SPATIAL SOCIAL SCIENCE CLUSTER
Assoc Prof Narimah Samat
School of Humanities
Universiti Sains Malaysia
CONTENTS
Introduction
 Spatial Social Sciences
 Methods of Spatial Social Sciences
 Transdisciplinary Agenda
 Examples of Research Undertaken
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INTRODUCTION
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Studies in Social Sciences and Humanities deal with phenomena that are
closely related to geographical factors.
Examples include:
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The location of health facilities in relation to cancer cases in Penang State,
Changing shape of Sarawak’s boundary between 1841 to 2002
Accessibility of low-income households to food retailers in Penang State
Land use changes in Langkawi Island from 1970s to 2008.
Modeling archeological sites in Perak
Evaluating settlements pattern in Bujang Valley, Kedah
Traditionally, paper maps had been used to study geographical factors.
The study by Dr John Snow, for example, mapped the distribution of
cholera outbreak in Soho, England in 1854 , and found the association
between the contamination of water wells in relation to the distribution of
the cases. In that study, manually drawn map became an important tool
for analysis.
The development of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) allows more
advance analysis of geographical factors to be conducted in timely and
more efficient manner.
SPATIAL SOCIAL SCIENCES
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Spatial Social Science promotes the used of spatial
techniques, tools and thinking in conducting research in
Social Sciences and Humanities
Every aspect of human activity occurs on the earth’s surface
and can be related to spatial concepts, such as location,
accessibility, distance, proximity and neighborhood. These
concepts can be utilized to map and analyze the spatial
pattern and process.
Spatial representation or maps can also be used to
communicate various population-based cancer, poverty,
education, economic or crime statistics. These data originally
are analyzed in tabular forms can now be viewed with spatial
dimension and analyzed with spatial statistics to find
association between the incidents and other related
economic, environmental or social factors.
METHODS OF SPATIAL SOCIAL SCIENCES
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Geographic Information Systems (GIS)
Spatial Pattern Analysis
Spatial Interaction
Cellular Automata and Agent-Based Modeling
Map making and visualization
1. GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION SYSTEMS
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GIS is a powerful tool that can be used to acquire,
manage, manipulate and analyze and display
spatial and non-spatial data.
 Data such as crime location, land and natural
resources can be mapped and analyzed to
evaluate spatial distribution and find association
with other environmental phenomena.
 Research and applications that involve
understanding pattern and process on the earth’s
surface can significantly be analyzed using GIS.
2. SPATIAL PATTERN ANALYSIS
Social scientists and humanities study various
problems faced by society that require analysis of
complex pattern and process related to social,
economy and environmental phenomena
 Spatial statistics such as spatial clustering are
used to evaluate particularly high or low incidents
of crime or disease
 Neighborhood differences can be explained by
other factors such as poverty, social exclusion,
education and disorganization
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3. SPATIAL INTERACTION
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Spatial interaction models can be used to predict the flow
of people, goods or services between two locations.
For example, the interaction between shoppers and
hypermarket can be analyzed using network analysis in
GIS. Such analysis allows Social Scientists and Humanities
to understand consumer shopping behavior or suitable
location of the hypermarket.
Accessibility can also be used to measure the equitable
and efficient provision of opportunities and public services
such as education and healthcare. For example, the
accessibility of cancer patients to healthcare services can
be evaluated using network analysis, spatial optimization
method and spatial interaction model.
4. CELLULAR AUTOMATA AND AGENT-BASED
MODELING
Cellular automata and agent-based model have
been used to study complex social and
environmental systems. The behavior of
individual or group at local level is imitated to
produce pattern at regional or global scale.
 For example, cellular automata model and
agent-based model have been widely used to
model the spatial pattern of urban growth in
relation to policy changes.
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5. MAP MAKING AND VISUALIZATION
Map has been used by geographers for many
years as a tool to explore the distribution and
communicate the information to various users.
 Maps and visualization techniques can assist in
reporting and presenting the spatial distribution of
cancer cases in relation to healthcare facilities,
distribution of schools, and the
 Thematic mapping of statistical data provides
useful exploratory data analysis tool for knowledge
construction.
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TRANSDISCIPLINARY AGENDA
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Research/studies/projects involve several academic
disciplines to create new knowledge and theory and
solve a common research goal using spatial information
technology namely GIS, Global Positioning System (GPS)
and remote sensing
These spatial technologies become useful tools to study
various human activities and interaction
Spatial Social Science Cluster promotes the application
of spatial information technologies and provides a tool
to solve the ancient problem of combining general
scientific knowledge with specific information and gives
practical value to both (Longley et al., 2001).
EXAMPLES OF RESEARCH UNDERTAKEN
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Narimah Samat, Aziz Abdul Majid, Norizan Md Nor, Ruslan Rainis & Suriati Ghazali,
Application of Geographic Information System in Modelling Urban Spatial Growth,
USM Short-Term Research Grant, 2004-2006.
Narimah Samat, Amiza Mat Amin, Morshidi Sirat & Suriati Ghazali, Urban poverty: A
Geographical Analysis of the relationship between retail food access and socioeconomic and its policy implication, MOSTI E-Science Fund, Oct 2007 – Sept 2009.
Narimah Samat, Nik Haslinda Nik Hussin, Suriati Ghazali & Tarmiji Masron,
Geographical Analysis of Human Settlements in the Ancient City of Bujang Valley,
Kedah, FRGS Research Grant, Oct 2006 – Sept 2009.
Tarmiji Masron, Narimah Samat & Nazaruddin Zainun, The Application of
Geographic Information System in Mapping Sarawak Boundary Changes 1841 –
2002, USM Short-Term Research Grant, 2006 – 2009.
Suriati Ghazali, Colonius Atang, Narimah Samat, Norizan Md Nor, Azlinda Azman,
Intan Hashimah Hashim & Khariah Salwa Mokhtar, Double Jeopardy - Cancer and
Poverty: A Survey towards Actions, Outside Grant (MAKNA), 2006-2009.
Suriati Ghazali, Narimah Samat & Morshidi Sirat, Perception of Local People on
Ecotourism : A Case Study in Sarawak, Malaysia. USM Short-term Grant . 20062008
Suriati Ghazali, Narimah Samat, Azilah Mohamad Nor, Jabil Mapjabil & Prof. Jas
Laile Suzana Jaafar Diffusion and Geographical Imagination of Male Transsexuals
in Local Universities in Malaysia. FRGS Research Grant. 2006-2009.