Geographic information analysis - Past and trends

Effectively analyzing geographic information has attracted renewed attention in a wide range of fields, especially in urban studies. The specific characteristics of geographic information make the analysis of geographic information rather unique. In this review, we discuss the unique characteristics of geographic information and introduce some classical and new techniques in analyzing geographic information. In particular, we pay specific attention to analyzing spatial heterogeneity that inherently exists in geographic information, specifically regressed relationships using geographic information. The extension of analyzing spatial heterogeneity of geographic information in a temporal context is discussed as well. This review echoes a belief that one of the major tasks of analyzing geographic information is to develop new methods to help understand the ever increasing volume of geographic information better. We hope this review serves as a start for interested scholars to energetically seek better analytical techniques to get more insights of what geographic information can offer.