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On the Fractal Measurement of Geographical Boundaries
Author(s) -
Longley Paul A.,
Batty Michael
Publication year - 1989
Publication title -
geographical analysis
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.773
H-Index - 65
eISSN - 1538-4632
pISSN - 0016-7363
DOI - 10.1111/j.1538-4632.1989.tb00876.x
Subject(s) - fractal , fractal dimension , strengths and weaknesses , polygon (computer graphics) , mosaic , focus (optics) , scale (ratio) , geography , dimension (graph theory) , function (biology) , cartography , regional science , computer science , mathematics , mathematical analysis , pure mathematics , physics , telecommunications , philosophy , archaeology , epistemology , optics , frame (networking) , evolutionary biology , biology
This paper has two main objectives. First, we review and evaluate four different computational methods for measuring the “fractality” of cartographic lines: these are known as the structured walk, the equipaced polygon, the hybrid walk, and the cell count methods. Second, because previous research has restricted the focus of fractal measurement exercises to isolated physical entities, the subject of our empirical study concerns the urban area of Swindon, United Kingdom, that comprises a mosaic of contiguous land‐use parcels. In technical terms, the results pinpoint some of the comparative strengths and weaknesses of the four methods, whilst our substantive conclusion is that fractal dimension appears to be a function of both scale and land‐use type in our geographical study.