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Department of Spatial Planning

Short paper presentation on geometric place footprints at GISRUK 2025

Two place footprints collected in Lisbon © René Westerholt​/​TU Dortmund University
René Westerholt presented a paper at the GISRUK conference in Bristol, UK, on geometric place representations and how they can be affected by the Modifiable Areal Unit Problem (MAUP).

When studying places in GIScience, we often analyse their geometric footprints. Sketch maps, for instance, can be used to capture sense of place, place identity, or place dependence. Our paper, presented at the 2025 GISRUK Conference in Bristol, UK, examines the relationship between place footprints and the Modifiable Areal Unit Problem (MAUP). Unlike polygons such as postcode areas, place footprints inherently relate to the underlying places themselves. Considering the MAUP aspects of location, scale, shape, and aggregation, the paper argues that the MAUP remains relevant, as place footprints are stochastic candidates of geometric representations and thus inherently modifiable – not in relation to another process, but in a self-referential manner.

Westerholt, R. (2025): Geometric place footprints and the modifiable areal unit problem. 33rd Annual GIS Research UK Conference (GISRUK), Bristol, UK. DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.15202853.