Manfred M. Fischer

Yee Leung

Geocomputation may be viewed as the application of a computational science paradigm to study a wide range of problems in geographical systems contexts. This volume presents a clear, comprehensive and thoroughly state-of-the-art overview of current research, written by leading figures in the field. It provides important insights into this new and rapidly developing field and attempts to establish the principles, and to develop techniques for solving real world problems in a wide array of application domains with a catalyst to greater understanding of what geocomputation is and what it entails. The broad coverage makes it invaluable reading for resarchers and professionals in geography, environmental and economic sciences as well as for graduate students of spatial science and computer science.

Techniques and Applications

GeoComputational Modelling

Yi Liang

The book deals with complexity, imprecision, human valuation, and uncertainty in spatial analysis and planning, providing a systematic exposure of a new philosophical and theoretical foundation for spatial analysis and planning under imprecision. Regional concepts and regionalization, spatial preference-utility-choice structures, spatial optimization with single and multiple objectives, dynamic spatial systems and their controls are analyzed in sequence. The analytical framework is based on fuzzy set theory. Basic concepts of fuzzy set theory are first discussed. Many numerical examples and empirical studies are provided to substantiate the theoretical arguments and empirical relevance of this approach. The book provides a more comprehensive perspective on uncertainty and a flexible framework for analysis in the real world, for problems such as commonly encountered spatial problems, urban and regional economic problems, and planning problems. Though the treatment is unconventional, it generally includes conventional analyses as special cases.

Spatial Analysis and Planning Under Imprecision

When I ?rst came across the term data mining and knowledge discovery in databases, I was excited and curious to ?nd out what it was all about. I was excited because the term tends to convey a new ?eld that is in the making. I was curious because I wondered what it was doing that the other ?elds of research, such as statistics and the broad ?eld of arti?cial intelligence, were not doing. After reading up on the literature, I have come to realize that it is not much different from conventional data analysis. The commonly used de?nition of knowledge discovery in databases: “the non-trivial process of identifying valid, novel, potentially useful, and ultimately understandable patterns in data” is actually in line with the core mission of conventional data analysis. The process employed by conventional data analysis is by no means trivial, and the patterns in data to be unraveled have, of course, to be valid, novel, useful and understandable. Therefore, what is the commotion all about? Careful scrutiny of the main lines of research in data mining and knowledge discovery again told me that they are not much different from that of conventional data analysis. Putting aside data warehousing and database m- agement aspects, again a main area of research in conventional database research, the rest of the tasks in data mining are largely the main concerns of conventional data analysis.

Yee Leung

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