Patrick Rickles

University College London | UCL · Department of Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering

Geographic Information Systems (GIS) are valuable for displaying and analyzing spatial data, revealing spatial patterns that may otherwise go unnoticed. The ubiquity of web and mobile platforms, used to create and share geographic information has reified the value of GIS to a wider audience bringing new popularity to GIS. As a result, GIS and Geogr...

In an increasingly complex world, interdisciplinary approaches in research are becoming necessary to address challenges faced by modern society. Universities are progressively acknowledging this and new collaborative opportunities are being recognised between disciplines. When undertaking Interdisciplinary Research (IDR), words may not have the sam...

The unprecedented availability of geospatial data and technologies is driving innovation and discovery but not without the risk of losing focus on the geographic foundations of space and place in this vast “cyber sea” of data and technology. There is a pressing need to educate a new generation of scientists and citizens who understand how space and...

Interdisciplinary research with geographic information systems (GIS) can be rewarding as researchers from different disciplines have the opportunity to create something novel. GIS, though, is known to be difficult to use and learn. It is imperative for its successful use in projects that those who need to use GIS are able to learn it quickly and ea...

Citizen Science is defined as the participation of non-professional volunteers in scientific projects (Dickson et al, 2010) and has experienced rapid growth over the past decade. The projects that are emerging in this area range from contributory projects, co-created projects, collegiate projects, which are initiated and run by a group of people wi...

Natural or human-made hazards may occur at any time. Although one might assume that individuals plan in advance for such potentially damaging events, the existing literature indicates that most communities remain inadequately prepared. In the past, research in this area has focused on identifying the most effective ways to communicate risk and elic...

Geographic Information Systems (GIS) have the potential to support spatial thinking in new ways, which can enable students to better understand the world around them and the global impact of humanity in a spatial way. These skills and knowledge are relevant to subjects across the curriculum, for STEM subjects as well as Arts and Humanities. This re...

Disaster can happen at any time, and no community can consider itself completely safe from its direct or indirect impacts. Digital technologies, such as Geographic Information Systems (GIS), are becoming globally pervasive (World Bank, 2014), with smartphones hosting excellent mobile mapping, data collection and information providing platforms. A r...

A geographic information system (GIS) can be a valuable research tool, helping scientists understand location and bridge the gaps between subjects in interdisciplinary research (IDR), which has been promoted for its real-world solutions. However, a GIS can be difficult to use and may require understanding of a number of concepts as well as tools an...

The purpose of this paper is to provide some much needed theoretical grounding and historical-morphological context for the narratives of communal loss that recur in the reportage concerning the British high street. Given the topicality of this issue for policy-makers it is worth enquiring into precisely how far such narratives are in fact supporte...

The importance of understanding the quality of data used in any GIS operation should not be underestimated. Metadata (data about data) traditionally provides a description of this quality information, but it is frequently deemed as complex to create and maintain. Additionally, it is generally stored separately from the data leading to issues with u...

The purpose of this paper is to provide some much needed theoretical grounding and historical-morphological context for the narratives of communal loss that recur in the reportage concerning the British high street. Given the topicality of this issue for policy-makers it is worth enquiring into precisely how far such narratives are in fact supporte...