Product Description

This book is a completely new version of the highly successful Principles of Geographical Information Systems for Land Resources Assessment which was first published in 1986. GIS are not just used for electronic map-making but today are major tools for the management of our physical and social environment. GIS are used to assist political decisions and play a part in market research, in the management of utility services, in automated navigation systems and in many other fields. This book presents a strong theoretical basis for GIS, which is often lacking in other texts. Spatial data are usually based on two, dichotomous paradigms, exactly defined entities in space, such as land parcels, or the continuous variation of single attributes, such as temperature or rainfall. Methods for modelling both kinds of phenomena and storing them in spatial databases are described in detail, including the use of geostatistics for interpolating from points to continuous fields. Examples of how spatial data and an analysis of their spatial interactions are used to solve a wide range of practical problems ranging from site-location analysis through land degradation, the optimizing of timber extraction from forests and the redistribution of Chernobyl radioactivity by floods are explained clearly and in detail. Much attention is paid to the problems of data quality and how statistical errors in spatial data can affect the results of spatial modelling based on the two paradigms of space. Fuzzy logic and continuous classification methods are presented as methods for linking the two spatial paradigms. The book concludes with an investigation of current developments in providing spatial data for the whole world over the Internet. As such the new volume provides a comprehensive and concise introduction to the theory and practice of Geographical Information Systems (GIS). Targeted at undergraduates, graduates, and professionals in disciplines such as physical and human geography, hydrology, geology, environmental science, cartography, epidemiology, radioecology, agriculture, spatial planning, land tenure, and land evaluation the book explains why spatial data and the information systems based on them are important in the modern world.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #295739 in Books
• Published on: 1998-02-05
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 356 pages

From the Author
Pointing readers to other reviews
It is impossible to write a comprehensive, affordable book about a subject as broad as GIS. Nevertheless, many other readers have found the book useful for many years. For alternative, independent reviews of the 2nd edition,please see David Unwin's review in GIS Europe, June 1998, p. 41, and Jochen Albrecht's review in Transactions in GIS, March 1999, p. 201. However, as authors, we welcome all constructive suggestions from readers to improve a successful text.

About the Author
Peter Burrough is Professor of Physical Geography, Utrecht University
Rachael McDonnell is College Lecturer at Hertford College, University of Oxford

Customer Reviews

An excellent text book and technical reference source
Having used this book both as an MSc level text book and as a technical reference book in the commercial sector, I can strongly recommend "Principles of Geographical Informations Systems" as a must for any serious GIS user's book shelf. Suitable for any level of GIS experience, it is well-structured, easy to understand and, most importantly, technically strong. It successfully introduces the fundamental principles of GIS, as well as extensively tackles more technical issues such as the use of spatial statistics in interpolation, error propagation and fuzzy set theory.

Good on interpolation, bad structured.
This text leads the reader trough the fundamentals of GIS, with spesial care on interpolation. It is a informative book, but has 2 seriouse flaws: It should be much more concrete and better organised. Still a book one could use on a undergraduate-course.