One of the ongoing problems researchers in geography and GIS have is studying data that is inherently spatial over a long period of time. One of the main hurdles they have to overcome is the study of groups of people classified by their socio-economic status (one of the main means for governments, companies and research organisations to group together segments of the population). The amount of data collected by governments, business and research organisations has increased markedly in recent years. Geographic Information Systems have been more widely used than ever before for the storage and analysis of this information. Most GIS can handle this information spatially rather than temporally, and have difficulty with the management of socio-economic time series, which relate to spatial units. Accordingly, this book covers the issues ranging from the formal model to differentiate aspects of spatio-temporal data, through philosophical and fundamental reconsideration of time and space to the development of practical solutions to the problem. This book draws together an interdisciplinary group of scientists in the field of geography, computing, surveying and philosophy. It presents the definitive sourcebook on temporal GIS as applied to socio-economic units.

Contents:
1. Introduction by the Editors 2. Setting the Stage 3. Ontological Background 4. Databases for Temporal GIS: Applications 5. Definition of Socio-economic Units