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Geospatial Analysis – free web resource available

The open access Geospatial Analysis free web resource and online ebook, www.spatialanalysisonline.com (6th edition, authored by Mike de Smith, Prof Paul Longley, Prof Mike Goodchild and colleagues) has been completely re-built and updated, with new material and up-to-date interactive links. An online web-based resource, it provides a comprehensive guide to concepts, methods and tools, with many examples being provided using a variety of popular software tools such as ArcGIS, Idrisi, Grass, Surfer and others.

This is the first update since 2015, with the latest version featuring significant inputs from the Consumer Data Research Centre (CDRC); these include an extended chapter on Big Data and Geospatial Analysis, primarily authored by CDRC Researcher Guy Lansley, as well as links to key CDRC resources, including our popular Online Tutorials and the CDRC book ‘Consumer Data Research‘.

A 60 page extract of the special PDF version can be obtained here.

Course tutors can request a free copy of the material in electronic format (printable) for offline use by emailing contact@spatialanalysisonline.com.

In addition to the online version, there are special printable and non-printable PDF offline versions and a printed version (colour cover, mono interior, 618pp) has been made available via Amazon’s KDP service.

We’ve published a pioneering new book

We are pleased to announce the release of our book entitled ‘Consumer Data Research’.

Edited by CDRC Director Paul Longley and Deputy Directors’ James Cheshire and Alex Singleton, the book offers a unique and innovative series of case studies that demonstrate the enormous potential of consumer data research in the academic, commercial and government sectors. It also provides a timely snapshot of key research undertaken by the CDRC and features contributions that originate from CDRC led projects and data products.

Published by UCL Press, the full book is also available as a free open access edition online, accessible here.

‘Consumer Data Research’
Big Data collected by customer-facing organisations – such as smartphone logs, store loyalty card transactions, smart travel tickets, social media posts, or smart energy meter readings – account for most of the data collected about citizens today. As a result they are transforming the practice of social science. Consumer Big Data are distinct from conventional social science data not only in their volume, variety and velocity, but also in terms of their provenance and fitness for ever more research purposes. This book provides a first consolidated statement of the enormous potential of consumer data research and is a timely appraisal of the ways in which consumer data challenge scientific orthodoxies.