Geographic Information Sciences Commons^™

Maps As A Visual Language: A Chinese Perspective, Zhaoyuan Li

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

One primary goal of cartographic research is to improve cartographic communication. Psychophysical and cognitive research has assisted our understanding of the map use process. The present study is from a perspective of maps as a visual language. This study hypothesizes that (1) the map symbol system constitutes a visual ideographic language and (2) cartographic communication may be improved by applying the methods of teaching visual ideographic languages as a second language. Chinese script originated in primitive drawings of concrete things--pictographs--and ideographs. These became stylized and combined, and were expanded greatly in number. Although the characters came to include phonetic symbols, …

A Test Of The Multiquadric Technique Of Interpolation With An Application To Fluid Speeds In A River (Ontario), James Patrick Dozois

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Hardy's (1971) technique of interpolation was tested using fluid speed data from Big Otter Creek, a gravel bed stream, in South-Western Ontario. Fourteen cross-sections were selected from a 500 m-long reach of the river. Each cross-section was divided into 10 verticals. Fluid speed was sampled as different positions in these verticals starting at 0.025 m off the channel bed using an electromagnetic current metre. Bed roughness at each cross-section was determined by collecting samples of the bed material and by measuring the long, intermediate and short axes of particles at the 10 verticals. To test the multiquadric technique of interpolation, …

A Test Of The Multiquadric Method Of Interpolation Using Drumlin Data From The Lunenburg, Nova Scotia And Peterborough, Ontario, Fields, Catherine Treena Conrad

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

The multiquadric method of interpolation has been used to generate surfaces from irregularly distributed points of geophysical data, and has proven to be a successful means of mapping such data. There are four stages involved in the implementation of the method (Saunderson, 1994): (1) solution of a system of simultaneous, linear equations; (2) interpolation of new z values, for a number of locations within the x,y area of an initial sample space of points; (3) plots of all the z values at their respective locations, using colour graphics instead of contouring; and (4) plots of the partial derivatives of z …

Theoretical And Empirical Examinations Of Spatial Scale And Aggregation Effects On The Principal Axis Factoring Technique When The Observations Are Areal Units, Len Michael Hunt

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Previous assessments of factor analytic invariance to scale and aggregation effects have led to discrepant results. To determine the true effects, this study comprehensively examines the influence of scale and aggregation on factorial ecologies. This investigation is completed for three data sets, four scales, and thirty aggregations at each scale. Of these three data sets, two are artificial. These two data sets differ only by levels of spatial autocorrelations as one data set contains independent areal unit observations while the other set includes modest positive spatial autocorrelations. The third data set consists of variables from the 1986 Saskatoon enumeration areas. …

Voronoi Diagrams As A Visualization Technique For Spatial Autocorrelation In Point Data Sets, Martin A. Cassel

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This thesis explores a new way of visualizing spatial autocorrelation in a GIS environment. It explores some relationships between spatial autocorrelation models, spatial interaction models and weighted Voronoi diagrams. Since the weighted Voronoi diagram is equivalent to a form of spatial interaction models, any GIS with the ability to generate a gravity model can be utilized to perform this new technique of exploratory spatial data analysis. This thesis demonstrates how the cross product form of‘ spatial autocorrelation models like the Geary and the Moran statistics is equivalent to the form of a multiplicatively weighted distance utilized in the definition of …

Multiple Hazard Research In Kananaskis Country, Alberta: A Geographical Information System Approach, Alastair J. Small

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This research is concerned with the application of Geographical Information System techniques to multiple hazard research in Kananaskis Country Recreation Area, southern Alberta. The study is focused on Peter Lougheed Provincial Park, a high mountain environment in the front range Rockies. Increasing human activity in the area is putting more and more people at risk from natural hazards, thus the need for more efficient land use planning is evident. This research attempts to map and predict avalanche, forest fire, rockslide/rockfall, and flood hazard occurrence, and estimate the degree of risk associated with each. Data relating to the physical characteristics and …

Identifying Directional Properties Of Spatial Point Patterns An Investigation Of Two Methods, Rolf Puchtinger

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Analyses of spatial point patterns tend to focus on deviations from randomness by either clustering or regularity. One assumption of these analyses implies that the point generating process is equal in all directions. However, the association of the location of points with a process biased in one or more directions is widely neglected due to a lack of appropriate statistical procedures. This is surprising, since patterns generated by directional processes are important in Geography. The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the blunt-triangle method and the third moment method for their potential of identifying directionality in spatial point patterns. …

The Impact Of Teaching Cartographic Lexicon And Of Geographic Experience On Map Use, James Cuame Saku

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Although maps are often thought to be easily understood, for many people they are not. Research into how best to make the map more useful to the user has taken different forms including applied psychology. While some researchers focus on the map maker, others are concentrating on the map user. In this study, attention is focused on the map user. Specifically, the study tries to look at how “years of geographic instruction” and teaching of “geographic lexicons” can enhance the performance of map use activities. Since maps are more associated with geographers, it is believed that they are in a …

An Investigation Of Land Prices And Related Factors In Wellington County From 1961–71, Janet Eluned Morris

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Factors affecting land prices in the open countryside of Wellington County from 1961–71 are investigated in this study. Land use was the major determinant of price and the significance of location, size and time varied according to land use. Soil had no effect on land prices. These factors were poor predictors of price which suggested that formation of land prices was a complicated process. The fragmentation of rural land into residential parcels from 1966–1969, combined with favourable economic conditions caused dramatic price increases for residential land and smaller increases in farm land and farm prices. The amount of rural land …

The Influence Of Educational Ability On Cognitive Mapping Ability: A Study Of School Children In Halifax, Nova Scotia, Gilbert Ronald Oikle

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

The purpose of this thesis is to find how a child’s cognitive abilities affect his cognitive map. Most of the earlier studies concentrated on socio-economic factors as the main factors affecting cognitive mapping, either ignoring cognitive ability or giving it minor consideration. This study surveyed a group of children ages 12 to 15 years in a Junior High School in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

The study revealed that cognitive ability significantly affected the forms of the cognitive maps of the students, but was not a significant factor in influencing the elements placed on the cognitive maps. Children of high achievement and …

Stochastic Models In Circuit Network Growth, John D. Radke

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

To describe the spatial pattern of objects or events, and to explain that pattern by way of the causal mechanisms which have generated it, has been one of the traditional aims of geographical research (Harvey, 1967). One method that can be employed for such descriptions and explanations is network analysis.

A network is a meshed fabric of intersecting lines (Kansky, 1963). A more appropriate definition for geographers would be, a set of geographic elements interconnected into a system by a number of relationships (Kansky, 1963). Network analysis is an examination of a complete network, its elements and their relationships. Networks …

The Spatial Variation Of Voting Behaviour In Canada In 1963, Alex Yin-Cheung Mok

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Previous studies in different countries have unfolded consequential relationships between a number of socio-economic factors and voting behavior. Ethnicity, religion, trade or profession were among the most useful voter characteristics in explaining party preference. While hypotheses of voting behavior for Canada are also prolific, most of them were based upon local studies. The present study of 53 selected incorporated cities in 1963 general election attempts to test such hypotheses at the national level. The majority of the proposed independent variables were derived from the previous case studies. The hypotheses were tested by means of a computerized multiple regression analysis.

The …

An Analysis Of The Spatial Distribution And Location Of Ski Resorts In Southern Ontario, John E. Lewis

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

The number of skiers participating in the outdoor recreation activity of skiing has increased tremendously during the past twenty years. With increased amounts of leisure time, improved means of access and mobility, greater real incomes, new technology, and an increased desire to ski, the amount of skiing being done will continue to rise in the future.

The factors that have determined the development of existing ski resort facilities appear nebulous. Some of the ski resorts established in the past have resulted in economically successful operations while others have ended in a financial loss for the owners involved as well as …

A Systems-Behavioral Approach To The Geographic Problem Of Locating Outdoor Recreation Facilities, John G. Safrance

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

No abstract provided.