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The Geographical Dimensions of Terrorism
Undertaken as part of the National Science Foundation's call for research associated with the 9/11 terrorist attacks, this volume contains research that addresses the immediate role and utility of geographical information and technologies in emergency management. It also initiates an on-going process to help develop a focused national research agenda on the geographical dimensions of terrorism. Areas covered geospatial data and technologies infrastructure research, root causes of terrorism, and vulnerability science and hazard research.
- GenresGeography
296 pages, Paperback
First published February 28, 2003
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
March 29, 2018
Mine is a qualified 4 star review of a paperback copy of The Geographical Dimension of Terrorism, edited by Susan L. Gutter, Douglas B Richardson and Thomas J. Wilson. I bought my copy at a deeply discounted sell out price from a highly prestigious professional Geographers Association while attending a large mapping software vendor training conference. I specify all this because my total price was about what shipping might cost for some of the used copies being offered. Geographical Dimensions is a good example of a particular type of academic collection. In this case it is well past its time for academic geographers, but of some interest to the more general reader.
So what is it? The critical point is that this collection of essays was published in 2003. Shortly after the Trade Tower/Pentagon attacks of 9-11. These essays were written by and for the academic cartographic/geographical community. The purpose was to point out particular research topics that the field had not previously exhausted. What would be of greatest service to the community of first responders, military forces and policy makers to anticipate and fill the need for purpose built maps that support emergency operations, planning and policy making? Not just the maps, but what kinds of map related infrastructure would facilitate the custom building of maps in real time as needed, during any of several types of emergencies.
Many of these reach topics have been addressed and some if not all of the capabilities are in place. For example the mapping community has moved beyond (some of the?) the problems of mapping out in detail, in two dimensions. There are a number of resources that might allow a security team or any emergency responder to have excellent maps not just of a downtown area, but building by building, floor for floor maps. There is an excellent example in a project completed about 3 years ago by the Miami Airport Police that allows them to maintain up to date maps of the airport building complex. Such a map has daily operational value in directing law enforcement and medical response to problems in a vast, highly populated and hard as it may be to visualize, dynamic space.
This book is out of date for its intended audience, why the recommendation? This book is not written in the hard to read language of research. There are few statistics or the technical language necessary in a technical paper. Instead, Geographical Dimensions consists of about 29 relatively short essays addressing 8 aspects of the topic. Being short essays and written by a number of people, it is possible for a non-specialist reader to learn about a variety of topics within the larger topic of supporting emergency operations. For the not technically qualified, the point is to learn about aspects of emergency planning in general and problems in the fight against terrorism in particular from an insider point of view.
Too often academics are not thought of as reality based, or even interested in the real world. All of these academics are/were imagining the needs of real world people having to respond to emergencies. A general reader may be surprised by what did not already exist. More often a reader will gain an appreciation of the role of maps as a tool for life saving and disaster mitigation.
So what is it? The critical point is that this collection of essays was published in 2003. Shortly after the Trade Tower/Pentagon attacks of 9-11. These essays were written by and for the academic cartographic/geographical community. The purpose was to point out particular research topics that the field had not previously exhausted. What would be of greatest service to the community of first responders, military forces and policy makers to anticipate and fill the need for purpose built maps that support emergency operations, planning and policy making? Not just the maps, but what kinds of map related infrastructure would facilitate the custom building of maps in real time as needed, during any of several types of emergencies.
Many of these reach topics have been addressed and some if not all of the capabilities are in place. For example the mapping community has moved beyond (some of the?) the problems of mapping out in detail, in two dimensions. There are a number of resources that might allow a security team or any emergency responder to have excellent maps not just of a downtown area, but building by building, floor for floor maps. There is an excellent example in a project completed about 3 years ago by the Miami Airport Police that allows them to maintain up to date maps of the airport building complex. Such a map has daily operational value in directing law enforcement and medical response to problems in a vast, highly populated and hard as it may be to visualize, dynamic space.
This book is out of date for its intended audience, why the recommendation? This book is not written in the hard to read language of research. There are few statistics or the technical language necessary in a technical paper. Instead, Geographical Dimensions consists of about 29 relatively short essays addressing 8 aspects of the topic. Being short essays and written by a number of people, it is possible for a non-specialist reader to learn about a variety of topics within the larger topic of supporting emergency operations. For the not technically qualified, the point is to learn about aspects of emergency planning in general and problems in the fight against terrorism in particular from an insider point of view.
Too often academics are not thought of as reality based, or even interested in the real world. All of these academics are/were imagining the needs of real world people having to respond to emergencies. A general reader may be surprised by what did not already exist. More often a reader will gain an appreciation of the role of maps as a tool for life saving and disaster mitigation.
June 26, 2012
Interesting take on this matter nearly a decade later. It features the sophisticated mapping and locational tracking systems used by geographers in resisting attacks and mitigating the consequences of successful strikes. It would be interesting to look back at the available tools of the trade at that time compared to today's bleeding edge abilities.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews