Geographical Data: Characteristics and Sources - Hardcover

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Nigel Walford has taught Geographical Information Systems courses at Kingston University for 12 years and previously worked in the Data Archive at Essex University. He graduated from the University of Sussex and did his postgraduate work at the University of London. His thematic research interests relate mainly to rural issues and include agriculture, land use planning and population. Recent book publications include Geographical Data Analysis (John Wiley & Sons) and Reshaping the Countryside: Perceptions and Processes of Rural Change (CAB International) as well as several journal articles in Health and Place, Geography, Planning Practice and Research, Applied Geography and International Journal of Population Geography.

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Geographical Data: Characteristics and Sources represents a response to the remarkable growth in the volume of geographical data in recent years, especially in the amount captured directly into a digital format. Information and communication technologies are now the basis for analysing, handling and visualising data about the Earth's surface, and Geographical Information Systems (GIS) provide the tools for performing these tasks within the public, private and educational sectors. This book focuses on the principle sources of geographical data and provides a comprehensive overview of their characteristics and analytical capabilities.

Geographical Data: Characteristics and Sources is a unique text in several ways:

• Details the characteristics of spatial and thematic geographical data relating to the environmental and human domains. These types of data are remotely sensed, cartographic, census/survey, and administrative/statutory
• Highlights the benefits and drawbacks of using geographical data
• Focuses on the availability of digital (rather than analogue) geo-referenced datasets
• Presents a comparative development of spatial data frameworks from countries across the world in Australasia, Asia, Europe and North America
• Looks to future developments in Internet-based GIS, online access and potential new sources of geographical data.