Recurrent natural hazards, depletion of water resources and their contamination, and rapidly rising atmospheric CO2 levels are major concerns facing the globe, primarily due to a combination of various geogenic and anthropogenic processes. Lack of enough public awareness of environmental issues further complicates the scenario. In order to understand how pattern affects the environment, we must first be able to identify and quantify such patterns. Hence, this book aims to provide essential management tools (e.g., decision-support systems) with detailed information for a healthy and sustainable environment <...>

AN elementary textbook is much concerned with the fundamentals of a subject and these do not change with time. In this respect the second edition of our book has been little modified. In every other it is much altered for the subject has advanced greatly since we gathered together the material for the original version. The changes have been brought about mainly by developments in electronics and in the science of computing. The former have led to the appearance of much lighter, more sensitive and altogether much improved instruments, making it possible to collect better data far more quickly. The latter have made possible the rapid reduction of the very large amounts of data that can now be collected during a survey but even more important they make possible the use of far more sophisticated interpretation techniques than formerly. It is no exaggeration, therefore, to say that applied geophysics has moved into a new era in the interim since this book was first conceived. <...>

The history of applied spatial modelling has been a chequered one. If we ignore the elements of simple numerical reporting in the early commercial geographies of the nineteenth century, then we can probably trace the origins of applied quantitative spatial analysis to the fields of transportation modelling, especially at the University of Pennsylvania, in the early 1960s (Herbert and Stevens, 1960; Harris, 1962). Mathematical geography became prevalent in planning circles both in the USA and in Europe from this time onwards. The early 1960s also witnessed the emergence of statistical geography: the search for patterns or similarities in spatial data sets and the testing for significance, with the aim of providing universal spatial theories and laws (or at least theories that worked well in the real world). Although this was often very empirical in nature, it seldom extended beyond the academic geography community. There are excellent summaries in Haggett (1965) and Haggett et al. (1977).