Is there congruence in the spatial patterns of regions derived from scalar and vector geographical information?

Abstract

Selected traits of the spatial organisation of a geographical environment which stem from two types of human behaviour (locational and interactive) are examined in this paper. An attempt is made to find and account for similarities in the spatial patterns of scalar and vector geographical data. In doing so, the paper analyses a core-periphery dichotomy, based on socio-economic information, and travel-to-work patterns. The paper uses the concept of a region as an integrating and focusing framework for the study. Formal regions (peripheral areas) are defined through the application of principal components analysis and cluster analysis; functional regions are defined by a standard rule-based regionalisation algorithm. The territory of the Czech Republic is used as an area for testing the basic hypotheses. The results show that there is some form of interrelationship and complementarity between the spatial distribution of scalar data and vector data, i.e. between spatial structure and spatial interaction patterns, which together form the spatial organisation of a geographical environment.

Keywords

• spatial organisation
• human behaviour
• spatial structure
• core-periphery dichotomy
• formal region
• distance decay
• spatial interaction
• functional region
• czech republic