Using Geospatial Technologies in Urban Environments simultaneously fills two gaping vacuums in the scholarly literature on urban geography. The first is the clear and straightforward application of geospatial technologies to practical urban issues. By using remote sensing and statistical techniques (correlation-regression analysis, the expansion method, factor analysis, and analysis of variance), the - thors of these 12 chapters contribute significantly to our understanding of how geospatial methodologies enhance urban studies. For example, the GIS Specialty Group of the Association of American Geographers (AAG) has the largest m- bership of all the AAG specialty groups, followed by the Urban Geography S- cialty Group. Moreover, the Urban Geography Specialty Group has the largest number of cross-memberships with the GIS Specialty Group. This book advances this important geospatial and urban link. Second, the book fills a wide void in the urban-environment literature. Although the Annals of the Association of American Geographers has recently established an editorship devoted to human environmental issues ("Nature and Society"), re- tively few of the articles in this section of the journal have focused specifically on urban-environmental topics. Likewise, of the textbooks in urban geography p- lished over the past decade (Knox, 1994; Pacione, 2001; Kaplan, Wheeler, and Holloway, 2004), none has offered a single chapter on urban-environmental qu- tions, and only passing references to such topics as urban heat islands.
The purpose of this book is to investigate and develop alternate methodological approaches to understand urban environments and urban change. In particular, the study demonstrates the application of remote-sensing data and geographic information systems to the exploration of issues often ignored by the mainstream community of geo-technical specialists such as urban forestry, urban traffic, migration or quality of life in urban areas.
Case studies show how disciplines like environmental science and planning, sociology, landscape ecology and architecture, regional science and policy design, and assessment can benefit from employing remote-sensing data and GIS.
