Table Of ContentAdvances in Spatial Science
Editorial Board
David F. Batten
Manfred M. Fischer
Geoffrey J. D. Hewings
Peter Nijkamp
Folke Snickars (Coordinating Editor)
Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg GmbH
Titles in the Series
c. S. Bertuglia, M. M. Fischer R. H. M. Emmerink
and G. Preto (Eds.) Information and Pricing
Technological Change, in Road Transportation
Economic Development and Space XVI, 294 pages. 1998. ISBN 3-540-64088-6
XVI, 354 pages. 1995. ISBN 3-540-59288-1
(out of print)
F. Rietveld and F. Bruinsma
H. Coccossis and P. Nijkamp (Eds.) Is Transport Infrastructure Effective?
Overcoming Isolation XIV, 384 pages. 1998. ISBN 3-540-64542-X
VIII, 272 pages. 1995. ISBN 3-540-59423-X
L. Anselin and R. J. G. M. Florax (Eds.) P. McCann
New Directions in Spatial Econometrics The Economics of Industrial Location
XIX, 420 pages. 1995. ISBN 3-540-60020-5 XII, 228 pages. 1998. ISBN 3-540-64586-1
(out of print)
H. Eskelinen and F. Snickars (Eds.)
L. Lundqvist, L.-G. Mattsson
Competitive European Peripheries
and T. J. Kim (Eds.)
VIII, 271 pages. 1995. ISBN 3-540-60211-9
Network Infrastructure
J. C. J. M. van den Bergh, P. Nijkamp and the Urban Environment
and P. Rietveld (Eds.) IX, 414 pages. 1998. ISBN 3-540-64585-3
Recent Advances in
Spatial Equilibrium Modelling
R. Capello, P. Nijkamp and G. Pepping
VIII, 392 pages. 1996. ISBN 3-540-60708-0
Sustainable Cities and Energy Policies
P. Nijkamp, G. Pepping and D. Banister XI, 282 pages. 1999. ISBN 3-540-64805-4
Telematics and Transport Behaviour
XII, 227 pages. 1996. ISBN 3-540-60919-9
M. M. Fischer and P. Nijkamp (Eds.)
D. F. Batten and C. Karlsson (Eds.) Spatial Dynamics of European Integration
Infrastructure and the Complexity XII, 367 pages. 1999. ISBN 3-540-65817-3
of Economic Development
VIII, 298 pages. 1996. ISBN 3-540-61333-1
J. Stillwell, S. Geertman
T. Puu and S. Openshaw (Eds.)
Mathematical Location and Geographical Information and Planning
Land Use Theory X, 454 pages. 1999. ISBN 3-540-65902-1
IX, 294 pages. 1997. ISBN 3-540-61819-8
Y. Leung G. J. D. Hewings, M. Sonis, M. Madden
Intelligent Spatial Decision Support Systems and Y. Kimura (Eds.)
Xv, 470 pages. 1997. ISBN 3-540-62518-6
Understanding and Interpreting Economic
C. S. Bertuglia, S. Lombardo Structure
and P. Nijkamp (Eds.) X, 365 pages. 1999. ISBN 3-540-66045-3
Innovative Behaviour in Space and Time
X, 437 pages. 1997. ISBN 3-540-62542-9
A. Reggiani (Ed.)
A. Nagumey and S. Siokos Spatial Economic Science
Financial Networks XII, 457 pages. 2000. ISBN 3-540-67493-4
XVI, 492 pages. 1997. ISBN 3-540-63116-X
M. M. Fischer and A. Getis (Eds.) P. W. J. Batey, P. Friedrich (Eds.)
Recent Developments in Spatial Analysis Regional Competition
X, 434 pages. 1997. ISBN 3-540-63180-1 VIII, 290 pages. 2000. ISBN 3-540-67548-5
Donald G. Janelle . David C. Hodge (Eds.)
Information, Place, and
Cyberspace
Issues in Accessibility
With 77 Figures
and 27 Tables
Springer
Prof. Dr. DONALD G. JANELLE
University of California, Santa Barbara
Center for Spatially Integrated Social Science
Santa Barbara, CA 93106-4060
USA
Prof. Dr. DAVID C. HODGE
University of Washington
College of Arts and Sciences
Seattle, WA 98195-3765
USA
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data applied for
Die Deutsche Bibliothek - CIP-Einheitsaufnahme
Information, place, and cyberspace: issues in accessibility; with 27 tables/ed.: Donald G. Janelle; David C.
Hodge. - Berlin; Heidelberg; New York; Barcelona; Hong Kong; London; Milan; Paris; Singapore; Tokyo:
Springer, 2000
(Advances in spatial science)
ISBN 978-3-642-08692-2 ISBN 978-3-662-04027-0 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-3-662-04027-0
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© Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2000
Originally published by Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg New York in 2000.
Softcover reprint of the hardcover I st edition 2000
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Foreword
The use of the term the information age to describe the period that we now fmd
ourselves living in is open to misinterpretation. Society has always been based on
exchanging information, and our libraries have long been rieh sources of vast
quantities of readily available information; it is information technologies that have
changed rapidly sinee the invention of the digital computer. These technologies
are themselves products of long-term societal processes: The eeonomic desire to
shorten the time that lapses between produetion and consumption of eommodities,
annihilating space with time; the political desire to control such large-scale sys
tems as commodity ehains, nations, and the military; and the human desire to lib
erate ourselves from the constraints of our loeal daily lives. They also have had
profound effeets on societal proeesses. One of the most widely discussed effeets,
and a eonsistent theme of this volume, is that the information age is bringing about
the end of geographie al distance as a signifieant baITier ofhuman interaction.
This claim underlies prognostications about the information age: That this will
be the age of globalization; of the global village; of the liberation of human inter
action from the tyranny of space; of the dissolution of cities and workplaces; of
the plugged-in soeiety; and of the surveillance society. If these prognostications
were true, then the topie of aceessibility would indeed be a disappearing research
pro gram and this book a marker of its disappearance. Yet, things are much more
complicated than this; the demise of distanee has been greatly exaggerated. While
there is a germ of truth to these prognostications, as there must be for them to
resonate as they do, they often disguise more than they reveal. Flows of informa
tion are possible almost irnmediately over distances of arbitrary length, but this
does not mean that everyone is equally accessible to everyone else. Rather, the
geometry of the information age approximates the hypothesized worrnholes of
quantum physics - instantaneous connections between those who are plugged in to
the right equipment, while neighbors remain off-line and inaceessible. Geographie
and non-geographie information are available in unpreeedented quantities, but
they aceumulate in the hands of certain social actors whereas others are excluded
- creating black holes where information seems to disappear from social view.
Even the ultimate distance-Iess society, cyberspace, becomes un-navigable with
out using spatial metaphors to make sense of it, and is eonnected in complex but
predictable ways to the differentiated material spaees of society.
This eolleetion of essays takes up the challenge of rethinking what aeeessibility
means and how to measure it in the information age, with particular attention to
geographie information. It addresses not only aecessibility between those who are
plugged in, and the geography of cyberspace, but also differences in aecessibility
to information technologies and the relationship between cyber-accessibility and
aecessibility on the ground. In doing so, the authors revive what has been an im-
vi Foreword
portant but theoretically moribund concept; breathing new life into the concept of
accessibility, and challenging preconceptions about its demise. They also move
beyond attempts to equate accessibility with an exogenous Newtonian metric of
Euclidean distance to unpack how accessibility is a construct of socia1 practices.
The conversations that lie behind this book were catalyzed and made possible by
a conference organized under the auspices of the National Center for Geographie
Information and Analysis. This conference, Measuring and Representing Accessi
bility in the Information Age, was held in November 1998, at the Asilomar Con
ference Center in Pacific Grove, Califomia. It was one of aseries of nine meetings
organized by NCGIA between 1997 and 1999 to advance the research agenda of
geographie information science, under the Varenius Project (funded by the Na
tional Science Foundation, NSF Grant SBR-9600465). These nine meetings were
equally divided among three areas of focus: Geographies of the Information Soci
ety; Cognitive Models of Geographie Space; and Computational Implementations
of Geographie Concepts (http://www.ncgia.ucsb.edu:80/varenius). The accessibil
ity meeting was held within this first area. The Geography of the Information So
ciety Panel, chaired by Eric Sheppard and including Helen Couclelis, University
of Califomia at Santa Barbara, Stephen Graham, Newcastle University, UK, lW.
Harrington, Jr., University of Washington, and Harlan Onsrud, University of
Maine at Orono, also organized meetings on Place and Identity in an Age ofTech
nologically Regulated Movement, and Empowerment, Marginalization and Public
Participation GIS. The Panel conceived the topic of measuring and representing
accessibility, but the success of this meeting was due to the efforts of David
Hodge and Donald Janelle in bringing the idea to fruition. Under their exceptional
organizational skills, together with those ofNCGIA staff LaNell Lucius and Abby
Caschetta, a stimulating three-day meeting occurred at which preliminary vers ions
of the chapters that follow were presented. This book is exemplary of how the
Varenius Project is catalyzing and making available new research within areas
central to geographie information science.
Michael F. Goodchild1 and Eric Sheppard2
1 Direetor ofProjeet Varenius and Chair ofthe Exeeutive Committee ofthe National Center
for Geographie Information and Analysis. Department of Geography, University of
Califomia, Santa Barbara CA 93106-4060, USA. Email: [email protected]
2 Chair ofthe Varenius Panel on Geographies ofthe Information Soeiety. Department of
Geography, University ofMinnesota, Minneapolis MN 55455, USA.
Email: sheppOO [email protected]
Preface
The objectives of this book are to broaden understanding of conceptual and ana
lytical approaches for accessibility research appropriate to the information age,
and to demonstrate possible contributions for geographic information science in
representing the geographies of the information society. In seeking to meet these
objectives, the editors and authors highlight significant linkages among informa
tion resources, traditional places, and cyberspace, and focus on expanding models
of space (and time) that encompass both the physical and virtual worlds.
The origins of this book stern from two multi-disciplinary conferences spon
sored by the National Center for Geographic Information and Analysis (NCGIA).
The first was the September 1996 conference in Baltimore on Spatial Teehnolo
gies, Geographie Information and the City. The second, from which the chapters
of this book originate, was the November 1998 conference at the Asilomar Con
ference Center in Pacific Grove, Califomia on Measuring and Representing Ae
eessibility in the Information Age. This book is structured around the primary
themes of that meeting. Part I explores the conceptualization and measurement of
accessibility; Part II focuses on the visualization and representation of information
space within Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and other computerized dis
play systems, and Part III considers the social issues that should inform the meas
urement and representation of accessibility. Each of these parts is preceded with
an integrative essay that links the individual chapters to the broader literature on
accessibility - primarily from geography, regional science, and planning. In Chap
ter 1, the Editors offer an explanation for the book's title, casting a wide perspec
tive that focuses on the resource role of information, the importance of
accessibility in the everyday life of places, and the co-adaptation of societal struc
tures and cyberspace.
Special recognition is given to Helen Couclelis, who inspired the proposal for a
Varenius initiative on accessibility in the information age. She organized the con
ference in Baltimore and was instrumental in placing accessibility on the agenda
ofthe Varenius project. In Part IV, the Conclusion, she broadens the scope ofthis
collection, raising issues regarding the sustainability of current societal accessibil
ity practices in the interrelated realms of transportation and communication.
We thank those who made this book possible, beginning with Michael Good
child (Director of the NCGIA's Varenius Project); he orchestrated the pre
conditions for sponsoring a broad range of research and conference initiatives.
Members of the Varenius Panel on Geographies of the Information Society ac
cepted a proposal to foster research on issues relating to accessibility, and we owe
special thanks to the Chair of the Panel, Eric Sheppard, for support and advice at
all stages of this project. The Steering Committee for organizing the conference at
Asilomar - Michael Batty, Helen Couclelis, Arthur Getis, Harvey Miller, and
viii Preface
Mark Wilson - made substantial contributions in conceptualizing the principal
issues for discussion and research; they are the authors of this book's principal
integrating chapters - the introductions to its first three principal Parts.
LaNell Lucius and Abby Caschetta (NCGIA staff) provided essentiallogistical
support for organizing the Asilomar conference, and Karen McFarland (Depart
ment ofGeography, University ofWashington) structured and maintained the con
ference Web site. Cartographic support from Patricia Chalk and Susan Muleme of
The University of Western Ontario' s Geography Department, and editorial advice
from Marianne Bopp of Springer-Verlag, are also acknowledged. We are grateful
for your interest and help.
Finally, we are indebted to the authors for sharing their research papers, for en
gaging freely with ideas and good humor through three days of spirited and pro
ductive discussion, and for revising their manuscripts for this book. We hope that
this collection of original work will extend the discussion to a broader audience
and encourage additional research.
DODald G. JaDeHe 1 aDd David C. Hodge 2
1 Center for Spatially Integrated Social Science, University of Califomia, Santa Barbara CA
93106-4060, USA. Email: [email protected]
2 College of Arts and Sciences, University ofWashington, Seattle WA 98195-3765, USA.
Email: [email protected]
Contents
Foreword v
MICHAEL F. GOODCHILD AND ERlC SHEPPARD
Preface Vll
Introduction
1. Infonnation, Place, Cyberspace, and Accessibility 3
DONALD G. JANELLE AND DAVID C. HODGE
Part I: Conceptualization and Measurement 13
2. Conceptualizing and Measuring Accessibility within Physical
and Virtual Spaces 15
HELEN COVCLELIS AND ARTHVR GETIS
3. Evaluating Intra-metropolitan Accessibility in the Infonnation Age:
Operational Issues, Objectives, and Implementation 21
LAVREN M. SCOTT
4. Transportation, Telecommunications, and the Changing
Geography of Opportunity 47
QINGSHEN
5. Space, Time and Sequencing: Substitution at the Physical / Virtual
Interface 73
PIP FORER AND OTTO HVISMAN
6. The Fuzzy Logic of Accessibility 91
ERIC J. HEIKKlLA
7. The E-merging Geography ofthe Infonnation Society:
From Accessibility to Adaptability 107
DANIEL Z. SVI
