The modifiable areal unit problem (MAUP) in physical geography

Dark, Shawna J.; Bram, D. L.

doi:10.1177/0309133307083294

Cited by 287 publications

(195 citation statements)

References 27 publications

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“…While some methods have been developed for quantifying the MAUP and handling its influence [41,51,55,[75][76][77][78][79][80], none of these methods provides a comprehensive solution that would easily quantify the effect of the MAUP [34] or enable finding consistent results regardless of the scale or zonal patterns [33]. Therefore, our results also reinforce the findings of previous studies [15][16][17], noting that multizonal and multiscale approaches are required for spatial assessments.…”

Section: A Way Forwardsupporting

confidence: 84%

“…The scaling effect is observed when coarsening the spatial resolution (i.e., aggregating small areas into larger ones) and averaging the variables over each aggregation, which results in stronger correlation between the studied variables and the loss of degrees of freedom and variance [32,34,44]. Similarly, the zoning effect also causes differences in variance and correlation when comparing two different zonings of same data [44,51].…”

Section: The Modifiable Areal Unit Problem (Maup)mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The criteria used to define the areal unit of analysis influences the results of spatial assessments e.g., [11,19] due to the Modifiable Areal Unit Problem (MAUP) phenomenon [32][33][34]. The MAUP can be observed through two effects, one caused by scaling and the other by zoning (see Section 2 for more details).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The MAUP was discovered in the 1930s [35], and many studies have handled the issue since then [33,34,[36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44]. Though this phenomenon concerns practically any research using geographic or spatially-referenced data, it has been relatively little discussed [32,34], particularly in water resources management [15][16][17]. As the MAUP can result in substantial differences in conclusions and recommendations for action, it is a major concern for policy making and planning.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Exploring the Modifiable Areal Unit Problem in Spatial Water Assessments: A Case of Water Shortage in Monsoon Asia

Salmivaara

Porkka

Kummu

et al. 2015

Water

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Water shortage (availability per capita) is a key indicator of vulnerability to water scarcity. Spatial datasets enable the assessment of water shortage on multiple scales. The use of river basins and subbasins as analysis and management units is currently commonplace. An important but less acknowledged fact is that spatial assessments are strongly influenced by the choice of the unit of analysis due to the Modifiable Areal Unit Problem (MAUP). Climate conditions, agricultural activities, and access to groundwater also influence water availability and demand. In this study, a total of 21 different criteria were used to define areal units of analysis, i.e., zonings, for which water shortage was calculated. Focusing on Monsoon Asia, where water scarcity is a pressing problem, we found that zoning had a considerable impact, resulting in up to three-fold differences in the population under high water shortage (<1000 m 3 /cap/year), ranging from 782 million to 2.11 billion. In most zonings, however, the Indus and Yellow River Basins and northwest parts of India and China are under high water shortage. The study indicates that a multizonal and multiscale analysis is needed to minimize skewed or even misleading information that might be produced when using only one zoning.

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Section: A Way Forwardsupporting

confidence: 84%

Section: The Modifiable Areal Unit Problem (Maup)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Exploring the Modifiable Areal Unit Problem in Spatial Water Assessments: A Case of Water Shortage in Monsoon Asia

Salmivaara

Porkka

Kummu

et al. 2015

Water

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…7 MAUP a fundamental geographical problem endemic to all studies of spatially aggregated data, arising from the need to model or describe continuous spatial phenomena with discrete geographic units. For more information on the issues of MAUP refer to [44,124]. 8 Active ingredients are the key chemical constituents present (e.g., Metazachlor, Tebucaonazol) in the crop protection product applied which effectively act to protect the crop, for more insight please refer to [125,126].…”

Section: Endnotesmentioning

confidence: 99%

RELCA: a REgional Life Cycle inventory for Assessing bioenergy systems within a region

O’Keeffe¹,

Wochele-Marx²,

Thrän

2016

Energ Sustain Soc

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Background: The last decade has seen major development and adoption of bioenergy, particularly in Germany. This has resulted in a scattering of decentralised bioenergy plants across the landscape, due to their dependency on spatially diffuse biomass resources. Regional conditions (e.g., soils, climate, management) influence the environmental burdens resulting from biomass production and thus, also effect the environmental performance of bioenergy production. Therefore, more regionally focused life cycle approaches are required for assessing these bioenergy systems. The aim of this paper is to outline such an approach. "RELCA", is a regional life cycle inventory for assessing the regional and spatial variation in the environmental performance of bioenergy production within a region. Methods: Five modelling steps are combined to form the RELCA approach in order to determine: (1) regional crop allocation, (2) regional biomass management, (3) representative bioenergy plant models, (4) bioenergy plant catchments, and (5) indirect upstream emissions (non-regional) associated with regional bioenergy production. The challenges and options for each of these five modelling steps are outlined. Additionally, a simple example is provided using greenhouse gases emissions (GHG) to show how RELCA can be used to identify the potential regional distribution of environmental burdens associated with the production of a bioenergy product (e.g. biodiesel) within a region. Results: An approach for combining regionally distributed inventory for biomass production with regionally distributed inventory for bioenergy technologies, through the use of catchment delineation was developed. This enabled the introduction of greater regional details within the life cycle approach. As a first "proof of concept," GHG emissions were estimated for a simple example, illustrating how RELCA can identify the potential regional distribution of environmental burdens (direct and indirect) associated with producing a bioenergy product. Conclusions: RELCA (v1.0) is a powerful scoping approach, which is the first to investigate the regional and spatial variation in the environmental performance of bioenergy production within a region through the use of catchment delineation. RELCA (v1.0) is not without its limitations. Despite these, it still provides a good starting point for further discussion, improvements, and modelling developments for assessing the regional and spatial environmental implications of bioenergy production (e.g., such as impacts to soil, water, and biodiversity) for a within regional context .

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The use of food imports to overcome local limits to growth

et al. 2017

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There is a fundamental tension between population growth and carrying capacity, i.e., the population that could potentially be supported using the resources and technologies available at a given time. When population growth outpaces improvements in food production locally, food imports can avoid local limits and allow growth to continue. This import strategy is central to the debate on food security with continuing rapid growth of the world population. This highlights the importance of a quantitative global understanding of where the strategy is implemented, whether it has been successful, and what drivers are involved. We present an integrated quantitative analysis to answer these questions at sub-national and national scale for 1961-2009, focusing on water as the key limiting resource and accounting for resource and technology impacts on local carrying capacity. According to the sub-national estimates, food imports have nearly universally been used to overcome local limits to growth, affecting 3.0 billion people-81% of the population that is approaching or already exceeded local carrying capacity. This strategy is successful in 88% of the cases, being highly dependent on economic purchasing power. In the unsuccessful cases, increases in imports and local productivity have not kept pace with population growth, leaving 460 million people with insufficient food. Where the strategy has been successful, food security of 1.4 billion people has become dependent on imports. Whether or not this dependence on imports is considered desirable, it has policy implications that need to be taken into account.

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The modifiable areal unit problem (MAUP) in physical geography

Cited by 287 publications

References 27 publications

Exploring the Modifiable Areal Unit Problem in Spatial Water Assessments: A Case of Water Shortage in Monsoon Asia

Exploring the Modifiable Areal Unit Problem in Spatial Water Assessments: A Case of Water Shortage in Monsoon Asia

RELCA: a REgional Life Cycle inventory for Assessing bioenergy systems within a region

The use of food imports to overcome local limits to growth

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