Things Are How They Are Because of How They Got That Way: Thoughts from the Beach,on 50 Years of Geographical Analysis

The subtitle of Geographical Analysis is “An International Journal of Theoretical Geography”, yet in fifty years of publication little has been published in the journal that fits that remit. In this short commentary I reflect on the nature of theory and explanation in geography and call for more sustained engagement with these themes in the pages of the journal in the years to come.     

D'Arcy Thompson's ‘On Growth and Form’ and the Rediscovery of Geometry within the Geographic Tradition

Abstract

D'Arcy Thompson (1960–1948) was one of the most celebrated biologists of his day, best known for his On Growth and Form (1917) which was the first successful biophysical explanation of the size and shape of organisms. In particular, his concept of allometric growth and theory of transformations have informed cutting edge research in biometrics and practice in the fields of fine art, urban design and civil engineering. He was a seminal figure in the development of the spatial analysis tradition within geography in the 1960s and 1970s underpinning major contributions by Haggett and Bunge and inspiring Tobler to develop cartograms which liberated map projections from sole reliance on Euclidean geometry. Re-assessing his contribution to geography fifty years later, it is still to be found in Batty's work on the size, shape and scale of cities and in Dorling's World Mapper project. This re-discovery of the importance of geometry within the geographic tradition over the last half century owes much to Thompson who spent the whole of his academic life in the University of St Andrews and (what was later to become) the University of Dundee.     

New maps

Yu KUNG, the earliest geographical work, is Chinese ; modern geography in China may be considered to have begun after the Revolution of 1911. The progress of geography during the following twenty years was reviewed by Professor Chi‐Yun Chang in the Journal of the Geographical Society of China (1935, 1936). The present survey¹ of Chinese contributions to geography since 1935 is, roughly, a sequel, though the approach is not quite the same. For convenience, the paper is divided into two parts : the first, accompanied by 48 references, dealing with physical aspects, and the second, referring to 53 publications, with human aspects. A much longer paper, in Chinese, with the same title has been contributed by the author to the above‐mentioned periodical. Assistance by C. Y. Wu, H. C. Kuo, and G. C. Dunn is gratefully acknowledged.     

125 Years of the Geographical Society USSR

A brief review of the history of the Geographical Society USSR and of its contributions to various branches of geography. A book-length account of the history of the society appeared in Leningrad in 1970 under the title Geograficheskoye obshchestvo za 125 let [The Geographical Society Over the Last 125 Years], Leningrad: Nauka, 1970.     

Anticipating the Next Half‐Century of Geographical Analysis

Prompted by a series of panel sessions at a recent American Association of Geographers annual meeting entitled “A Globe‐Shaped Crystal Ball: The Next Fifty Years of Geographical Analysis,” participants were asked to speculate on the future of the journal, which of course has broader implications for spatial and geographic analytics. In what follows, I provide my thoughts on the journal as a reader, contributor, referee, and former editor of Geographical Analysis. The major points touched upon include the following. First, application to address substantive concerns will come to dominate the field. Second, the spatial data deluge will continue unabated, but will lead to important advances because of better detail and less abstraction of reality. Third, analytical methods will evolve specifically for big data. Fourth, the point‐and‐click revolution will result in ever more use of spatial analytics, but also will lend itself to greater and more widespread abuse of these methods. Fifth, addressing assumptions and theoretical foundations of long utilized approaches will revolutionize a new generation of spatial analytics. Sixth, geographic uncertainty and bias will be more than an afterthought, and methods will emerge to support meaningful analysis. Finally, spatial optimization will have increased prominence in fundamental analysis, particularly associated with establishing and evaluating significance.     

李旭旦先生的学术思想和贡献及其他——纪念李旭旦先生诞辰100周年

李旭旦先生是人文地理学家、区域地理学家和地理教育家,毕生致力于地理教育和科学研究,培养了几代地理学人才,桃李满天下。他才思敏捷,知识渊博,治学严谨、执着,有较高的学术造诣。学术上他强调人地协调论和统一地理学,提倡区域研究,致力于地理教育理论的建设,创办《地理知识》杂志,曾任德国《GeoJournal》杂志编委,主编《人文地理学》(中国大百科全书分册)、《人文地理学论丛》、《人文地理学概说》,提出白龙江是我国西部南北地理分界线的科学论断,主张把解决现实问题作为人文地理学的主攻方向,重视野外调查,晚年他提出复兴人文地理学的倡议,把我国人文地理学的发展推向一个新的阶段。他是我国现代人文地理学的奠基人。     

Searching for feminist geography in Thailand: mapping trails of inspiration

Abstract

Feminist geography in Thailand is not generally recognized in the academic landscape. Instead, feminist geography is limited to those scholars located in Women’s Studies who have a research or personal interest in the theoretical, conceptual or empirical issues taken up in feminist geography. Although the discipline of geography has been part of the Thai academy since 1935, in both the Thai Geographical Association and its flagship journal, (Geographical Journal), feminist geography has still not made significant inroads into the discipline. However, once Women’s Studies was established, and then expanded its influence, gender and feminism affected every other social science program, including Geography. Even though only a few, if any, students enrolled in feminist geography courses across Thailand, the work that did exist took on a postcolonial form. Thus the feminist geography literature that would introduce (some part of) the theories, concepts and practice of feminist geographers came through both compulsory and elective courses through a postcolonial lens. In this report, we provide a brief history of the challenges around, and progress of, feminist geography across the country through an analysis of key Thai geographical institutional shifts, journal publications and curricular offerings.     

On the Study of the History of Geographical Ideas

The author rebuts the criticism by Yu. G. Saushkin that the book Razvitiye geograficheskikh idey [The Evolution of Geographical Ideas] is in effect a history of physical geography rather than a history of geography as a whole. Isachenko contends that concepts of natural science have been at the root of geography throughout its history and it is therefore natural for a history of geographical ideas to deal predominantly with the ideas of physical geography. Far from having ignored human geography, Isachenko contends, his book traces the anthropocentric school through its various stages of development. Only the survey of Soviet geography was restricted to physical geography, the author says, because Soviet geography consists of two virtually independent disciplines and the author happens to be a physical geographer viewing his discipline as the foundation of all geography.     

The evolution of the high plateau of brazil

Abstract

It has been claimed that geography journals located in so-called ‘small nations’ face special challenges. This paper suggests that three processes have demanded rapid responses from all geographical journals: globalisation of research-publishing, changing professional practices and the restructuring of the institutional context within which research is undertaken. These processes have been powerful in re-shaping geographical research. Examining the case of Scottish Geography over the last 20 years, the paper concludes there is much to be optimistic about, even though some might regret that ‘Geography’, as we once knew it, no longer exists. Recognising the challenges of the current research environment provides a useful starting point for the Scottish Geographical Journal to chart a new future for itself and for Scottish geographical endeavours.     

Reflections on the retirement of Aníbal Biglieri,the Argentine Patronio of Kentucky

This introduction to this special issue of the Romance Quarterly reflects on the work of Aníbal Biglieri as he steps down as Executive Editor of the journal, as well as his research achievements and many contributions to the lives of his students.     

The Right to Rule by Thumb: A Comment on Epistemology in “A Route Map for Successful Applications of Geographically-Weighted Regression”

Comber et al. provide an important contribution to the future of quantitative geography and Geographical Analysis. The contribution is chiefly in their development of a “GWR Route Map,” a diagram showing the sequence of analytical steps that “successful” specification searches in local modeling tend to follow. Geographically weighted techniques have been rapidly expanding, both in terms of complexity, users, and disciplinary reach. With geographically weighted methods now in so many more analysts' hands, any new rule of thumb will have a major imprint. But, by what right does the thumb rule the analysts? That is, what “counts” as valid knowledge about local models in general? In the following comment, I argue that we probably should use theory, not route maps to decide specifications. But, if we are pressed to build route maps, we sorely need better epistemological foundations for them. I discuss a few previous examples of strongly grounded route maps and offer a few paths to these better grounds as well as two ways to the exit.     

Geography's secret powers to save the world

The purpose of this paper, prepared to present at the 2018 joint Canadian Association of Geographers (CAG) and International Geographical Union (IGU) regional conference, is to suggest three strategies, framed as proposals, that geography and geography education can deploy to “save the world.” The first proposal is to expand explicit instruction in spatial thinking to close gender‐based achievement gaps. The second proposal is to apply research from the learning sciences to develop persuasive geography curricula and instructional materials. The third proposal focuses on ways social media and geospatial technologies can be employed in civic education, an idea termed “spatial citizenship.” The paper suggests a re‐envisioning of geography education with an enhanced focus on teaching for, in, and about a world that fully appreciates difference and acts on that appreciation.     

Discussion Of The Volume Priroda I Obshchestvo [Nature and Society]

In March 1969, a group of geographers at the Geographical Society USSR in Leningrad convened a meeting to discuss the volume Priroda i obshchestvo (Moscow, 1968), a collection of articles concerned with the role of geography in investigating the man-nature relationship. Selected articles appeared in Soviet Geography, May 1969. Some of the discussants were critical of certain authors on the ground that they argued in favor of a unified geography to deal with the man-nature relationship as a whole and did not differentiate between socioeconomic systems (capitalism, socialism) in appraising society's attitude toward nature. The official report of the meeting, in which five principal discussants participated, follows.     

Twenty years of Tourism Geographies: a bibliometric overview

Abstract

Tourism Geographies is a prominently ranked journal that emerged from activities of the Tourism Commission of the International Geographical Union. It is indexed in the ‘Tourism, Leisure and Hospitality Management’ and ‘Geography, Planning and Development’ fields in the Scopus database and published its 20th volume in 2018. A bibliometric assessment of the articles and authors who have contributed to Tourism Geographies over its first two decades highlights major trends and dominant issues covered by the journal’s content. Key indicators include the most published and most cited authors and articles, the institutions and countries that those authors are affiliated with, other academic journals that are closely linked to the journal through citations, and the most used keywords in the journal. The Scopus database provides access to these basic bibliometric data, while the VOSviewer software enables graphical analyses and displays of co-citations, co-occurrences of keywords, and bibliographic couplings (shared references) across papers and authors. Overall, Tourism Geographies is closely linked to other leading journals indexed by Scopus in the ‘Tourism’ and ‘Geography’ fields and publishes papers from around the world. Research topics that have been most prominent in the journal include tourism development, tourist destinations, tourist attractions, heritage tourism, tourism perceptions, sustainable tourism, and travel behavior. Among the most viewed individual papers have been those addressing issues related to sustainability, poverty issues (related to tourism in poor areas, volunteering, sustainable tourism, and the environment), and community planning (sustainable tourism planning, tourist routes and movement, and new locations for tourism development).     

Geographical Analysis: Its First 40 Years

Geographical Analysis (GA), in cooperation with the Wiley‐Blackwell publishing business, undertook a project to complete the digitizing of all back issues of the journal and make those for the period 1969–2001 free to the academic community; the volumes for 2002–2005 already were, and continue to be, free. This article commemorates the completion of this event late in 2010, drawing upon this new resource to highlight important contributions made through the journal to the geography and spatial sciences community. Besides summarizing publication trends for the journal, in the tradition of Fenneman's Venn diagram conceptualization of overlaps between geography and its cognate disciplines, this article highlights prominent articles published in the journal that contributed to the four themes of urban and economic geography, transportation geography, spatial statistics, and geographic information science. Geographical Analysis (GA) en cooperación con publicaciones Wiley‐Blackwell llevo a cabo el proyecto de digitación de todos los números pasados de la revista, los cuales están ahora a disposición de la comunidad académica sin costo alguno; los volúmenes de los años 2000–5 ya estaban disponibles y continúan siendo gratis. El presente artículo conmemora la culminación de dicho evento a fines de 2010, recogiendo los aportes de esta nueva fuente de información y resaltando varias contribuciones importantes hechas vía GA a la comunidad de geografía y ciencias espaciales. Además de resumir las tendencia de las publicaciones de la revista, en la tradición de la conceptualización de traslapes entre la geografía y disciplinas afines de los diagramas Venn Fanneman, el presente artículo resalta, artículos prominentes publicados en GA que contribuyeron a los cuatro temas principales: geografía urbana y económica, geografía del transporte, estadística especial y ciencias (sistemas) de información geográfica. 地理分析（GA）和Wiley‐Blackwell出版商合作完成了对本刊1969‐2001年所有刊册数字化的项目,并向学术界免费开放。事实上,从2002年第5卷就已经开始并将一直持续免费。本文记述了2010年末完成的这一事件,并依托这一新的数据资源,重新回顾了本刊对地理学和空间科学研究群体做出的重要贡献。本文总结了本刊论文发表趋势,从Fenneman的韦恩图概念传统来看是地理学及其相关学科的交叉。此外还回顾了本刊发表的对城市与经济地理、交通地理、空间统计以及地理信息科学方法做出卓越贡献的论文。     

Arena gets the growth syndrome

Abstract

Geographical educators can make useful contributions to the process of community development by helping local communities to achieve greater understanding of their environments. One way to do this is via the concept of regional synthesis, developed by, and shared with, the local residents of a community through the medium of a course which focuses on their local regional geography. A localised geography course was offered in 1977 to out ‐of‐school adults in the Kohala area of the island of Hawaii. The specific mechanics of the course are described here, and short‐term outcomes are evaluated. The potential of this form of ‘applied geography’ is briefly discussed.     

From the Arctic and Antarctic to ‘the back parts of Mull’: The life and career of William Gordon Burn Murdoch (1862–1939)

Published and archival sources are examined to elucidate the career of William Gordon Burn Murdoch, artist, bag‐piper, explorer, geographer, hunter, Scottish nationalist, traveller, whaler and writer. Burn Murdoch's diverse contributions to geography are discussed, as are the roles he played in the Royal Scottish Geographical Society and other Scottish scientific and literary societies. A preliminary list of his extant original works of art is included.     

The Inca's Ransom

Abstract

To honour the distinguished members of our Editorial Board on the occasion of their 80th birthday, it has now become customary to publish a contribution to this journal chosen by them. Lord Todd, Britain's most distinguished scientist today, recalls here the history of organic chemistry and describes his own contributions: the total synthesis of the anthocyan ins and of vitamin B₁, as well as his pioneering research in the fields of coenzymes and nucleotide chemistry. Lord Todd, Nobel Laureate and formerly President of the Royal Society, has been uniquely honoured by having had the Order of Merit bestowed upon him and having been elected into the Order Pour le mérite (see Interdisciplinary Science Reviews 8, 201, 1983). He has received thirty-one honorary doctorates, and as the first Chancellor of the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, the city of his birth, he has even had a pub named after him, The Lord Todd.