Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
Region
Neighbourhood
Spatial
location
FIGURE 15.2
Spatial scales relevant to LBGC.
The three spatial scales would be described as follows:
1.
Spatial location
- The coordinates of the user's current position, the reference point
used for capturing information related to that point in space and the classic spatial centre
point which is typically the focus of LBS-like queries. In computational terms, it could
be seen to relate to the
local
category of algorithm in which there is no consideration of
the properties of neighbouring locations, and in LBS terms, it is the
you are here
style
dot on a map.
2.
Neighbourhood
- An area of interest around the user, which has particular geographical
relevance to the user from their current spatial location but which has some kind of spatial
extent. This extent could be determined by proximity as in many LBS apps or could rep-
resent some more complex notion of spatial context such as visibility (Yin and Carswell
2012; Meek et al., 2013) or drive time. This zone of local influence could be seen as being
equivalent to the
focal
or
zonal
categories of algorithm, where processing relates to neigh-
bourhood operations of varying complexity depending on the app. It could also, however,
potentially be seen as the spatial footprint of some notion of place, however that might be
defined and however dynamic it might be. This does not suggest the use of spatial geom-
etry to define a zone but rather that a zone of relevance based upon particular contextual
factors, in the broadest sense, at a particular time, could emerge.
3.
Region
- The area representing the maximum geographical extent of relevance to an analy-
sis given the particular focus of study. In algorithmic terms, this relates to the concept of a
global
influence, in the sense of potentially having to take account of a whole dataset rather
than a neighbourhood operation of some kind. Data from a spatial location or neighbour-
hood are often given meaning through placing it into its regional context or can feed into
analytical or modelling functions occurring at the regional level.
LBGC could be seen as encompassing spatial location, neighbourhood and region, allowing the
user to perform integrated site-specific observations at a location, using data and observations of
immediate relevance to that location, with the
bigger picture
provided by data and model working
at the regional level. Here are two scenarios that are used to illustrate this point:
1. The user is a researcher looking into ancient glacial erosion that took place in the Lake
District in North West England during the last ice age. The user has a piece of technology
that allows them to collect evidence of a glacial trim line (the upper edge of erosional activ-
ity) along a glacial cirque (the large depression over-deepened by glacial erosion) which is
