Write your name above, and then respond to the questions below. Use the space provided (the amount of space provided, as well as the relative point weights, indicate the relative amount of detail suggested for each question). Your score (of the 56 points below) will be multiplied by 0.357 to yield the number of points (of 20) you earn toward the quarter’s total (of 100).
 

1. [8 points] Briefly define:

"consumerist fallacy"

ecological fallacy

loosely coupled analysis

modifiable areal unit problem

2. [3 points] What is the purpose of the spatial join function in ArcView? Why is this function fundamental to GIS? Give a specific example of a spatial join.

3. [8 points] Explain the analog technique of retail site selection. What does it assume? What does it ignore? What information is required? How would an automated GIS help? Explain how we made use of this in one of the lab cases.

4. [6 points] What is Reilly's "law of retail gravitation"? What are the key relationships involved? How could we measure "distance"? How could this "law" be used to estimate the primary market areas of a set of competing shopping centers? How would a GIS help in doing this?

5. [3 points] Referring to Case3, what is the significance of the Input Shape ID during the intersect theme process? What role does it play in analyzing the Library Service Area data?

6. [3 points] Generalize from lab Case 3: what are the pros and cons of using smaller areal units (e.g., block groups rather than Census tracts) when comparing service areas (or market areas) according to some criteria?

7. [15 points] How have we defined strategy? What simple assumptions are implied by this definition? What are the three levels of strategy in a business setting? How might geography (the facts that places are different and that overcoming distance takes resources) affect strategy at each level? How has Mennecke suggested that GIS could be useful in strategic planning and decision making? How does Goss (in the Pickles volume) critique the notion of "strategy"?

8. [10 points] Identify a technical shortcoming, a conceptual shortcoming, and a social or political shortcoming in using current geographic information systems as tools for economic or market analysis. How would you suggest that users of geographic information address each of the shortcomings you've identified?