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spatial queries — English
Legitimate inquiries about the spatiality of a specific variable. In a nutshell, it is the type of question that geographers try to find answers for. We need spatial data (see “spatial data”) and do spatial analysis in order to answer the questions, but often it is impossible to collect spatial data on that specific variable. Then we must use the spatial data of other variables that are related – causally or otherwise – to the variable in question. If I wanted to erect an ice-cream booth in the Cradle of Humankind world heritage site, I would have to apply for permission to do so. My application has to state the exact location where I want to erect my booth. Which point on the site would I choose? Remember that the site covers a number of square kilometres. Which variables would be most important for both my application and my business to succeed? Firstly, there are areas within the site where actual research is in progress and visitors are not allowed to those areas. A map depicting these areas is obviously required. Secondly, there are wilderness areas where some visitors wander through, but do not really linger and small children cannot walk that far, so few children are likely to visit these areas. These areas can now be added to the map depicting the active research areas. Thirdly, there are the different caves in the site and not all of them are equally popular. Some of the caves are visited by an average of five visitors per week, while others are visited by an average of 80 visitors per day. Over weekends, people even have to queue and await their turn to enter, so an ice-cream would probably be most enjoyable while they wait. A map depicting the numbers of visitors in the different areas of the site could be drawn. And then there is the museum which is visited by just about every visitor to the site and children enjoy all the activities of the exhibition so much that they spend enough time there to be rather hungry when they leave. However, around the museum there is a restriction zone where food and beverages are forbidden and the same restriction applies at some of the more popular caves. Another map is obviously needed. But neither the elderly nor the very young visitors could walk very far to buy an ice-cream. So another map can be added to the pile. Then all the spatial imperatives connected to museums and world heritage site status will contribute to the growing pile of maps. Lastly, we have to bear in mind that the entire site is riddled with dormant and active sinkholes which have also been mapped. All of these masses of spatial data could be fed into a modern-day GIS which would overlay all of these maps and provide me with a map indicating the optimum position for my ice-cream booth. At long last I have an answer to my spatial query (but I doubt that I have enough money left to build it!).
