2011 Fiscal Year Final Research Report
The development of methods for dividing a region into sub-regions that are spatially contiguous and as homogeneous as possible
| Project/Area Number |
21720298
|
|---|
| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
|
| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
|---|
| Research Field |
Human geography
|
|---|
| Research Institution | Hirosaki University |
|---|
Principal Investigator |
|
|---|
| Project Period (FY) |
2009 – 2011
|
| Keywords | 地域区分 / 等質地域 / クラスター分析 / 最短距離木 / 空間的自己相関 / 主成分分析 |
|---|
| Research Abstract |
This study first proposed an isopleth-based regionalization method and implemented the method and other regionalization methods in a computer environment. We then applied several regionalization methods including the isopleth-based method to a numerous number of datasets and make comparisons between the regionalization methods in terms of the homogeneity of sub-regions. We revealed that the isopleth-based method on average outperforms other methods when the number of spatial units is very small. We also revealed that the isopleth-based method may underperform other methods when there is strong spatial autocorrelation in a dataset and also when the correlation between attribute variables is very weak. Although the isopleth-based method may underperform under certain conditions, we however demonstrated that the isopleth-based method does not underperform if the number of spatial units is large enough. Overall, it appears that the performance of the isopleth-based regionalization method is satisfactory. However, the algorithm for executing the method should be developed further. We hope to tackle the technical issue in the future.
|
