GEO151 - Location, Location, Location

Week 2 – Spatial Concepts

19/01/2024
Dr. Emmanuel Kojo Kyeremeh
 Lecture 1 - Recap
• Discussed why location matters using Snow (1854) death by
cholera study

• Used case studies in the private and public sector

– Case studies helped to identify the nature and importance of
geographical perspective
– Helped identify some geographical concepts

• Considered the role of location during a pandemic

 To develop a foundational understanding of
This Week

AIM
geographic concepts that allow us to understand
a wide variety of spatial patterns and processes

• Thinking and acting spatially

• Spatial relationships
• Spatial interaction and models of spatial behaviour
• What is distance?
• Demand and distance
• Other stuff to do this week
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Wolman (2020) https://www.wired.com/story/amid-pandemic-geography-returns-with-a-vengeance/
 Acting Spatially

• Humans have distinctive spatial behaviour

• Maps predate written language
• Basic understanding of the geography of our environment
needed to survive
• Territorial in nature
 Thinking Spatially

• Good geographers need spatial awareness, need to think

spatially
– starts with a curiosity about the places we inhabit and navigate
through:
• E.g., how are areas around transit stations different than
other areas?

• Spatial thinking can be learned/improved

– How do you navigate in an area you’re unfamiliar with?
 Spatial Representation

Features (objects) on a Map

- Points

Source: Aitchison 2012 Pro Spatial with SQL Server, pg. 24-27.
 Spatial Representation

Features (objects) on
a Map - Lines

Source: Aitchison 2012 Pro Spatial with SQL Server, pg. 27-30.
 Spatial Representation

Features (objects) on a
Map - Polygons

Source: Aitchison 2012 Pro Spatial with SQL Server, pg. 36-39.
 Spatial Relationships
‘The power of location comes not from location itself, but
from the linkages or relationships that it establishes’
(de Smith, Goodchild, and Longley 2015 - http://www.spatialanalysisonline.com/)

The existence of spatial relationships forms the basis for

spatial/location analysis

- e.g. your assumptions about why a business/service is located in your

neighbourhood are based on your understanding of spatial relationships.
These can then be verified using location analysis techniques
 Spatial Relationships

• Co-Location
– Relationship between entities that are spatially
coincident (exist in the same place)

– Important insight about a place can be

understood simply by determining what objects or
features exist there (or not)
 Spatial Relationships
• Spatial Context
– Relationship between spatial objects in close proximity

– Spatial context is important for understanding why an object has

specific characteristics

• E.g. the price of a house is influenced by spatial context (such as price of

neighbouring houses)
• E.g. likelihood of an individual getting diabetes is influenced by spatial context
(such as availability of healthy food in surrounding neighbourhood)
 Spatial Relationships
• Spatial Dependence
– tendency for objects with similar attributes to cluster in space
– Objects in space often exhibit non-independence (spatial
autocorrelation)

Tobler’s First “Law” of Geography

"Everything is related to everything

else, but near things are more related
than distant things.” (Tobler, 1970)
 Spatial Patterns
Figure 2.1: Point pattern descriptions

Regular (Uniform) Clustered Random (Dispersed)

• Which is the most common pattern?

• What can be assume about clustered points?
 Spatial Interaction Models
Gravity Model

Model to predict spatial interaction,

based not only on distance, but also
on ‘attractiveness’ of locations (e.g.
size, type of facility, etc.)

Based on Newton’s law of gravity

Interaction between i and j is a

function of:
Pi -population at i
Pj -population at j
dij -distance from i to j
 Gravity Models
• Equally divided market area between two shopping centres of the same size
 Gravity Models
• Market boundary when one of the shopping centres is larger
Spatial Interaction Models
Central Place Theory
Christaller’s (1933) Urban Hierarchy model
 Spatial Diffusion
Movement of things and objects (e.g. people, ideas)
can be modeled geographically by considering how
they spread across space

The spread of something (anything!) through space is

called spatial diffusion

Also – temporal diffusion 

Anthamatten and Hazen ch 3 - https://www.crcpress.com/An-Introduction-to-the-Geography-of-Health/Hazen-Anthamatten/p/book/9780367109653

 The spread of a something
across space, passed through
interactions between one
person/object and their
neighbour is called expansion
(or contagious) diffusion.

Anthamatten and Hazen ch 3

The introduction of something
to a new location, completely
outside the current range of
that phenomenon, is called
relocation diffusion.

Anthamatten and Hazen ch3

Hierarchical diffusion is the
spread of something along
hierarchical settlement
patterns.
The phenomenon is more likely
to move into large cities before
small villages.

Anthamatten and Hazen ch3

 How to think about Distance
• Distance – the space between 2 points?

• Absolute
• Euclidean
• Network Distance (Manhattan)
• Travel-Time
• Time-Space
• Economic Distance
 Distance Concepts
Absolute/Euclidean distance:

Is it useful to think about

distance this way? Distribution of customers for a big box home improvement store in Toronto

Clearly visible distance decay pattern

 Distance Concepts

Euclidean vs Manhattan
distance
 Distance Concepts

“Travel-time” distance
 Distance Concepts
Time-space compression

Technological development can alter the “friction of distance”

Barney Warf: https://sk.sagepub.com/reference/geography/n1142.xml

David Harvey (1989) The Condition of Postmodernity
 Distance Concepts
Taxi fare zones from Vancouver International
Airport

Economic distance

What technological developments might alter

the “friction of economic distance” here?

Source: www.ptboard.bc.ca/documents/ia_yvr-flat-zone-rates-review2.pdf
Distance Concepts

The point at which interaction declines to

zero because of increased travel costs
 Demand & Distance
The Demand Curve
• Economic relationship between price and quantity purchased
• The higher the price the fewer units purchased
 Demand & Distance
• Cost and Distance
• the greater the distance, the higher the transportation costs

Why does the slope level off?

 Demand & Distance
• Spatial Price Curve
Unless you live at the store, the true cost of an item to a consumer
should include transportation costs which increase with distance
 Demand & Distance
• Spatial Demand Curve
Quantity purchased will decline with distance since overall cost increases
with distance and consumers purchase less as the price increases
 Demand & Distance
• Spatial demand curves for ‘convenience’ (low order) vs ‘shopping’
(higher order) goods

Recreated Source: Based on data from William Young, 1975, "Distance Decay Values and Shopping Centre Size," Professional Geographer, 27 (1975), pp. 304-309.
Intervening Opportunities
Some stuff to do this week

• Read this week’s reading: Textbook Ch 2, Basic Spatial Concepts

• Read: Wolman in Wired Magazine (2020) Amid a Pandemic, Geography Returns With
a Vengeance
https://www.wired.com/story/amid-pandemic-geography-returns-with-a-vengeance/

• Read Shephard in Forbes Magazine (2020) Why Geography Is A Key Part Of Fighting The
COVID-19 Coronavirus Outbreak:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/marshallshepherd/2020/03/05/why-the-discipline-of-geography-is-a-ke
y-part-of-the-coronavirus-fight/?sh=16fa9d384f21

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 Upcoming
Next week:
– Monday (Jan 30th) Spatial Analysis

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