定性GIS在时空间行为研究中的应用

定性GIS已经成为地理学混合研究方法的重要组成部分,通过扎根理论并与可视化结合、GIS和民族志整合等途径,对时空间行为研究产生了深远的影响。其通过文本或非文本质性材料与GIS地理特征的整合,形成了时空行为研究中独特的地理环境系统与空间机制分析,一个重要的前沿领域就是地理叙事在时间地理学研究中的应用。时间地理学是研究人类时空行为的重要视角,但由于对个体主观性及行为的社会文化因素的相对忽视等原因,受到了一定的质疑。近年来以GIS为代表的地理空间技术的定性分析与表达,为时间地理学融入质性分析提供了方法论基础。关美宝创建的基于GIS的地理叙事方法,通过借鉴叙事分析的一般方法尤其是三维叙事空间分析,结合时间地理学概念框架,开发了基于GIS平台的计算机辅助叙事分析组件(3D-VQGIS),实现了在GIS内可视化的、循环交互的叙事分析,为定性GIS发展中GIS与叙事分析方法的融合做出了贡献。将地理叙事方法用于时空行为研究,可以为时间地理学方法创造一个更便于理解与解释研究对象日常行为的地理环境,为其融入行为与主体的质性分析提供从数据整合、数据分析到解释与展示的一整套研究方法与具体操作工具。

The application of the qualitative GIS in space-time research

GIS has been largely understood as a tool for the storage and analysis of quantitative data since the early days of their development; their use in qualitative or mixed-method research has been limited to date. This positivist perspective has caused much of the critical discourse on GIS since the early 1990s. In recent years there have been a growing number of attempts to redress this particular understanding of GIS and explore the possibility of using GIS in qualitative research, that is, qualitative GIS, which has included the strategy of integrating grounded theory and visualization, the integration of GIS and ethnography, and so on. Qualitative GIS has been a crucil tool for the mixed-method research in geography today. Time geography has been a significant perspective for the analysis of human activity and movement in space-time. It analyzes human behavior through an integration of the temporal and spatial dimensions, and has been a helpful perspective in a wide range of space-time research. Nevertheless, it has been criticized for ignoring subjectivity, omitting social and culture context, and leaning towards quantitative analysis. In resent years, the development of qualitative GIS and its application in mixed-method research has provided a foundation for the integration of qualitative analysis in time geography. This paper reviews this development, with a focus on an approach to GIS-based narrative analysis developed by Kwan et al(2008) called "Geo-narrative". Geo-narrative is based on extending current GIS capabilities for the analysis and interpretation of narrative materials such as oral histories, life histories, and biographies. Which has three central elements: narrative analysis as the qualitative approach; 3D GIS-based time-geographic methods as the representational framework; and 3D-VQGIS as the GIS-based computer-aided qualitative data analysis component. This paper discusses how the application of Geo-narrative in time-geographic research can provide an effective environment for qualitative data collection and analysis in ralation to behavior, time and space, interpretation and re-interpretation during integration of the qualitative analysis in time-geographic analysis. Through this, a recursive and interactive qualitative analysis has been integrated with behavioral analysis in time geography within GIS. In addtion, to illustrate the analytical process using Geo-narrative and show how it can be used to perform qualitative analysis in time geography, we present a case example that draws on Kwan's study on the impact of anti-Muslin hate crimes on the lives of the Muslim women in Columbus, Ohio, after the attacks on theWorld Trade Center and the Pentagon on September 11, 2001.