This unique book demonstrates the utility of big data approaches in human geography and planning. Offering a carefully curated selection of case studies, it reveals how researchers are accessing big data, what this data looks like and how such data can offer new and important insights and knowledge. Contributions from key scholars working in the field bring together an international series of case studies on demography and migration, retail and consumer analytics, health care planning, urban planning and transport studies. Chapters also discuss how data sets leveraged from commercial and public agency sources can greatly improve the data traditionally worked with in academic geography, regional science and planning. While addressing the challenges and limitations of big data, the book also demonstrates the usefulness of data sets held by commercial agencies and explores data linkage between big data and traditional public domain data sources. Focusing on the applications of big data to investigate issues in a spatial context, this book will be an essential guide for scholars and students of planning, mobility and human geography, particularly those who specialise in economic and transport geography. Its use of key case studies to demonstrate the applications of big data analytics in planning will also be useful for planners in these fields.

The way in which products and services are delivered to consumers, through branches and retail outlets, or more generally through a network of distribution channels, remains fundamentally important for maintaining a competitive advantage for a very wide range of businesses. This is true within domestic markets, but especially so for increasingly global corporations, as shareholder pressure for continued growth drives businesses into ever more widespread geographical markets. Arguing that more complex markets demand more sophisticated spatial analysis, this book discusses the application of location planning techniques to generate competitive advantage in a variety of business sectors in a changing retail environment. The series of techniques are analysed, from relatively straightforward branch scorecards to sophisticated applications of geographical information systems (GIS), spatial modelling and mathematical optimisation. Also explored are the changing dynamics of the impact of more restrictive planning environments in many countries on how retailers find new locations for growth and respond to changing consumer needs and wants. The book is essential reading for students and scholars alike working in geography, economics, business management, planning, finance and industry studies.