Book Review: Quantitative Methods and Socio-Economic Applications in GIS

Introduction

Having reviewed the first edition of this book for another journal (Higgs 2008), I was particularly interested in how some of the original materials had been updated in this edition to reflect new approaches and developments in GIS that have come to the fore in the interim period. The addition of the term “Socio-economic” to the title of this second edition leaves the reader in no doubt as to the primary application areas covered here with a particular focus on GIS in action in “social science, urban planning and public policy”. However, as alluded to several times during the course of the book, it may well be the case that some of these tools could be used in different contexts and indeed some have been drawn from, for example, physical and environmental domains. The author suggests in the Preface that over 60 % of the material included in this edition is new and a key strength continues to be the availability of the programs needed to implement such tools and the updated case studies that complement the theoretical material presented. Whereas the first edition included a CD-ROM containing the data and program files, such information is now provided via the publishers website for all the case studies included in the book. A blog under the author’s home page also provides updates or corrections to the programs.