-------- Original Message --------
Subject: RE: "Natural borders"
Date: Fri, 4 Nov 2011 13:45:01 +0000
From: Michelle Simms <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>
What an interesting question from the patron!
Joseph's method sounds like a good approach to me, but I would add that
the patron may need to explicate how she is defining "natural" boundary,
especially where a political border bisects a natural feature (is the
border following a natural demarcation within the natural feature or
not?) which may benefit from a review of Mandelbrot's paper
(http://www.sciencemag.org/content/156/3775/636 ) on the statistical
self-similarity and fractal dimension of coastlines to help inform how
she is defining "natural" boundary. A short discussion on the use of GIS
to measure compactness using fractals found at
(http://www.spatial.maine.edu/~onsrud/ucgis/testproc/knight/knight.html)
may be beneficial as well.
Michelle Simms, PhD
Program Assistant
Map and GIS Collections and Services
University Libraries
Texas A&M University
[log in to unmask]
5000 TAMU | College Station, TX 77843-5000
Office 979.845.1024
-----Original Message-----
From: Angie Cope, American Geographical Society Library, UW Milwaukee
[mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Thursday, November 03, 2011 3:27 PM
Subject: Re: "Natural borders"
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: RE: "Natural borders"
Date: Thu, 3 Nov 2011 13:13:54 -0700
From: Joseph Kerski <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>, [log in to unmask]
<[log in to unmask]>, [log in to unmask]
<[log in to unmask]>
Chris, what I would do is go to www.arcgis.com <http://www.arcgis.com>
and zoom to the Middle East. Then use the measure tool to measure the
boundaries of interest, using the world topographic map or satellite
imagery to determine which boundaries follow natural boundaries and
which ones follow artificial ones.
Or, for a more precise figure, use ArcGIS desktop version 9 or 10, add
the desired national boundaries as a geodatabase feature class or a
shapefile (available from the Esri Data and Maps DVD and also from
www.arcgis.com <http://www.arcgis.com> and other data depositories
online), and then measure each of the boundaries, tallying up the length
of the boundaries that follow mountains, rivers, water bodies, etc and
also the length of the boundaries that do not.
Perhaps there is a better way and I look forward to hearing what others
have to say too.
Joseph Kerski
*Joseph J. Kerski, Ph.D.| Education Manager*
Esri | 1 International Court | Broomfield CO 80021-3200 | USA
Tel 303-449-7779, ext. 8237 | Fax 303-449-8830
[log in to unmask] | esri.com
Twitter: @josephkerski
*From:*[log in to unmask]
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] *On Behalf Of *Christopher Thiry
*Sent:* Thursday, November 03, 2011 8:29 AM
*To:* [log in to unmask]; [log in to unmask]
*Subject:* "Natural borders"
All,
I need help answering this email I received from a patron. Thanks in
advance.
Christopher J.J. Thiry
Map Librarian
Colorado School of Mines
1400 Illinois
Golden, CO 80401
p. 303-273-3697
f. 303-273-3199
[log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]>
http://library.mines.edu/
------------------------------------------------------------------------
*From:*Ashley Pryor
*Sent:* Wednesday, November 02, 2011 5:01 PM
*To:* Christopher Thiry
*Subject:* Map Question
Christopher,
I am wondering if you can assist me to compile a statistic for %
"natural border" for all countries in the Middle East. Natural borders
for instance would be coastlines, mountain ranges, large rivers, etc. Of
course sometimes borders are built along these natural boundaries, and
sometimes they are arbitrary of natural boundaries. I am wondering if
you have a set of maps that clearly show natural boundaries against
national borders, or better yet, already have access to a data set that
has already compiled the percent national border that follows a natural
boundary. If you have such a data set, any or all regions would be
beneficial to my research. If you do not know of any particular data
set, perhaps you have some time to meet with me and let me know which
map sets would be most helpful in compiling such a statistic.
Please let me know if you have any availability in the next couple of
days to perhaps discuss.
Thanks so much for your time and your work.
Regards,
Ashley Pryor
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