Geographical Analysis最新文献

In less-developed countries, the lack of granular data limits the researcher's ability to study the spatial interaction of different factors on the COVID-19 pandemic. This study designs a novel database to examine the spatial effects of demographic and population health factors on COVID-19 prevalence across 640 districts in India. The goal is to provide a robust understanding of how spatial associations and the interconnections between places influence disease spread. In addition to the linear Ordinary Least Square regression model, three spatial regression models—Spatial Lag Model, Spatial Error Model, and Geographically Weighted Regression are employed to study and compare the variables explanatory power in shaping geographic variations in the COVID-19 prevalence. We found that the local GWR model is more robust and effective at predicting spatial relationships. The findings indicate that among the demographic factors, a high share of the population living in slums is positively associated with a higher incidence of COVID-19 across districts. The spatial variations in COVID-19 deaths were explained by obesity and high blood sugar, indicating a strong association between pre-existing health conditions and COVID-19 fatalities. The study brings forth the critical factors that expose the poor and vulnerable populations to severe public health risks and highlight the application of geographical analysis vis-a-vis spatial regression models to help explain those associations.

Recent urbanization trends reflect an increasing dependence on regional economic transformations, local population dynamics, and planning constraints, becoming intrinsically complex and nonlinear. Following this assumption, the present study proposes a new approach for the analysis of long-term urban expansion in a compact metropolitan region (Athens, Greece), clarifying the importance of spatial heterogeneity and volatility in building activity over more than one century. A spatially explicit statistical approach was used to define a development cycle reflecting the stratification of heterogeneous waves of compact and dispersed urbanization at municipal scale. While resulting in distinctive spatial patterns of building activity, long-term urban growth emerged as a multifaceted response to market stimuli, social change, and diversified territorial contexts. Results of a spatially explicit analysis of long-term urban expansion based on official statistics shed further light on processes of metropolitan growth and change, and contribute to design integrated strategies enhancing spatial coordination and a more balanced socioeconomic development of contemporary cities.

The objective of this paper is to develop a K function method for analyzing distributions of polygon-like entities in the real world by extending Ripley’s K function method. Many empirical studies using the K function method assume that entities are represented by points. If entities are small enough in comparison with a study area, this approximation may be acceptable. If not, polygon-like entities may not be approximated by points. To deal with polygon-like entities, this paper develops a K function method for analyzing distributions of polygons. First, the paper shows a method for extending the local K function of points to that of polygons. Second, the paper compares the result obtained from the K function of polygons with that of the points representing the polygons and shows a distinctive difference. Third, the paper formulates the cross K function method of polygons to analyze the relationship between two distributions of polygons of different kinds. Fourth, the paper implements the methods in GIS. Last, the paper applies the cross K function method of polygons to actual distributions of buildings of different uses in Aoyama, Tokyo.

In this commentary we reflect on the potential and power of geographical analysis, as a set of methods, theoretical approaches, and perspectives, to increase our understanding of how space and place matter for all. We emphasize key aspects of the field, including accessibility, urban change, and spatial interaction and behavior, providing a high-level research agenda that indicates a variety of gaps and routes for future research that will not only lead to more equitable and aware solutions to local and global challenges, but also innovative and novel research methods, concepts, and data. We close with a set of representation and inclusion challenges to our discipline, researchers, and publication outlets.

Cycling is an effective solution for making urban transport more sustainable. However, bicycle networks are typically developed in a slow, piecewise process that leaves open a large number of gaps, even in well-developed cycling cities like Copenhagen. Here, we develop the IPDC procedure (Identify, Prioritize, Decluster, Classify) for finding the most important missing links in urban bicycle networks, using data from OpenStreetMap. In this procedure we first identify all possible gaps following a multiplex network approach, prioritize them according to a flow-based metric, decluster emerging gap clusters, and manually classify the types of gaps. We apply the IPDC procedure to Copenhagen and report the 105 top priority gaps. For evaluation, we compare these gaps with the city’s most recent Cycle Path Prioritization Plan and find considerable overlaps. Our results show how network analysis with minimal data requirements can serve as a cost-efficient support tool for bicycle network planning. By taking into account the whole city network for consolidating urban bicycle infrastructure, our data-driven framework can complement localized, manual planning processes for more effective, city-wide decision-making.

Local Indicators of Spatial Association (LISA) are a class of spatial statistical methods that have been widely applied in various scientific fields. When applying LISA to make longitudinal comparisons of spatial data, a common way is to run LISA analysis at each time point, then compare the results to infer the distributional dynamics of spatial processes. Given that LISA hinges on the global mean value that often varies across time, the LISA result generated at time T_i reflects the spatial patterns strictly with respect to T_i. Therefore, the typical comparative cross-sectional analysis with LISA can only characterize the relative distributional dynamics. However, the relative perspective alone is inadequate to comprehend the full picture, as the patterns are not directly associated with the changes of the spatial process’s intensity. We argue that it is important to obtain the absolute distribution dynamics to complement the relative perspective, especially for tracking how spatial processes evolve across time at the local level. We develop a solution that modifies the significance test when implementing LISA analysis of longitudinal data to reveal and visualize the absolute distribution dynamics. Experiments were conducted with Mongolian livestock data and Rwanda population data.

Except for about a half dozen papers, virtually all (co)authored by Griffith, the existing literature lacks much content about the interface between spatial optimization, a popular form of geographic analysis, and spatial autocorrelation, a fundamental property of georeferenced data. The popular p-median location-allocation problem highlights this situation: the empirical geographic distribution of demand virtually always exhibits positive spatial autocorrelation. This property of geospatial data offers additional overlooked information for solving such spatial optimization problems when it actually relates to their solutions. With a proof-of-concept outlook, this paper articulates connections between the well-known Majority Theorem of the 1-median minisum problem and local indices of spatial autocorrelation; the LISA statistics appear to be the more useful of these later statistics because they better embrace negative spatial autocorrelation. The relationship articulation outlined here results in the positing of a new proposition labeled the egalitarian theorem.

Accurately estimating the length of Vehicle Routing Problem (VRP) distances can inform transportation planning in a wide variety of delivery and service provision contexts. This study extends the work of previous research where multiple linear regression models were used to estimate the average distance of VRP solutions with various customer demands and capacity constraints. This research expands on that approach in two ways: first, the point patterns used in estimation have a wider range of customer clustering or dispersion values as measured by the Average Nearest Neighbor Index (ANNI) as opposed to just using a Poisson or random point process; second, the tour coefficient adjusted by this complementary spatial information is shown to exhibit statistically more accurate estimations. To generate a full range of ANNI values, point patterns were simulated using a Poisson process, a Matern clustering process, and a simple sequential inhibition process to obtain random, clustered, and dispersed point patterns, respectively. The coefficients of independent variables in the models were used to explain how the spatial distributions of customers influence the VRP distances. These results demonstrate that complementary spatial data can be used to improve operational results, a concept that could be applied more broadly.

The size, composition, and spatial distribution of both people and households have a substantial impact on the demand for and development and delivery of infrastructure required to support the population. Infrastructure encompasses a wide range of domains including energy, transport, and water, each of which has its own set of spatial catchments at differing scales. Demographic projections are required to assess potential future demand; however, official projections are usually not provided at a high level of spatial resolution required for infrastructure planning. Furthermore, generating bespoke demographic projections, often incorporating a range of scenarios of possible future demographic change is a specialist, resource intensive job and as such is often missing from infrastructure development projects. In this paper we make the case that such demographic projections should be at the heart of infrastructure planning and present a set of open-source models which can be used to undertake this demographic projection work, thus providing the tools needed to fill the identified gap. We make use of a case study for the United Kingdom to exemplify how a range of scenarios can be assessed using our model.

The count of open source software packages hosted by the Comprehensive R Archive Network (CRAN) using key spatial data handling packages has now passed 1,000. Providing a comprehensive review of these packages is beyond the scope of an article. Consequently, this review takes the form of a comparative case study, reproducing some of the approach and workflow of a spatial analysis of a data set including almost all the census tracts in the coterminous United States. The case study moves from visualization and the construction of a spatial weights matrix, to exploratory spatial data analysis and spatial regression. For comparison, implementations of the same steps in PySAL and GeoDa are interwoven, and points of convergence and divergence noted and discussed. Conclusions are drawn about the usefulness of open source software, the significance of sharing contributions both in software implementation but also more broadly in reproducible research, and in opportunities for exchanging ideas and solutions with other research domains.