This problem can be reduced to deciding whether two space–time prisms intersect.

The alibi query can be seen as a constraint database query. In the constraint database model, spatial and spatiotemporal data are stored by boolean combinations of polynomial equalities and inequalities over the real numbers. The relational calculus augmented with polynomial constraints is the standard first-order query language for constraint databases and the alibi query can be expressed in it. The evaluation of the alibi query in the constraint database model relies on the elimination of a block of three exªistential quantifiers. Implementations of general purpose elimination algorithms, such as those provided by QEPCAD, Redlog, and Mathematica, are, for practical purposes, too slow in answering the alibi query for two specific space–time prisms. These software packages completely fail to answer the alibi query in the parametric case (i.e., when it is formulated in terms of parameters representing the sample points and speed constraints).

The main contribution of this article is an analytical solution to the parametric alibi query, which can be used to answer the alibi query on two specific space–time prisms in constant time (a matter of milliseconds in our implementation). It solves the alibi query for chains of space–time prisms in time proportional to the sum of the lengths of the chains. To back this claim up, we implemented our method in Mathematica alongside the traditional quantifier elimination method. The solutions we propose are based on the geometric argumentation and they illustrate the fact that some practical problems require creative solutions, where at least in theory, existing systems could provide a solution.     

Notes

Abstract

J. N. L. Baker. The History of Geography. Barnes &; Noble, Inc., 105 Fifth Ave., New York 3, N.Y., 1963. xxviii and 266 pages with table of contents and index. $7.50.

R. J. Harrison Church. Environment and Policies in West Africa. D. Van Nostrand Co. Inc., 120 Alexander St., Princeton, N.J., 1963. 135 pages with table of contents, maps, diagrams and general index. $1.45.

Richard M. Highsmith, and J. Granville Jensen. Geography of Commodity Production, Second Edition. J. B. Lippincott Co., East Washington Sq., Philadelphia 5, Pa., 1963. 515 pages with table of contents, maps, photographs, graphs and index. $7.95.

Oliver H. Heintzelman and Richaid M. High-smith, Jr., World Regional Geography. Prentice-Hall, Inc., Englewood Cliffs, N.J., 1963, 2nd edition. 391 pages with table of contents, pictures, maps, diagrams, and index. $7.95.

Gerd Fraenkel with Lindley J. Stiles. Today's World in Focus: Israel. Ginn and Co., Statler Building, Boston 17, Mass., 1963. 122 pages with table of contents with black and white photographs with colored illustrations, appendices and bibliography. $1.40.

Thomas Sterling. Exploration of Africa. Horizon Caravel Books, 551 Fifth Ave., New York 17, N.Y., 1963. 153 pages with table of contents, maps, color and black and white illustrations and index. $3.95.

C. W. Harrison. Conservationists and What They Do. Franklin Watts, Inc., 575 Lexington Ave., New York 22, N.Y., 1963. 170 pages with table of contents and index. $3.95.

William Trout Chambers and Lorrin Kennamer, Jr. Texans And Their Land. The Steck Co., P.O. Box 16, Austin, Tex., 1963. 232 pages with table of contents, black and white pictures, colored maps, appendix, bibliography and index. $4.88.

Olive Burt. The First Book of Utah. Franklin Watts, Inc., 575 Lexington Ave., New York 22, N.Y., 1963. 66 pages with table of contents, general map of Utah, photographs and an index. $2.50.

Bernt Lloyd Wills. North Dakota: The Northern Prairie State. B. L. Wills, University of North Dakota, Grand Forks, N.D., 1963. 318 pages with table of contents, black and white pictures and black and white illustrations and index. $4.80.

Mary Foley Horkheimer and John W. Differ, (compilors and editors). Educators Guide to Free Filmstrips. Educators Progress Service, Randolph, Wis., 1963. 15th Annual Edition with 159 pages, table of contents and indices. $6.00.

Patricia Horkheimer Suttles, (editor). Educators Guide to Free Social Studies Materials. Educators Progress Service, Randolph, Wis., 1963. 402 pages with XV pages editorial comment and table of contents. $6.75.

C. B. Hitchcock and O. M. Miller. Nine Glacier Maps, Northwestern North America with Text. Special Publication No. 34. American Geographical Society, 156th St. and Broadway, New York 32, N.Y., 1960. 22 pages with table of contents, three appendices, one table, one locational text map, 15 photographs and nine separate topographic maps. $3.00.

Harry M. Caudill. Night Comes To The Cumberlands. Little, Brown &; Co., 128 Oliver St., Paterson 1, N.J., 1963. 394 pages with table of contents and black and white photographs. $6.75.     

Book Reviews

Books reviewed in this issue: Donahue, John M. and Johnston, Barbara Rose (eds.), Water, Culture, and Power: Local Struggles in a Global Context Kim, Joochul and Choe, Sang-Chuel, Seoul: The Making of a Metropolis Merrett, Stephen, Introduction to the Economics of Water Resources: An International Perspective Perry, Richard J., From Time Immemorial: Indigenous Peoples and State Systems Wilson, Edward O., Consilience: The Unity of Knowledge     

Book Reviews

Pauline von Bornsdorff and Arto Haapala, eds. Aesthetics in the Human Environment James D. Proctor and David M. Smith, eds. Geography and Ethics: Journeys in a Moral Terrain G. Malcolm Lewis, ed. Cartographic Encounters: Perspectives on Native American Mapmaking and Map Use Richard Symanski, Blackhearts: Ecology in Outback Australia Donald W. Meinig, The Shaping of America: A Geographical Perspective on 500 Years of History Peter J. Taylor, Modernities: A Geohistorical Interpretation Keith Harries, Mapping Crime: Principle and Practice Leland T. Saito, Race and Politics: Asian Americans, Latinos, and Whites in a Los Angeles Suburb Frank McDonald, The Construction of Dublin Lisa M. Benton, The Presidio: From Army Post to National Park Bob R. O'Brien, Our National Parks and the Search for Sustainability Eric Damian Kelly and Barbara Becker Community Planning: An Introduction to the Comprehensive Plan Avinoam Meir As Nomadism Ends: The Israeli Bedouin of the Negev David Pinder, ed. The New Europe: Economy, Society, and Environment R. P. Misra and Kamlesh Misra Million Cities of India: Growth Dynamics, Internal Structure, Quality of Life, and Planning Perspectives. Vol 1     

Surface-sediment and epilithic diatom pH calibration sets for remote European mountain lakes (AL:PE Project) and their comparison with the Surface Waters Acidification Programme (SWAP) calibration set

A modern diatom-pH calibration data-set consisting of surface-sediment diatom assemblages from 118 lakes and 530 taxa is presented. The AL:PE data-set is from high-altitude or high-latitude lakes in the Alps, Norway, Svalbard, Kola Peninsula, UK, Slovenia, Slovakia, Poland, Portugal, and Spain (pH range = 4.5-8.0; DOC range = 0.2-3.2 mg l^-1). In addition, 92 epilithon samples from 22 high-altitude or high-latitude lakes comprise an AL:PE epilithon diatom-pH data-set. Weighted averaging partial least squares regression is used to develop pH-inference models. The AL:PE data-set has a root-mean-square-error of prediction (RMSEP) of 0.33 and a maximum bias of 0.36 pH units and r² of 0.82, as assessed by leave-one-out cross-validation. The epilithon data-set has, after data-screening and the deletion of one very obvious outlier, a RMSEP of 0.23 and a maximum bias of 0.18 pH units and r² of 0.88. The 167 sample SWAP diatom-pH data-set from lowland or upland lakes in the UK, Norway, and Sweden has a RMSEP of 0.29 and a maximum bias of 0.23 pH units and r² of 0.86.The pH optima, as estimated by weighted averaging and Gaussian regression, are compared for the three data-sets (AL:PE, SWAP, AL:PE epilithon). There is a good correspondence between the AL:PE and the AL:PE epilithon optima, but a consistent bias between the AL:PE and SWAP optima, with the SWAP optima being lower than the AL:PE estimates.The predictive performances of the AL:PE and SWAP calibration data-sets are compared using independent test samples and six core sequences, all from high-altitude lakes, one in south-east Siberia and five in eastern Scotland. The results show the importance of using the AL:PE data-set for inferring lake-water pH from diatom assemblages in high-altitude or high latitude lakes with low DOC concentrations.     

Book Reviews

Books reviewed: John Bale and Chris Philo Body Cultures: Essays on Sport, Space and Identity by Henning Eichberg. William A.V. Clark The California Cauldron: Immigration and the Fortunes of Local Communities. Tom Daniels When City and Country Collide: Managing Growth in the Metropolitan Fringe. David Delaney Race, Place, and the Law, 1836 – 1948. Allan K. Fitzsimmons Defending Illusions: Federal Protection of Ecosystems. Brian Graham Modern Europe: Place, Culture and Identity. William Least Heat‐Moon River Horse: The Logbook of a Boat Across America. George L. Henderson California and the Fictions of Capital. Martha Honey Ecotourism and Sustainable Development: Who Owns Paradise? Peter J. Hugill Global Communications Since 1844: Geopolitics and Technology. Thomas Klak Globalization and Neoliberalism: The Caribbean Context. David Knighton Fluvial Forms and Processes: A New Perspective. Gustavo Leclerc, Raul Villa, and Michael J. Dear Urban Latino Cultures: La Vida Latina en L.A. Daniel Miller, Peter Jackson, Nigel Thrift, Beverly Holbrook, and Michael Rowlands Shopping, Place and Identity. Martin Reuss Designing the Bayous: The Control of Water in the Atchafalaya Basin 1800–1995. Alan R. Townsend Making a Living in Europe: Human Geographies of Economic Change. Jennifer Wolch and Jody Emel Animal Geographies: Place, Politics and Identity in the Nature‐Culture Borderlands.     

A new climatology of maximum and minimum temperature (1951–2010) in the Spanish mainland: a comparison between three different interpolation methods

This study presents a new climatology of monthly temperature for mainland Spain (1951–2010), performed with the highest quality and spatially dense, up-to-date monthly temperature dataset available in the study area (MOTEDAS).

Three different interpolation techniques were evaluated: the Local Weighted Linear Regression (LWLR), the Regression-Kriging (RK) and the Regression-Kriging with stepwise selection (RKS), a modification of RK. The performances of the different models were evaluated by the leave-one-out validation procedure, comparing the results from the models with the original data and calculating different error measurements.

The three techniques performed better for T_max than for T_min, and for the cold, rather than warmer months, also at lower altitude than highland areas. The best results were achieved with LWLR applied for the first time on temperatures in the Spanish mainland. This method improved the accuracy of the temperature reconstruction with respect to RK and RKS.

We present a collection of T_max and T_min monthly charts, using the same temperature legend to prevent any visual bias in the interpretation of the results. The dataset is available upon request.     

A Review of “Motoring: The Highway Experience in America”

Pauline von Bornsdorff and Arto Haapala, eds. Aesthetics in the Human Environment

James D. Proctor and David M. Smith, eds. Geography and Ethics: Journeys in a Moral Terrain

G. Malcolm Lewis, ed. Cartographic Encounters: Perspectives on Native American Mapmaking and Map Use

Richard Symanski, Blackhearts: Ecology in Outback Australia

Donald W. Meinig, The Shaping of America: A Geographical Perspective on 500 Years of History

Peter J. Taylor, Modernities: A Geohistorical Interpretation

Keith Harries, Mapping Crime: Principle and Practice

Leland T. Saito, Race and Politics: Asian Americans, Latinos, and Whites in a Los Angeles Suburb

Frank McDonald, The Construction of Dublin

Lisa M. Benton, The Presidio: From Army Post to National Park

Bob R. O'Brien, Our National Parks and the Search for Sustainability

Eric Damian Kelly and Barbara Becker Community Planning: An Introduction to the Comprehensive Plan

Avinoam Meir As Nomadism Ends: The Israeli Bedouin of the Negev

David Pinder, ed. The New Europe: Economy, Society, and Environment

R. P. Misra and Kamlesh Misra Million Cities of India: Growth Dynamics, Internal Structure, Quality of Life, and Planning Perspectives. Vol 1     

Recent Publications

Book Reviewed in this article: GENERAL GEOGRAPHY . All Possible Worlds, a History of Geographical Ideas. Preston E. James . The Conceptual Revolution in Geography. Waynek . D. davies (ed.). Razuitie Geograficheskikb Idey. Anatoli Grigorevich Isachenko . British Pioneers ia Geography. E. W. Gilbert , with a preface by D. J. M. Hooson. REGIONAL GEOGRAPHY . Colonialism, Development and lndependence; The Case of the Melatzesian Islands in the South Pacific. H. C. Brookfield . Lath America: Geographical Prospectives. Harold Blakemore and Clifford T. Smith (eds.). Economies and Societies in Latin America: A Geographical Interpretation. P. R. Odell and D. A. Preston . PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY . Karst Landforms. Marjorie Sweeting . River Morphology. Stanley A. Schumm (ed.). Polar Geomorphology. R. J. Price and D. E. Sugden (ed.), Climate in Review. Geoffrey Mc BOYLE. Climate: Present, Past and Future. Volume 1, Fundamentals and Climate Now. H. H. Lamb . Oceanography: Contemporary Readings in Ocean Sciences. R. Gordon Pirie . Oceanography, A View of the Earth. M. Grant Gross . MAN AND ENVIRONMENT . The Doomsday Syndrome. John Maddox . ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY . Russian Agriculture: A Geographical Survey. Leslie Symons . Freight Flows and Spatial Aspects of the British Economy. Michael Chisholm and Patrick O'Sullivan . Transport in Transition: The Evolution of Traditional Shipping in China. Koizumi Teizo Regional Development Strategy in Southeast Europe: A Comparative Analysis of Albania, Bulgaria, Greece, Romania and Yugoslavia. George W. Hoffman The Geography of Recreation and Leisure. Isobel Cosgrove and Richard Jackson . POLITICAL GEOGRAPHY . India: A Political Geography. B. L. Sukhwal . CULTURAL GEOGRAPHY . The Cultural Geography of the United States. Wilbur Zelinsky . We, The Navigators. David Lewis . SETTLEMENT AND URBAN GEOGRAPHY . The Central Business District. Raymond E. Murphy . Fitzgerald: Geography of a Revolution. William Bunge . Urbanization and Environment: The Physical Geography of the City. Thomas R. Detwyler and Melvin G. Marcus Geographical Perspectives and Urban Problems. The Residential Location and Spatial Behavior of the Elderly. Stephen M. Golant . The Geography of Social Well-Being in the United States. David M. Smith . Urban Systems Development in Central Canada-Selected Papers. L. S. Bourne and R. D. Mackinnon ,(eds.). Safe Places. David and Holly Franke . They Sought a Country: Mennonite Colonization in Mexico. Harryleonard Sawatzky . Rural Geography: An Introductory Survey. Hugh D. Clout . ATLASES . South America. Vol. IV: FAO-UNESCO Soil Map of the World: 1:5,000,000     

SPLITAREA: an algorithm for weighted splitting of faces in the context of a planar partition

Geographic data themes modelled as planar partitions are found in many GIS applications (e.g. topographic data, land cover, zoning plans, etc.). When generalizing this kind of 2D map, this specific nature has to be respected and generalization operations should be carefully designed. This paper presents a design and implementation of an algorithm to perform a split operation of faces (polygonal areas).

The result of the split operation has to fit in with the topological data structure supporting variable-scale data. The algorithm, termed SPLITAREA, obtains the skeleton of a face using a constrained Delaunay triangulation. The new split operator is especially relevant in urban areas with many infrastructural objects such as roads. The contribution of this work is twofold: (1) the quality of the split operation is formally assessed by comparing the results on actual test data sets with a goal/metric we defined beforehand for the ‘balanced’ split and (2) the algorithm allows a weighted split, where different neighbours have different weights due to different compatibility. With the weighted split, the special case of unmovable boundaries is also explicitly addressed.

The developed split algorithm can also be used outside the generalization context in other settings. For example, to make two cross-border data sets fit, the algorithm could be applied to allow splitting of slivers.     

Book Reviews

Book Reviewed:
Mike Davis, Late Victorian Holocausts: El Niño Famines and the Making of the Third World
Hans-Dieter Evers and Rüdiger Korff, Southeast Asian Urbanism: The Meaning and Power of Social Space
Peter Boomgaard and Ian Brown (eds.), Weathering the Storm: The Economies of Southeast Asia in the 1930s Depression
Lisa Law, Sex Work in Southeast Asia: The Place of Desire in a Time of AIDS     

Book Reviews

Books reviewed: D. Graham Burnett, Masters of All They Surveyed: Exploration, Geography, and a British El Dorado Garrett A. Sullivan, Jr., The Drama of Landscape: Land Property and Social Relations on the Early Modern Stage Sergio Díaz‐Briquets and Jorge Pérez‐López, Conquering Nature: The Environmental Legacy of Socialism in Cuba Karl F. Nordstrom, Beaches and Dunes of Developed Coasts Robin W. Doughty, The Eucalyptus: A Natural and Commercial History of the Gum Tree James K. Mitchell, ed., Crucibles of Hazard Gerald T. Koeppel, Water for Gotham: A History Arnold R. Alanen and Robert Z. Melnick, eds., Preserving Cultural Landscapes in America Kavita Pandit and Suzanne Davies Withers, eds., Migration and Restructuring in the United States Steven R. Nivin, Regional Innovation Potential: The Case of the U.S. Machine Tool Industry Douglas Meyer, Making the Heartland Quilt: A Geographical History of Settlement and Migration in Early Nineteenth‐Century Illinois David R. Meyer, Hong Kong as a Global Metropolis Mark Cleary and Goh Kim Chuan, Environment and Development in the Straits of Malacca David Zurick and P. P. Karan, Himalaya: Life on the Edge of the World Christer Jönsson, Sven Tägil, and Gunnar Törnqvist , Organizing European Space Tor Bernhardsen, Geographic Information Systems: An Introduction, 2nd ed.     

Multiple Book Reviews

Books Reviewed: Browning, Frank A Queer Geography: Journeys Toward a Sexual Self Fellows, Will Farm Boys: Lives of Gay Men from the Rural Midwest Rubenstein, James M. The Cultural Landscape: An Introduction to Human Geography. 6th ed Knox, Paul L. and Marston, Sallie A. Human Geography: Places and Regions in Global Context Kuby, Michael; Harner, John, and Gover, Patricia Human Geography in Action