The creative reconstruction of the Internet: Google and the privatization of cyberspace and DigiPlace

The Internet has often been portrayed as the ultimate leveler of information where existing hierarchies of power and privilege are undermined by meritocracy. Some websites and functions are, however, more equal than others. In particular, search engines such as Google have been a key means to construct meaning out of disorder. This ordering (or enclosing of the Internet commons), however, comes at a cost as a location within the top 10 Google search results, marks the boundary (albeit a fluid one) between the core and the periphery of the Internet. The recent incorporation of spatial elements into the Google indexing raises fresh and geographically relevant concerns. This article focuses on the construction, access and use of Google derived rankings to deploy geo-referenced information in the physical environment and the way this melding of code and place affects how people interact with place. Using the theoretical concept of DigiPlace this article analyzes how Google Maps and Google Earth are structured and shape what appears (and what does not) in cyberspace and DigiPlace. Of particular concern are the implications of a private corporation controlling this new space.     

A Network Model for Dispersion of Communicable Diseases

The spread of communicable diseases through a population is an intrinsic spatial and temporal process. This paper presents an individual‐based analytical framework for modeling the spatial and temporal heterogeneity in the disease transmission. The framework specifies a network model structure and six associated parameters. These parameters describe the properties of nodes, the properties of links, and the topology of the network. Through this model structure and associated parameters, this framework allows the representation of discrete individuals, individualized interactions, and interaction patterns in a network of human contact. The explicit representation of the spatial distribution and mobility of individuals in particular facilitates the modeling of spatial heterogeneity in the disease transmission.     

A multi-equation spatial econometric model,with application to EU manufacturing productivity growth

A multi-equation spatial econometric model is used to explain variations across EU regions in manufacturing productivity growth based on recent theoretical developments in urban economics and economic geography. The paper shows that temporal and spatial parameter homogeneity is an unrealistic assumption, contrary to what is typically assumed in the literature. Constraints are imposed on parameters across time periods and between core and peripheral regions of the EU, with the significant loss of fit providing overwhelming evidence of parameter heterogeneity, although the final model does highlight increasing returns to scale, which is a central feature of contemporary theory.      

高光谱影像数据预处理技术评价

高光谱影像数据预处理是构建高效的影像数据库以及实现地理目标成分信息反演与地理目标识别的基础。本文从反射率演算、光谱微分技术以及高光谱影像数据的降维处理等三个方面对高光谱影像数据预处理进行了研究。实现了基于高光谱影像的反射率反演算法，针对高光谱遥感数据影像分辨率比较低的现状，提出了直方图均衡化、色调平衡、对比度调整等影像处理算法，并给出了实验结果。     

Reach Out and Touch Someone: AT&T's Global Operations in the 1990s

The late twentieth century has witnessed the rapid expansion of a global telecommunications infrastructure and flows of information. Few case studies of individual corporations in this industry exist. Following the breakup of its U.S. monopoly in 1984, AT&T, the world's largest telecommunications provider, steadily expanded its international operations. This paper examines the institutional and spatial dynamics that underpin AT&T's global strategies, including transoceanic fiber cables, employment, manufacturing facilities, joint ventures, and operations in every major market area around the world. It ascertains these efforts in light of the emergence of post-Fordist regime theory and argues that corporate-specific case studies continue to remain an important part of economic geography.     

“THE END OF MODERN HISTORY”?*

ABSTRACT. The first half of the twentieth century marked both an end to confidence in human control of the earth and a prelude to the contemporary era of intense environmental concern after 1950. This conspectus of the environmental history/historical geography of the transitional years between 1900 and 1950 focuses on rising concerns over resource supplies and exploitation, particularly land settlement, timber supplies, soil erosion, and river-basin control. Conservation and the pervasiveness of ecological thinking and analogy form a strong underlying theme.     

近年来我国文化地理学研究的进展

作为人文地理学重要分支之一的文化地理学,在我国出现晚但发展快。纵观十余年来的发展情况,可大致概括为：（１）文化地理学理论从引进到消化进而有了较大的发展,（２）区域文化地理的研究从宏观走向微观,（３）历史文化地理的研究从断代走向区域,（４）专题性文化地理的研究从单一走向多元,（５）综合性文化地理的研究从核心扩展到边缘。其总趋势是逐渐走向具体化、区域化、综合化。     

地段地理学及其实践意义

地段地理学是以微观尺度的地段研究为对象的现代应用地理学的工程化方向为其基本内涵,通过运用案例对其进一步分析说明,充分表明了地段地理学的实践意义。     

Geopolitics in the nineties: one flag, many meanings

This article provides an overview of recent publications on geopolitics. The diversity is overwhelming. Publications are therefore divided into four schools: neo-classical geopolitics, subversive geopolitics, non-geopolitics and critical geopolitics. These four schools are distinguished on two dimensions. The first is the distance to the object under study (practical/applied versus academic/reflective). The second refers to the position towards the state system (states as the principal geopolitical actors versus attention for other political actors and interests). Despite their differences, the four types of studies share a growing interest in geoeconomics.