GIScience

Geospatial research is the study of geographic information, how we collect, store, manage, analyse, and visualise it. This is in isolation from the specifics of the driving geographic questions, that is, that we study the representations of the real world rather than the real world itself.

Within the School of Earth & Environment at Canterbury University, we tackle a range of geospatial research questions. These research topics include advances in spatial analysis methods, such as new methods for simulating real world populations through spatial microsimulation modelling, new data models or representations of geographic phenomena such as process based data models, representing the semantics of geographic information, and creating methods for determining whether we can trust crowd sourced data.

Urban and Regional Analytics

Accommodation-sharing platforms, such as Airbnb, can be seen as a disruptive force in comparison to more conventional accommodation providers and rental markets in many cities and regions worldwide.

This project focuses on understanding the spatial distribution of the accommodation provided by Airbnb in NZ. This research theme on Regional Science is funded by NSC11: Building Better Homes, Towns and Cities. Using urban and regional analytics we are conducting research on Airbnb and Regional Development questions.

Publications

Campbell M., McNair H., Mackay M. and Perkins HC. (2019) Disrupting the regional housing market: Airbnb in New Zealand. Regional Studies, Regional Science 6(1): 139-142. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/21681376.2019.1588156.