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Beyond
Mapping IV — GIS Modeling GIS World magazine February 2007 to December 2013 |
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written by Joseph K.
Berry
with links to all Beyond
Mapping columns About the Online Compilation Series
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Table of Contents (click links below to access topics) Introduction – Extending Basic GIS Concepts Topic 1 – Extending
Grid-based Data Concepts Topic 2 – Extending
Effective Distance Procedures Topic 3 – Extending
Terrain Analysis Procedures Topic 4 – Extending
Spatial Statistics Procedures Topic 5 – Structuring
GIS Modeling Approaches Topic 6 – Education Outside the Traditional Lines Topic 7 – Spatial Data Mining in Geo-business Topic 8 – GIS Modeling in Natural Resources Topic 9 – Math/Stat Framework for Map Analysis Topic 10 – Future
Directions and Trends Epilog – The Continuing Promise of GIS Modeling |
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© 2013 All rights reserved. Further distribution of this online compilation in its entirety in electronic or hardcopy form is prohibited without prior written permission of the author. Permission to use portions of the collection for educational purposes is granted provided reference is made to the author and this online compilation. |
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(Click for a printer-friendly
.pdf version of this document)
(Click for Table of
Contents for all four books in the series)
GIS Modeling: Applying Map Analysis Tools and Techniques
Description
and Annotated Table of Contents
GIS Modeling: Applying Map
Analysis Tools and Techniques is a
collection of selected works from Joe Berry’s popular “Beyond Mapping” columns
published in GeoWorld magazine from 2007-2013. This compilation extends earlier
discussions of map analysis concepts, procedures, approaches, applications and
issues affecting contemporary relevance and future potential.
Geotechnology (the spatial triad
of remote sensing (RS), GIS and GPS) has “taken to the net” and become routine
in most workplaces and general users’ computers, tablets and mobile devices. As
a ubiquitous “technological tool,” it has become an indispensible part of daily
life and interwoven into the fabric of modern society.
Geotechnology’s expression as an
“analytical tool” is poised for a similar run and promises to forever change
how people perceive geographic space and its intersection with numeric space to
understand spatial relationships without the simplifying assumptions previously
found in science and practice before the digital map. This transformative book
is sure to alter experienced and novice readers’ perceptions and paradigms of
“what a map is (and isn’t)” and how mapped data can be analyzed for startling
new
revelations of the world around us.
Introduction Extending Basic GIS Concepts — Comparing paper and digital
map worlds identifies an entirely new beast that supports radically new mapping
approaches, perspectives and opportunities with all the rights, privileges and
responsibilities of traditional quantitative data analysis. This section
explores the differences in vector and raster data forms, their implications
for resolving spatial detail, and the rethinking of geo-referencing schema.
Topic 1 Extending Grid-based Data Concepts — Grid-based raster maps store
a map value at each location in a matrix to identify the
characteristic/condition occurring at that grid cell. This topic describes how
individual map layers are assembled into georegistered map stacks,
defining the continuous distribution of each map variable for use in the
quantitative analysis of mapped data (Spatial Analysis and Spatial
Statistics) that’s a direct extension of nonspatial math/stat procedures.
Topic 2 Extending Effective Distance Procedures
— Effective
distance considers intervening absolute and relative barriers in characterizing
movement through geographic space. This topic describes the underlying concepts
and basic approaches used to establish variable-width buffers, travel-time
surfaces and optimal path routing as well as contiguity and narrowness
measures.
Topic 3 Extending Terrain Analysis Procedures — Terrain analysis, one
of the oldest applications of grid-based map analysis, characterizes the
relative steepness and directional orientation of an elevation surface. This
topic investigates additional techniques for landscape segmentation,
determining longitudinal and transverse slopes of linear features, identifying
upland ridges, and determining uphill/downhill/across portions and line-of-sight
connectivity within roving windows.
Topic 4 Extending Spatial Statistics Procedures
— Spatial Statistics
relaxes the assumption that a “typical value” (e.g., average) is evenly
distributed over a project area to characterize the continuous spatial
distribution of field data, using such information to assess relationships
within and among various map layers. This topic establishes the underlying
concepts and procedures for developing spatial distributions, and then extends
traditional nonspatial techniques into the spatial realm, such as generating
maps of localized variations in Correlation and T-test.
Topic 5 Structuring GIS Modeling Approaches —
Grid-based GIS Modeling, in many respects, is an extended form of
traditional mathematical modeling that manipulates matrices representing the
spatial distribution of map variables. This topic examines the “map-ematical structure” for processing map layers,
data-handling approaches, concerns surrounding precision and accuracy, and the
similarities and differences among different types of GIS models.
Topic 6 Education Outside
the Traditional Lines — GIS education has evolved significantly
during four decades, with an early focus on training GIS specialists needed for
transforming paper map information, procedures and mindsets into digital forms.
More recently, education has broadened its focus to innovative solutions
involving domain experts from a multitude of disciplines and incorporating
rapidly evolving technological advances. This topic discusses the different
perspectives of “the trailing ‘S’ in GIS” (Systems, Specialist, Science and
Solutions), its impacts on GIS education and the probable increased emphasis on nontraditional GIS students in developing
“spatial-reasoning” skills across campus.
Topic 7 Spatial Data Mining in Geo-business —
Maps historically had minimal application in business operations, planning and
decision making. However, with the advent of digital mapped data
analysis/modeling, a more thorough understanding of spatial patterns and relationships
are proving critical in successful marketing, financial, logistical and
managerial actions. This topic links numerical and spatial distributions to
uncover “unusual response” areas, identifies areas having relative similarity
and clustering tendencies, and describes a Universal Database Key that promises
to revolutionize database technology.
Topic 8 GIS Modeling in Natural Resources —
Maps and mapping have long been a cornerstone of natural-resources management.
However, map analysis/modeling capabilities have extended the traditional
“where is what” spatial inventories to “why, so what and what if”
understandings of spatial interactions among critical factors that are
radically changing natural-resources research, policy formation, decision
making and operations. This topic examines the use of Effective Distance
in generating more realistic assessments of forest access for timber harvesting
and emergency response, and then extends the discussion to how spatial
technology promises to change the very fabric of the natural-resources
paradigm.
Topic 9 Math/Stat Framework for Map Analysis — Map Analysis and GIS Modeling are poised to radically
change science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) curricula at the K-12
and college levels by infusing spatial reasoning and analysis into traditional
classroom settings. This topic establishes a generalized math/stat framework
that directly extends current quantitative data-analysis procedures into the
spatial realm by considering maps as “spatially organized data layers” (as
opposed to graphical images) that have all the rights, privileges,
responsibilities and analytical potential of traditional nonspatial data.
Topic 10 Future Directions and Trends — Geotechnology’s
only consistent element is its ability to change. In just four decades, it has
evolved from automated cartography to spatial database technology to analytic
engine operating with mapped data and software in the cyber-cloud. This topic
suggests a probable future that dramatically alters perspectives of “what a map
is and isn’t” by expanding the flat 2-D (x,y) view of
geographic space to a 3-D (x,y,z) and 4-D (x,y,z,time) view by fundamentally changing the
300-plus-year-old Cartesian referencing system.
Epilog The Continuing Promise of GIS Modeling — Geotechnology has great potential for good (and bad). This topic discusses the good, the bad and the ugly sides of geotechnology, with particular attention to enduring impacts on how people perceive, process, promote and practice innovative ways to understand the spatial patterns and relationships that impact all systems (physical, climatic, biological, economic, political, social and cultural).
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