Judith W. Meyer

GIS in the K-12 Curriculum: A Cautionary Note

Two qualitative case studies, one focusing on K-12 teachers and the other on middle school students, explore key factors associated with using Geographic Information Systems in the classroom. In both studies, access to appropriate hardware is a critical barrier. Time is another critical barrier—time to learn the GIS software and time in the curriculum to incorporate GIS as a learning experience. In both case studies, learning the technology at the expense of learning spatial analysis was a danger, suggesting the need for conscious focus on the goal of using GIS to learn how to “do geography.”

Diffusion agency establishment: The case of friendly ice cream and public-sector diffusion processes

Abstract Examining diffusion processes from the perspective of the market and infrastructure context focuses attention on the decisions made by suppliers or distributors of a new innovation. Public sector innovations have a market and infrastructure context but initial understanding of this context is simplified by using a private sector innovation: Friendly Ice Cream, a product and marketing concept sponsored by a single propagator entity. The location and timing of diffusion agency establishments (shops) supports the importance of logistical factors and capital availability but reveals the minimal importance of increases in urban population for an innovation with low thresholds of profitability.

Elderly activity patterns and demand for transportation in a small city setting

Abstract Although elderly in a small city setting leave their homes for approximately the same purposes and at the same frequency as elderly in metropolitan settings, they are much more dependent on the automobile. A higher proportion of the elderly in a small city drive, but driving status did not have a significant impact on frequency of travel or the spatial extent of travel. Health status was not an important factor when other variables were taken into account, but the older elderly did take fewer trips than the younger elderly. Income, sex and residential location had modest impacts on activity patterns, but the use of a well-established Dial-a-Ride system was minimal. Variation in activity patterns among the elderly in a small city suggested continuity of behavior, a modest decline with age and a strong preference for automobile travel or walking from conveniently located housing complexes.

Migration to near-metropolitan areas: characteristics and motives

An analysis of migration to nonmetropolitan areas adjacent to metropolitan regions is presented using the example of the Windham Planning Region adjoining Hartford Connecticut. The characteristics of in-migrants to the region are examined and the various types of migration involved are identified. (ANNOTATION)