Conceptualizing Space and Time: A Classification of Geographic Movement1

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Conceptualizing Space and Time A Classification
of Geographic Movement1

• Movement and Geography
• Classification and Science in Geography
• Geographic Movement
• Space
• Time
• Scale
• Classification of Geographic Movement
• Continuous movement
• Cyclical movement
• Intermittent movement
• Conclusion

1 Yattaw, N. J., in Cartography and Geographic
Information Systems. Vol 26, No 2, 1999. Pp.
85-98 outline of article extensive
paraphrasing and quotations
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Movement and Geography

• Space is naturally linked with time and recently
  geographers have begun to include time as an
  integral part of their domain of inquiry
• Key element in research how to store historical
  and anticipated geographic data effectively so
  that one can do temporal modeling and simulation
  of geographic processes.
• Visualization tool help geographers better
  understand dynamic phenomena by visualizing
  space through time
• Including the understanding of these phenomena
  over a range of scales
• Classification of spatio-temporal properties by
  abstracting movement with respect to events,
  occurrence and processes.

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Classification and Science in Geography

• Classification is a part of the scientific
  process. It enables generalizations and leads to
  a conceptual framework (or follows from) about
  reality.
• Classification helps us understand the phenomena
  under study.
• Identify fundamental principles and
  characteristics inherent in objects
• Identify similarities and differences
• Generic concepts divided into classes based on a
  set of criteria
• Simple is or isnt something
• Complex A formal scheme for grouping of a
  definite set of objects into hierarch of
  classes
• Kinds of classification
• From above logical subdivisions using some set
  of criteria
• From below agglomeration using discriminate
  analysis or some clustering procedure

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Geographic Movement

• Geographic phenomena and change
• Phenomenal may change aspacially (e.g. rezoning).
• Spatially (e.g. land parcel merger)
• Both (e.g. ag to residential, one lot to many)
• Change location movement has occurred
• Movement often explained in terms of spatial
  interaction
• Movement of people, goods, information, and ideas
  discussed in terms of migration, trade and
  transportation, communications and diffusion,
  respectively.

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Geographic Movement cont.

• Space basic organizing concept of the geographer
• Spatial data
• Each element or entity has associated location in
  n dimensional space
• Space can be measured
• Metrically (ruler), temporally (I.e. drive
  time) or by adapting a system (I.e lat/long)
• Movement comes from understanding the spatial
  form or pattern that a phenomenon takes as it
  evolves and changes with time
• Structure and process different
• Process discovered from spatial form that is
  arrangement of points lines, areas or volumes

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Geographic Movement cont.

• Time a prerequisite for geographic change
• Way of dealing with Present
• Describing the direction and frequency of change
• Provide historical context in explaining the
  existence and cause of features on the landscape
• Types of temporal
• Constant (long term)
• Trends (long term)
• Cycles
• Shifts
• Time in the study of social change
• As causal link between elements
• Quantitative measure of their interplay

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Geographic Movement cont.

• Time
• What happened, why it happened, why it happened
  at that time and why something else did not
  happen?
• Temporal and spatial can be viewed as similar and
  inseparable but measurements can not!
• Spatial measures changed in state between two
  entities over space at a single time (e.g. forest
  then ag)
• Temporal measures changes in state (over time)
  for a single entity (e.g. forest to ag)
• All time measurements involve movements in space
• Time as
• continuum (earth revolving around sun)
• discrete or body time ( related to human
  activity social time)

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Geographic Movement cont.

• Time
• Characteristics of time
• Direction flowing water
• Duration how long continuance in space with
  some assoicated change
• Frequency how often
• Time intervals are useful in epidemiology where
  epidemics occur periodically
• Patterns
• Homogeneous processes (e.g. continuous)
• Majoritative, and occasional patterns are
  non-cyclical. System is coontinuously being
  carried into states that are different from all
  previous states of the system (e.g. landslides)
• Wholistic process interval is singular and
  treated as whole (e.g. flying from LA to NYC).

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Geographic Movement cont.

• Scale
• Detection of event changes are functionally
  dependent on the scale at which events are
  analyzed.
• Determining which temporal and spatial scales to
  use in examination of geographic phenomenon is
  imperative and will affect focus, methodology and
  results of analysis.
• Choice of scale dependent on questions to ask
• Research design will first defines the scale at
  which the phenomenon o finterest can be observed
  and then select methods of analysis appropriate
  for resolving patterns and process at that
  spatial-temporal scale.

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Classification of Geographic Movement

• Organizes geographic phenomena by how they move
  through space and time
• Categorized based on spatial and temporal
  patterns or forms they exhibit as they move
• Classification based on spatio-temporal form of
  the geographic phenomena (e.g. residential
  migration, urban sprawl, diffusion) not the
  objects themselves (I.e. people, cities and
  disease)
• Premise any spatially dynamic geographic
  phenomenon can be conceptualized by its patterns
  and processes of movement through space and time
  and will fit in one of 12 classes defined by a 4
  X 3 matrix of
• Space (Points, lines, areas and volumes) by Time
  (continuous, cyclical and intermittent) at
  differing scales (micro, meso, macro, and mega)

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Classification of Geographic Movement

• Point to point
• Only concerned with beginning and ending
• Animal tracking
• sample of points ? spatial extent and behavior of
  animals movement pattern
• Linear, areal or volumetric occur over continuous
  space
• Entire movement from beginning to end important
• Linear- along a network
• Areal- over a surface
• Volume- volume changes
• Concerned with pattern of change
• Duration of event
• Interval between events

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