Spatial modelling is a process with a circle of induction and deduction. The inductive process results in a theory generated by sufficient amount of empirical data (statistical data), while the deductive process can be understood as a test to the theory that in return adds complexity to the theory.
![Adjacency GraphAn Abstract Representation of Spatial Relationships
The provinces of Netherlands, it’s adjacency graph representation and a rectangular population cartogram.
[Citation] M. de Berg, E. Mumford, and B. Speckmann, “On rectilinear duals for vertex-weighted plane graphs,” Discrete Mathematics, vol. 309, no. 7, pp. 1794–1812, Apr. 2009.](http://24.media.tumblr.com/f5edb4975ef9ebff2e872003f10aeae4/tumblr_mm4w2lOIIN1rgerafo1_500.jpg)
Adjacency Graph
An Abstract Representation of Spatial Relationships
The provinces of Netherlands, it’s adjacency graph representation and a rectangular population cartogram.
[Citation] M. de Berg, E. Mumford, and B. Speckmann, “On rectilinear duals for vertex-weighted plane graphs,” Discrete Mathematics, vol. 309, no. 7, pp. 1794–1812, Apr. 2009.
![WRIGHT, A Constraint Based Spatial Layout System
WRIGHT formulates the problems of generating two dimensional layouts consisting of rectangular design units as a Boolean constraint satisfaction problem. It formulates layout problems as constrained optimisation problems, and solves them by constrained heuristic search effective in the design of two dimensional layout configurations such as site plans, floor plans, facility layouts and the arrangement of equipment in rooms. In spatial layout, topological relations such as adjacency, alignment, grouping, and properties such as shape, dimension, distance, and other functions of spatial arrangement are principal concern. Spatial layout is a design task. It is an important aspect of architectural design and other fields that deal with physical design.
[Citation] Baykan, C. A. and Fox, M. S., WRIGHT: a constraint based spatial layout system. In Artificial intelligence in engineering design (Volume I), Christopher Tong and Duvvuru Sriram (Eds.). Academic Press Professional, Inc., 1992, San Diego, CA, USA 395-432.](http://24.media.tumblr.com/cea4eb66287a701b344ea8a229816bf6/tumblr_mlwzjo8Wca1rgerafo1_500.png)
WRIGHT, A Constraint Based Spatial Layout System
WRIGHT formulates the problems of generating two dimensional layouts consisting of rectangular design units as a Boolean constraint satisfaction problem. It formulates layout problems as constrained optimisation problems, and solves them by constrained heuristic search effective in the design of two dimensional layout configurations such as site plans, floor plans, facility layouts and the arrangement of equipment in rooms. In spatial layout, topological relations such as adjacency, alignment, grouping, and properties such as shape, dimension, distance, and other functions of spatial arrangement are principal concern. Spatial layout is a design task. It is an important aspect of architectural design and other fields that deal with physical design.
[Citation] Baykan, C. A. and Fox, M. S., WRIGHT: a constraint based spatial layout system. In Artificial intelligence in engineering design (Volume I), Christopher Tong and Duvvuru Sriram (Eds.). Academic Press Professional, Inc., 1992, San Diego, CA, USA 395-432.
Twitter Happiness Levels Soar As People Travel Further From Home
The way sociologists and anthropologists study modern society has changed dramatically in recent years. One of the major advances has been the ability to study human behaviour by mining the massive databases from technologies such as mobile phones and social media, such as Twitter. These technologies provide a firehose of near real-time data about people’s ideas, location and even their feelings.
That’s enabled entirely new insight into the way society behaves. Morgan Frank and pals at the University of Vermont take this work a step further by analysing how the sentiments people express over Twitter change as they move further afield. The conclusion? The further away we are, the happier we become, as measured by the sentiments of our Tweets.
[Citation] M. R. Frank, L. Mitchell, P. S. Dodds, and C. M. Danforth, “Happiness and the Patterns of Life: A Study of Geolocated Tweets,” arXiv preprint arXiv:1304.1296, 2013.
(Source: technologyreview.com)
Unfold a street map.. place a glass, rim down any where on the map, draw around it’s edge. Pick up the map, go out into the city and walk the circle, keeping as close as you can to the curve. Record the experience as you go, in what ever medium you favour: film, photograph, manuscript, tape. Catch the textural run-off of the streets; the graffiti, the branded litter, the snatches of conversation. Cut for sign. Log the data-stream. Be alert to the happenstance of metaphors, watch for visual rhymes, coincidences, analogies, family resemblances, the changing moods of the street. Complete the circle, and the record ends. Walking makes for content: footage for footage.
How do your quantify data as large, big, or huge?
How big your data is depends on the quantity of information that it contains, rather than the number of terabytes.
![Spatial data may demonstrate a pattern of positive spatial autocorrelation (left), negative spatial autocorrelation (right), or a pattern that is not spatially autocorrelated (center). Statistical tests, such as Moran’s I, should always be used to evaluate the presence of spatial autocorrelation.
[Citation] Radil, S. Matthew, Spatializing Social Networks: Making Space for Theory In Spatial Analysis, 2011](http://24.media.tumblr.com/761f584ea22d5ae784f6fc22751318f8/tumblr_mkz86xf8Ae1rgerafo1_500.png)
Spatial data may demonstrate a pattern of positive spatial autocorrelation (left), negative spatial autocorrelation (right), or a pattern that is not spatially autocorrelated (center). Statistical tests, such as Moran’s I, should always be used to evaluate the presence of spatial autocorrelation.
[Citation] Radil, S. Matthew, Spatializing Social Networks: Making Space for Theory In Spatial Analysis, 2011
MapIt
MapIt is a useful service for anyone who needs access to shape files of administrative or political boundaries. Geometries are provided in .wkt .geojson and .kml quick and convenient.
Twitter Geo-Fail? Research Probe Reveals That Only 0.23% of Tweets Are Geo Tagged
[…] In doing our research, we discovered that almost no one is using the geo-location API tool that Twitter launched last August, with only 0.23% of all Tweets tagged with geo-location. […]
Link to the original report by Sysomos
The lotxlot vacancy map for Philadelphia by @PossibleCity
What’s the Big Idea?
Possible City is an experiment in engaging the city’s forgotten spaces to bridge a crucial gap in current urban planning practice. Top-down master planning, while cohesive and potentially visionary, is static and often insensitive to the needs of communities and individuals. Bottom-up advocacy planning addresses these issues, but can be fragmented and fall victim to “design by committee”. The Web provides a virtual medium for a sophisticated new approach whereby an organized vision for an entire city can emerge from networks of citizens working to improve their local environments . Vacant properties provide the physical medium, open to transformative new possibilities. Neither top down, nor bottom up, Possible City is a web-based framework for a symbiotic network of continuous experimentation, feedback, and synthesis more in-tune with the city as a complex and evolving entity.
