Mapping innovations in spatial demography

Recently, advances in spatially centered analytic methods and the application of geographic information systems (GIS) to the investigation of social processes have made the use of maps and mapping far more accessible in the social sciences. This has driven a number of new and innovative approaches to the geographic analysis and presentation of social data. This special issue takes aim at highlighting some of those advances with hopes of spurring research among both academics and practitioners, while also attracting spatial demographers to the Journal of Maps as a potential outlet for future publication.

The two-part special issue, entitled Mapping Innovations in Spatial Demography, is a testament to the growing usage of GIS and spatial analytic tools among Demographers in the recent past. The special issue was slated to encompass one single issue that would help launch the newly developed Social Science section of the Journal of Maps. However, we ended up receiving 60+ submissions to the original call for papers. Needless to say, this resulted in a larger than expected set of papers selected for the special issue necessitating their publication across two physical issues spanning volume 8, issue 4 and volume 9, issue 1.

This type of response to the calls for the publication of spatially centered research among social scientists is not necessarily uncommon. In fact, there is a history of a mismatch with regards to the demand for such publication outlets and the actual supply. In 2007, Paul Voss' attempt to develop a similar special issue on Spatial Demography in the journal Population Research and Policy Review was met with an equally high response. Ultimately, that too resulted in a two-part special issue. Since then, the development of the Journal of Applied Spatial Analysis and Policy, the Journal of Spatial Demography, and others have attempted to provide an outlet for social scientists who have an interest in publishing such work in a peer-reviewed format. However, even these options still require the ‘dumbing down’ of maps to grayscale or the focus on methods of spatial analysis.

This is where the development of the Social Science section of the Journal of Maps (JoM-SS) has filled a much needed gap. With the primary mission of publishing color maps depicting social relationships across geographic areas, the JoM-SS has, and will continue to, grow in regards to both the number and diversity of submissions from those using GIS in their research of social processes. This is evident in the wide variety of topics covered in the first part of the special issue in this section of the journal.

The Mapping Innovations in Spatial Demography special issue includes a wide variety of topics covering an international range of areas and nearly as wide a range of topics.

Seven of the 11 maps in part one of the special issue cover topics in the United States. Winkler and Klass (2012) focus on the entire country with a county level map estimating age-based segregation among local populations across the United States. The other four focus on smaller areas across different regions of the United States. Assal and Montag (2012) highlight the simultaneous development of land from 1984 to 2009 in Colorado as it relates to both natural resource extraction and residential development. In this article, the interaction of population and the environment are front and center. Chipman, Wright, Ellis, and Holloway (2012) highlight temporal shifts in racial diversity levels of neighborhoods in Chicago by race/ethnic group types, Cubbin et al. (2012) highlight the relationship between healthy food accessibility and the levels of poverty in the community in Central California, and Huang and Meyer (2012) document the spatial distribution of medical care and insurance coverage issues as they pertain to Hispanic populations in South Texas. Zhang and Walker (2012) present a visual representation of localized school segregation in the Louisville, KY metropolitan area. Finally, Campbell and Sparks (2012) present estimates of county level poverty across the entire conterminous US.

Three of the remaining four articles focus on European countries with the final article focusing on the African country of Ghana. In Northern Italy, Manfredini and Dilda (2012) present a display of mobility through the presentation of the density of travel. This map further highlights the density of travel at different times of the day to depict the spatio-temporal relationship of spatial mobility in the region. In a more demographic vein, Kalogirou, Tsimbos, Veropoulou, and Kotsifakis (2012) present maps of regional variations across the country of Greece broken down by mortality cause and gender. Zuniga, Campos, and Palacios (2012) also stay close to the traditional focus of Demography by presenting the historical account of population change in Spain from 1900 to 2011, and broken down into shorter time intervals. The final map in the special issue is one in which Verutes, Fiocco, Weeks, and Coulter (2012) focus on the results of a project in Accra, Ghana aimed at depicting the spatial distribution of health and housing characteristics of women.

In all, these 11 articles represent a diverse selection of topics across a wide range of geographic locations. However, all share a common concern for presenting the relationships between populations and geography. As a group, these papers offer a glimpse of the new and innovative approaches being taken by social scientist with regards to their research of social processes. Furthermore, the special issue is timely as it highlights the Social Science section of the Journal of Maps. It is intended that the high quality of these papers will continue to draw researchers to the journal as a potential outlet for the continually developing methods used in investigating the relationship between population and place.