Profs Mike Batty and Paul Longley have been asked to write a short report on Quantitative Geography, GIS and Cartography for the ESRC’s current ‘benchmarking review’ of UK human geography, undertaken in partnership with the RGS-IBG.
They would very much welcome views and contributions from QMRG and GISRG members in seeking to answer the following three questions:
- How has research in these fields in the UK developed over the last ten years, and what are the major strengths and weaknesses of the field?
- How does UK research in these fields compare with research produced by colleagues in other countries?
- What are the key academic outputs by UK scholars (books and other publications) that have made an important contribution to scholarship and/or have helped to set or move intellectual agendas in the field?
Mike and Paul would very much appreciate inputs by Friday 9 March, by email to p.longley@ucl.ac.uk. The final report has to be submitted before 19 March.
Any help will be very much appreciated and will contribute directly to the review process.
Jack Dangermond and ESRI are sponsoring a survey of some early GIS pioneers, hoping to discover how much material they still hold on the early history of GIS and with a view to establish an archive that will capture this important legacy. Somewhat indirectly, I have been asked if I know of anything of this nature happening in UK and if I can find materials (papers, correspondence, photos, card stacks, programs—anything “interesting”!) that would be appropriate for a history of GIS archive. A particular interest might be in early work in geographical computing and programming.
My own interest arises from the very partial picture of GIS history painted in Tim Foresman’s book that virtually ignored all the UK and European work that was going on at the same time but that, by and large, did not make it into commercial success. I think it important that this work does not get air-brushed out of any record that might in future be thought of as definitive.
So, does anyone in the group have materials that could be contributed to an archive? In no special order I’d be interested in things like John Tarrant’s list s of geographic computer programs, anything to do with Tom Waugh’s incredibly forward looking GIMMS system, the BBC Domesday project, and Birkbeck’s acquisition of Arc/INFO.
Please email me if you have any such material so that I can compile a list. I am afraid that retirement and several office moves mean that, other than a valued copy of Dick Baxter’s book, I seem to have lost much of my own records.
Dave Unwin
david.unwin at onetel.net
The past few months have seen a number of high profile announcements on the
release of central and local government data for free. The Prime Minister
launched the 
data.gov.uk portal to ‘open up data and promote transparency’
and the London Mayor announced the London Data Store to ‘give Londoners the
change to find out more about how the city is run’. There is great
excitement in the developer community and many new mash-ups and apps have
been produced from the released data already.
The Horizon Digital Economy Research and the Centre for Geospatial Science
at the University of Nottingham in partnership with data.gov.uk and
GeoVation is proud to announce a series of FREE one-day Open Data Master
Classes to reach a wide cross section of people (i.e., individuals,
communities, grassroots organizations, NGOs to civil servants and
professionals) who can benefit from a greater understanding of the
opportunities around open data. Specifically, the one-day master class will
provide individuals with the tools and techniques needed to use and analysis
a range of Open Datasets that are of relevance and interest to them such as,
for example, school census data, health care provision, crime statistics and
transportation data.
The Open Data Master Classes combine theory and practicals with guest
lectures from prominent members in the field from government, academia and
business. The Master Classes will provide participants the opportunity to
use and harness Open Datasets from various government departments and public
sector organizations including Higher Education, Health Care, Transport and
Environment – and in doing so, participants will learn a range of techniques
from data collection and processing to data analysis and map visualization.
The content of the Master Classes is suitable for a wider spectrum of
participants with various levels of IT experience, although some familiarity
with web browsing and Microsoft Excel is assumed.
The Open Data Master Classes series starts in November at the University of
Newcastle (8th Nov) before moving on to University College London (10th
Nov), Nottingham University (12th Nov), University of Aberdeen (17th Nov),
Royal Geographical Society London (18th Nov) and University of Southampton
(3rd Dec). We will be able to offer each master class to 30-40 participants.
We have secured use of purpose built facilitates within each university
including state-of-the-art lecture theatres and computer rooms.
To register visit http://bit.ly/opendataMC or for further information
contact Dr. Hanif Rahemtulla at hanif.rahemtulla@nottingham.ac.uk
Here are our recommended sessions for those who have an interest in GIScience and are attending the forthcoming RGS Annual Conference.
2011 GB Census: Planning Ahead.
Friday; Session 2231; RGS-IBG Drayson Room; Link to speakers.
Analysing and Visualising Social Change: Postgraduate research in GIScience.*
Thursday; Session 2143; Electrical Engineering, Room 509a; Link to speakers.
Distance, Speed and Time: The Fundamentals of Transport Geography.
Wednesday; Session 354; RGS-IBG Pavilion; Link to Speakers.
Enhancing Complex Social Simulations with Automata Systems.*
Thursday; Session 3175; Electrical Engineering, Room 509a; Link to speakers.
GIS for Environmental Modelling.*
Thursday; Session 4200; Electrical Engineering, Room 509a; Link to speakers.
Governance and the Geoweb.*
Friday; Session 1226; Sherfield Building, Room 7; Link to Speakers.
Postgraduate Research in Transport (1): Mobility, sustainability and behaviour of individuals.
Friday; Session 1219; Sir Alexander Fleming Building, Room 121; Link to Speakers.
Postgraduate Research in Transport (2): Infrastructure, development and urban form.
Friday; Session 2235; Sir Alexander Fleming Building, Room 121; Link to Speakers.
The Spatial Dimensions of Health.
Wednesday; Session 123; Sherfield Building, Room 7; Link to Speakers.
There is no place like home! – Why historians would want to use GIS.
Friday; Session 3252; RGS-IBG Lowther Room; Link to Speakers.
*GIScience Research Group organised sessiom.
Transactions is now available for RGS-IBG members at a special rate of £25. To take advantage of this special offer, go to the Transactions in GIS website and click on the Subscribe/Renew link. You will then see a table with prices and links to subscribe.
The Transactions in GIS website can be found here:
http://www.wiley.com/bw/journal.asp?ref=1361-1682
Qualitative GIS:
emerging issues and possible futures
An international conference
Cardiff University, 2nd – 4th August 2010
Qualitative GIS is an emerging, mixed-method and interdisciplinary research approach that is attracting interest across a range of disciplines. The early literature has highlighted the innovative nature of the Qualitative GIS approach to combining ‘qualitative’ and ‘quantitative’ spatial data and encouraging multiple epistemological approaches to spatial research. The emerging body of Qualitative GIS research calls for further methodological, theoretical and empirical development of this research approach. In August 2010, WISERD will be holding an international conference to consider the emerging issues and possible futures of qualitative GIS.
WISERD (Wales Institute of Social and Economic Research, Data and Methods) is a National Research Centre for interdisciplinary social science research. WISERD draws together and builds upon existing expertise and research across Wales in quantitative, qualitative and mixed methods, methodologies and analyses and has embarked upon a programme of data integration, primary research and capacity building.
This conference will bring together interested people from a wide variety of disciplines in order to:
- discuss some of the theoretical and methodological challenges in moving Qualitative GIS forward;
- consider the possibility of an international and collaborative research agenda and working group for Qualitative GIS;
- work towards new and shared outputs related to this research agenda.
The conference will take the form of a series of presentations; round-table discussions; break-out groups and networking sessions through which the group will consider the challenges to progressing qualitative GIS and identify how to move forward in collaboration with one other.
Keynote speakers
Mei-Po Kwan, Distinguished Professor of Social and Behavioral Sciences,
Department of Geography, The Ohio State University
Marianna Pavlovskaya, Associate Professor, Department of Geography,
Hunter College, CUNY
Registration details
Registration is opens now. Places are limited to 60 people.
To register your interest, and receive further details, please contact us using the details below.
WISERD,
Cardiff University, 46 Park Place, Cardiff, CF10 3VB
Email: wiserd@cardiff.ac.uk (Tel: +44 (0) 2920 879338) (Fax: +44 (0) 2920 874520)
http://www.wiserd.ac.uk/training-events-2/conferences/qualgisconference/
Abstracts are invited for a session at the annual conference of the the Royal Geographical Society – Institute of British Geographers in 2010 on the spatial dimensions of health. The session is jointly sponsored by the Quantitative Methods Research Group (QMRG) as well as the Health geography research group (HGRG) of the RGS. Details are as follows:
The Spatial Dimensions of Health
Session abstract
There is little doubt that geography and health are linked. Whether geography is considered in terms of the ‘geographies’ of individuals; communities and neighbourhoods; services and resources; or diseases- the linkage persists. In light of this, Gatrell and Elliot (2009) state ‘the subject of “health” is a rich source of material that bears study by the geographer’ (p.3). The importance of such study is highlighted by the steadfast presence of spatial disparities in health and healthcare nationally. The intention of this session is to bring together research on the spatial dimensions of health, for the purpose of highlighting ongoing and nascent challenges within the diverse spectrum of health and health geography. The session organisers invite proposals for papers that present empirical contributions within the spatial dimensions of health, ideally with focus on the UK. We welcome proposals that explore:
- The spatial dimensions of health inequalities and health behaviours
- Place, community and neighbourhood health and healthcare
- Spatial methods for developing health statistics
- Web 2.0 and health mapping
Reference
Gatrell, A. C. and Elliot, S. J. (2009) “Geographies of Health: An Introduction”, 2nd Edition, Wiley-Blackwell, Chicester
Keywords: Health, behaviour, inequality, quantitative, space.
Deadline for submitting abstracts is Monday 1st February 2010. Please send abstracts up to a maximum of 250 words and proposed titles (clearly stating name, institution, and contact details) to Daniel Lewis (d.lewis@ucl.ac.uk) and/or Catherine Jones (kate-emma.jones@ucl.ac.uk)
Details of other calls by the GHRG can be found here.
This year’s joint e-seminar series will return to the topic of dynamic modelling in a GIS environment.
Date: 28th Oct at 1700 GMT
Title: A dynamic social network model for disease transmission.
Speaker: Ling Bian (Buffalo)
Chair: Kirk Harland (Leeds)
The seminars are open to all. For details of how to join the e-seminar using the Marratech™ video conferencing environment, and further seminars in the same series, see: http://www.wun.ac.uk/ggisa/seminars.html
Dave Unwin (d.unwin@wun.ac.uk) WUN Global GISc Academy Coordinator
Steve Carver (s.j.carver@leeds.ac.uk) University of Leeds
Convenors: Dr. Hanif Rahemtulla (hanif.rahemtulla@mail.mcgill.ca) and Dr. Muki Haklay (m.haklay@ucl.ac.uk)
This session will examine the participatory governance potential of the Geoweb and, in particular, its capacity to enable a two-way dialogue between government officials and the public. From a practical perspective, we will explore how different levels of governments can use the Geoweb as a platform that could build upon current PPGIS/PGIS practices and broaden public engagement. From a theoretical standpoint, we propose to address the scientific, technical, and participatory issues that challenge the accomplishment of this vision.
Please contact convenors for more information.
The 2010 RGS-IBG Annual Conference will take place from the 1st to 3rd September 2010 at the Royal Geographical Society, London.
The GIScRG is pleased to announce the following sessions:
(click on the titles for more details. Please contact the session conveners with any questions)
Enhancing Complex Social Simulations with Automata Systems
Conveners: Dr Alison Heppenstall (a.j.heppenstall@leeds.ac.uk), Dr Linda See, (l.m.see@leeds.ac.uk).
This session aims to bring together researchers to report on progress in diverse types of automata systems in social simulation. We encourage the submission of theoretical, experimental, methodological and application papers related to Cellular Automata (CA) and Agent-Based Modelling (ABM).
GIS for Environmental Modelling
Convener: Dr Katherine Arrell (k.arrell@leeds.ac.uk).
This session aims to bring together researchers to report on state of the art environmental modelling applications. This session seeks to attract papers reporting GIS modelling applications for environmental sciences.
Postgraduate Session: Analysing and Visualising Social Change
Conveners: James Cheshire (james.cheshire@ucl.ac.uk), Dr Muki Haklay (m.haklay@ucl.ac.uk).
The data and tools that are used for analysing, visualising and understanding social change have become increasingly accessible and sophisticated in recent years. GIScience has been at the forefront of these advances, developing tools, providing new visualisations and communicating the results to wider audiences. This session seeks to attract postgraduate researchers from all areas of GIScience, Geovisualisation and wider geography who are concerned with monitoring and visualising social change. Submissions are especially welcome from those researching geovisualisation, modeling, geodemographics, migration and other aspects of social change.
Details of online submission can be found at:
Important Dates
Deadline for abstracts: 5 February 2010
Notification of Acceptance: 26 February 2010
For any questions related to this session, please contact any of the conveners.
