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Software to say ‘where’: York’s new Spatial Informatics Lab

Posted on 10 January 2008

Where do people come from? Where do they live, shop and travel? What is the state of their health and their impact on the environment? These are just some of the questions that have a crucial spatial dimension that can be mapped and visualised.

Digital systems - such as Google Earth - have made mapping increasingly sophisticated. In fact, the more complex our understanding of the world, the more important visualisation and analytic techniques become to help to identify patterns and the effect of geography, space and location on past, present and future behaviour.

The new lab will be used.... to explore new methods in spatial analysis that will help put York at the forefront of this work internationally

Professor Alastair Fitter

The University of York’s pioneering new Spatial Informatics Laboratory (SIL) will explore these issues. It will be used by sociologists, economists, health scientists, epidemiologists, archaeologists, ecologists and environmental scientists, and specialists in computer science to develop and apply new techniques for examining the importance of spatial location, both in physical and virtual spaces (such as web 2.0).

The laboratory, in Wentworth College, has been funded through a major technology facilities grant secured by the University. It is being launched on 15 January with a display of the advanced software held by York - and no other UK university. The launch will include a series of demonstrations using spatial informatics.

Professor Roger Burrows from the linked Social Informatics Research Unit will give the opening address on the day, and the guest speaker Professor Danny Dorling, of Sheffield University, an expert in the development of digital systems for graphic visualisation, will give an introductory talk.

Professor Alastair Fitter, the University of York’s Pro-Vice Chancellor for Research, said: "The new lab is an exciting development for the University. It will be used by a wide range of departments across the campus to explore new methods in spatial analysis that will help put York at the forefront of this work internationally."

For further information please contact Darren Reed at djr14@york.ac.uk or see the web site at www.york.ac.uk/depts/soci.

ENDS