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Contiguity principle for geographic units: evidence on the quantity, degree, and location of Public Use Microdata Area (PUMA) fragmentation

Author: and

Social scientists investigating how context varies by geographical location and/or how macro-level phenomenon affects individual outcomes often make use of U.S. Census Bureau Public Use Microdata Sample (PUMS) files where micro-units can only be geographically located to Public Use Microdata Area (PUMA) polygons. Most spatial analysis investigations with PUMAs ignore the fact that many of them are multipart polygons—spatially separated polygons that share the same attribute and are stored as a single feature in a vector file. We briefly discuss the theoretical premises of how geo-graphical boundaries are created for macro units and investigate the quantity, degree, and location of PUMA fragmenta-tion. We argue that the basic contiguity principle (the assumption that spatial analysis uses polygon centroids for solid and contiguous geographic units) in spatial dependence analysis is being violated with many PUMAs in the U.S. mainland—where Texas, California, Tennessee, and Illinois merit special attention. Future research should outline a method for handling multipart polygons in spatial and hierarchical analyses.

Keywords: , , , , ,
Issue: Volume 7, Issue 2, 2013
About journal

Title: Human Geographies - Journal of Studies and Research in Human Geography
ISSN online: 2067-2284
ISSN print: 1843-6587
Imprint: University of Bucharest
Frequency: Biannual (May&November)
First volume: 1/2007
Current volume: 18/2024
Language: English
Indexed in: SCOPUS, ERIH PLUS, EBSCO (SocINDEX), ProQuest (Social Science Journals, SciTech Journals, Natural Science Journals), Index Copernicus, National Technical Information Service (NTiS), Bodleian Libraries, ExLibris SFX, DOAJ, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Library, Google Scholar, Ulrich
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EDITORS


Prof. dr. Liliana Dumitrache
University of Bucharest, Faculty of Geography- Human and Economic Geography Department, 1 Nicolae Balcescu Av., 010041, Bucharest, Romania

Dr. Daniela Dumbrăveanu
University of Bucharest, Faculty of Geography- Human and Economic Geography Department, 1 Nicolae Balcescu Av., 010041, Bucharest, Romania

Dr. Mariana Nae
University of Bucharest, Faculty of Geography- Human and Economic Geography Department, 1 Nicolae Balcescu Av., 010041, Bucharest, Romania

Dr. Gabriel Simion
University of Bucharest, Faculty of Geography- Human and Economic Geography Department, 1 Nicolae Balcescu Av., 010041, Bucharest, Romania

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