Experience on the typology of geoeconomic risks

The issues of emergence and evolution of geoeconomics as a new branch of science are the concern of this paper. Special emphasis is placed on the definition of the notion of “geoeconomic risks” and to their analysis at five territorial levels. Five selected types of geoeconomic risks are briefly characterized.     

Geography as the world discipline: connecting popular and academic geographical imaginations

This article addresses and connects two areas of controversy within contemporary geography: the parochialism of contemporary human geography and the gulf between university and non-university geography. It is argued that we can find the cause of the latter phenomenon in the origin of the former, namely in academic geography's unwillingness to re-imagine the 'global claim' that it has inherited from its imperial past. This difficulty has created the conditions for the representation of popular geography as intrinsically dated, as politically suspect and/or as mere 'traveller's tales'. It is suggested that geography cannot escape the burden of its global claim. Rather it needs to critically engage this formerly imperial paradigm and, in so doing, re-ignite geography's role in public debate and as public knowledge.     

Current shortcomings of global mapping and the creation of a new geographical framework for the world

The vast bulk of topographic mapping - the geographical framework used to underpin many activities of the state and of business - has been created and is maintained to national standards. As a consequence, what is available differs greatly from country to country. Yet there is a range of needs for globally-consistent map information. Such needs have long been recognized: the International Map of the World was an attempt to meet them. A multiplicity of factors has constrained the National Mapping Organizations from meeting this aim. However, new technologies have enhanced our capacity to create a geographical framework almost anywhere in the world. Using such technologies, commercial and other non-commercial bodies (e.g. the US military and its counterparts within NATO) have begun to produce wide-area geographical information. This paper describes the nature of the need for global mapping, the players involved and the drivers and obstacles to progress. It proposes a rapid way to enhance the current situation through public/private sector partnerships based on a combination of skills, information assets and resources. If implemented, this could lead to global coverage of a framework derived from 1:25000 scale mapping within about two years.     

“A world in a grain of sand”: towards a reconceptualisation of geographical scale

Difficulties in relating local scale change to broader dynamics of social and economic restructuring continue to be reflected in much geographical research. This paper argues that inadequate conceptualisations of geographical scale restrict the relevance of much research to the agenda of an applied peoples' geography. A framework which conceptualises geographical scale as dialectically and internally related to the totality of social relations, is proposed and discussed with examples from remote mining regions in Australia.     

International geographical conference on China and the world in the 21~(st) century heldin Hong Kong

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A sociodemographic typology of middle-level regions in the USSR

"Oblast-level regions of the USSR are grouped and mapped in nine types and a number of subtypes to reflect a combination of demographic factors: level of urbanization, urban and rural population growth, and population density. The typology can be used to devise sets of spatially differentiated measures to carry out a demographic policy and to regulate the sociodemographic evolution of regions."     

Environmental perception,decision processes,and population movement: a review of geographical studies

The author reviews a selection of studies on the behavioral aspects of migration, with emphasis on the process leading up to the decision to migrate. The focus of this review is not on the short-term factors leading to the actual migration decision but on the background factors that lead to the contemplation of migration. The perception by potential migrants of the environment in which they are living as opposed to that of the place to which they might move is considered. (summary in ENG, GER)     

Constructions of 'whiteness' in the geographical imagination

Summary Following debates in geography and across the social sciences about the social construction of 'race', there has been a growing recognition that these arguments apply with equal force to dominant groups as well as to the categorization of so-called ethnic minorities. This paper traces these developments through a brief review of recent work on the social construction of 'whiteness' in literary, historical and ethnographic research. It examines some specific constructions of 'whiteness' at the national scale (in the United States, Britain and Aotearoa/New Zealand) and concludes with some empirical evidence from fieldwork in North London, where it is suggested that constructions of 'whiteness' are articulated through discourses of Englishness.     

南沙群岛地名分析

依据多种历史资料,介绍南沙群岛地名的变迁过程,对中国“更路薄”中的渔民俗称以及中国政府于1935年、1947年和1983年三次公布的南沙岛礁地名进行统计,分析渔民俗称和标准地名对维护中国领土和主权完整的重要意义,梳理了各套地名系统中的专名体系和通名体系,对地名语源进行探讨,研究各地名系统之间的演进过程,总结了各自的优点与缺憾。针对现用标准地名提出以下建议：① 有计划地公布部分资料中已有记载岛礁的标准地名;② 对大型环礁细部、新生沙洲和新建大型人工岛进行命名以利于维护主权和保障航行安全;③ 对于现用标准地名中的部分外来语源地名可恢复其渔民俗称;④ 对于存疑岛礁应尽快核实确认以去疑存真。     

Influence of late Holocene hillslope processes and landforms on modern channel dynamics in upland watersheds of central Nevada

Stratigraphic, geomorphic, and paleoecological data were collected from upland watersheds in the Great Basin of central Nevada to assess the relationships between late Holocene climate change, hillslope processes and landforms, and modern channel dynamics. These data indicate that a shift to drier, warmer climatic conditions from approximately 2500 to 1300 YPB led to a complex set of geomorphic responses. The initial response was massive hillslope erosion and the simultaneous aggradation of both side-valley alluvial fans and the axial valley system. The final response was fan stabilization and axial channel incision as fine-grained sediments were winnowed from the hillslope sediment reservoirs, and sediment yield and runoff processes were altered. The primary geomorphic response to disturbance for approximately the past 1900 years has been channel entrenchment, suggesting that the evolutionary history of hillslopes has produced watersheds that are prone to incision. The magnitude of the most recent phase of channel entrenchment varies along the valley floor as a function of geomorphic position relative to side-valley alluvial fans. Radial fan profiles suggest that during fan building, fan deposits temporarily blocked the flow of sediment down the main stem of the valley, commonly creating a stepped longitudinal valley profile. Stream reaches located immediately upvalley of these fans are characterized by low gradients and alternating episodes of erosion and deposition. In contrast, reaches coincident with or immediately downstream of the fans exhibit higher gradients and limited valley floor deposition. Thus, modern channel dynamics and associated riparian ecosystems are strongly influenced by landforms created by depositional events that occurred approximately 2000 years ago.     

Responding to the consequences of uncertainty in geographical data

The presence of uncertainty in geographical data has the potential to expose users to undesirable consequences in their decision making. Accordingly, our efforts to understand uncertainty seek to (a) avoid the use of data that are not suitable for their intended purpose (that is, data whose consequences are unacceptable), (b) to reduce any undesirable consequences to an acceptable level, and (c) to devise ways of living with undesirable data when the adverse consequences caused by poor data do not alter our ultimate decision choice. To assist this task, we propose an approach where the adverse consequences of uncertainty caused by the use of unsuitable geographical data are expressed in terms of risk. In this paper we first show that risk management offers geographical data users a range of options for responding to the adverse consequences of data uncertainty, and secondly we present and discuss the various risk response options.     

日本高校地理学科的课程设置与地理教学

日本高校中地理学学科既有设置在文科的也有归属在理科的情况;但地理学课程的设置有一定的共性,课程精简,形式多样,内涵充实。这对我国高校地理课程调整有一定借鉴作用。     

A typology of migration in Canada based on migrants' characteristics

"Data from the 1981 Census of Canada are used to develop a typology of migrants on the basis of their personal characteristics. Migrants are defined as those individuals who have changed their residence since the 1976 Census, crossing at least a municipal boundary. Socio-economic and demographic characteristics are perceived to differentiate stayers from movers, and to distinguish each migrant type [that is to say] intraprovincial, interprovincial and international. Discriminant analysis is applied to classify people into migrant types based on their personal characteristics and the typology developed."     

Modelling the history of semi-structured geographical entities

Geographical entities are characterized by rather complex structures. They involve space and thematic information, which is subject to change in time, while history should be maintained. On the other hand, these structures may be irregular (i.e. they do not necessarily conform to a fixed schema), because associated data is usually collected based on different specifications and multiple resolutions. Hence, the representation of geographical entities in traditional data models, such as the relational or object-oriented, is not always feasible. In this respect, this paper investigates the use of semi-structured data (SSD) models—an innovative approach recently developed in Information Technology—for modelling dynamic geographical entities. A framework for the representation of geographic entities in Object Exchange Model (OEM), a popular model for semi-structured data, is introduced. Additionally, it is shown how useful information can be extracted from such a representation using the LOREL query language for SSD. A simplified case study in the application domain of cadastre involving SSD is examined closely.     

Social and demographic principles in an alternative typology of cities

"The authors challenge some conventional notions regarding the USSR's urban hierarchy and settlement network and the basis for functional city classifications. They assign a key role to technological and social change in the overall growth and development process and downplay the role of territorial production complexes vis-a-vis large cities as major regulators of future economic development. Considerable attention is devoted to identifying stages of urban interaction (especially via migration and innovation diffusion) with the rural hinterland and of social-demographic transformations accompanying scientific and technical progress. A city typology based on stages in the 'social-demographic transition' is outlined briefly."     

A geographical analysis of multiethnic households in the United States

"Using the household-level data provided by the 5% PUMS [Public Use Microdata Sample] data from the 1990 Census, this paper reports the pattern of ethnic mixing at the household level in the U.S. and also describes the geographical patterns of different types of multiethnic households at both the state level and the PUMA [Public Use Microdata Area] level. Several of the largest metropolitan areas are also examined in greater detail. The strong dominance of whites in the process of ethnic mixing is clear, as is the expected dominance of blacks in southeastern U.S. and the dominance of Hispanics in the southwest at the state level. The PUMA-level analysis reveals local clusters of ethnic mixing that are not apparent at the state-level analysis."     

Development of the geographical network of preservation territories

This paper is concerned with some issues related to the methodology of territorial nature conservation as the subject for geographical study and analysis of specially protected natural territories (SPNT) in the country’s territorial organization. It is shown how the evolution, spatial coverage and the rhythm of global raw-materials markets (furs, timber, grains, ecosystem services, etc.) could influence the spatial development of the SPNT system in Russia as well as the emergence of the asymmetry in their location, and the periodicity of their establishment. An outline is given to the humanitarian and raw-materials components of territorial nature conservation, the spatial vectors and a change of motivations at different stages (since the early 20^th century till the present) of the formation of the geographical network of SPNT in Russia. An analysis is made of the results from implementing the documents of national strategic planning in territorial nature conservation. The conclusion is drawn about a high degree of fulfillment of the first plans envisaging the deployment of the geographical network of SPNT (1917 and 1957) and a relatively low effectiveness of the programs of the establishment of SPNT in the last several decades.     

Fuzzy representation of geographical boundaries in GIS

Abstract

Polygon boundaries on thematic maps are conventionally considered to be sharp lines representing abrupt changes of phenomena. However, in reality changes of environmental phenomena may also be partial or gradual. Indiscriminate use of sharp lines to represent different types of change creates a problem of boundary inaccuracy. Specifically, in the context of vector-based GIS, use of sharp lines to represent gradual or partial changes may cause misunderstanding of geographical information and reduce analysis accuracy.

In this paper, the expressive inadequacy of the conventional vector boundary representation is examined. A more informative technique—the fuzzy representation of geographical boundaries—is proposed, in which boundaries describe not only the location but also the rate of change of environmental phenomena. Four methods of determining fuzzy boundary membership grades from different kinds of geographical data are described. An example of applying the fuzzy boundary technique to data analysis is presented and the advantages of the technique are discussed.