Is Spatial Really That Special? A Tale of Spaces

Spatial sciences have been operating under the mantra that “spatial is special.” The contention of this chapter is that this is contingent upon the implicit assumption that spatial and semantic information are fully separable. Large segments of spatial science research take space as an a priori and invariant backcloth over which events and experiences unfold. A considerable intellectual discourse on the nature and modes of existence of space has identified discordant perspectives that may undermine the universality of the innate distinctiveness of space. The chapter reviews and discusses some of the best established lines of thought on the understanding of space across disciplinary boundaries and underscores their relevance to spatially enabled research. Some of these ideas are articulated in the context of spaces reconstructed in relation to population migration in the USA.

[1]  Jean-Claude Thill,et al.  How Far Is Too Far? - A Statistical Approach to Context-contingent Proximity Modeling , 2005, Trans. GIS.

[2]  Kenneth J. Dueker,et al.  A GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION SYSTEM FRAMEWORK FOR TRANSPORTATION DATA SHARING , 2000 .

[3]  Daniel A. Griffith,et al.  Spatial Statistics: Past, Present, and Future , 1990 .

[4]  Stanley D. Brunn,et al.  Collapsing Space and Time: Geographic Aspects of Communication and Information , 1992 .

[5]  L. Anselin.  What is Special About Spatial Data? Alternative Perspectives on Spatial Data Analysis (89-4) , 1989 .

[6]  Anthony C. Gatrell,et al.  Distance and Space: A Geographical Perspective , 1983 .

[7]  J. K. Ord,et al.  Elements of spatial structure : a quantitative approach , 1976 .

[8]  M. Goodchild,et al.  Geographic Information Systems and Science (second edition) , 2001 .

[9]  J. LeSage.  Introduction to spatial econometrics , 2009 .

[10]  Isabelle Thomas,et al.  Intra-urban location and clustering of road accidents using GIS: a Belgian example , 2004, Int. J. Geogr. Inf. Sci..

[11]  Jean-Claude Thill,et al.  Visual Data Mining in Spatial Interaction Analysis with Self-Organizing Maps , 2009 .

[12]  S. W. Hayter,et al.  Concepts of Space by Max Jammer (review) , 1971 .

[13]  Luc Anselin,et al.  Spatial Statistical Analysis and Geographic Information Systems , 1992 .

[14]  B. Berry,et al.  Central places in Southern Germany , 1967 .

[15]  J. Thill,et al.  Spatial interaction modelling , 2003 .

[16]  Peter Scull,et al.  A Top-Down Approach to the State Factor Paradigm for Use in Macroscale Soil Analysis , 2010 .

[17]  Judy M. Olson,et al.  Geography's Inner Worlds , 1994 .

[18]  Peter Nijkamp,et al.  Spatial Interaction Modelling , 2003 .

[19]  D. Peuquet.  It's About Time: A Conceptual Framework for the Representation of Temporal Dynamics in Geographic Information Systems , 1994 .

[20]  Martin S. Kenzer,et al.  Concepts in Human Geography , 1995 .

[21]  Jacques-François Thisse,et al.  An Axiomatic Approach to Geographical Space , 2010 .

[22]  A. Galton.  Space, Time, and the Representation of Geographical Reality , 2001 .

[23]  John K. Wright,et al.  American Geography: Inventory and Prospect , 1954 .

[24]  Jean-Claude Thill.  Geographic Information Systems in Transportation Research , 2001 .

[25]  Gerard Rushton,et al.  The Effect of Distance Metric on the Degree of Spatial Competition between Firms , 1989 .

[26]  Monica Wachowicz,et al.  Object-oriented design for temporal GIS , 1999, Research monographs in geographic information systems.

[27]  David A. Plane,et al.  Migration Space: Doubly Constrained Gravity Model Mapping of Relative Interstate Separation , 1984 .

[28]  Jean-Claude Thill,et al.  Spatial queries with qualitative locations in spatial information systems , 2006, Comput. Environ. Urban Syst..

[29]  L. Anselin.  Spatial Econometrics: Methods and Models , 1988 .

[30]  Daniel A. Keim,et al.  Geovisual analytics for spatial decision support: Setting the research agenda , 2007, Int. J. Geogr. Inf. Sci..

[31]  Richard Hartshorne,et al.  The Nature of Geography: A Critical Survey of Current Thought in the Light of the Past , 1939 .

[32]  J. Thill,et al.  Local Indicators of Network-Constrained Clusters in Spatial Patterns Represented by a Link Attribute , 2010 .

[33]  Jean-Claude Thill,et al.  Neurofuzzy Modeling of Context-Contingent Proximity Relations , 2007 .

[34]  David Harvey.  Explanation in Geography , 1969 .

[35]  V. Meentemeyer.  Geographical perspectives of space, time, and scale , 1989, Landscape Ecology.

[36]  Pip Forer,et al.  A Place for Plastic Space? , 1978 .

[37]  R. Downs,et al.  Image and Environment: Cognitive Mapping and Spatial Behavior , 2017 .