Spatial Analysis and Modeling - Plenary Sessions
Since 2000, in cooperation with Geographical Analysis (GA) and the Department of Geography, The Ohio State University, the Spatial Analysis and Modeling (SAM) Specialty Group of the Association of American Geographers (AAG) has established a tradition of co-sponsoring a plenary speaker at the annual AAG meetings.
| Year | Location | Speaker | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | San Francisco, CA | Mei-Po Kwan | Neighborhood Effect Averaging Revisited: Why It Matters in Geographic, Social Science and Environmental Health Research |
The AAG Spatial Analysis and Modeling (SAM) specialty group and Geographical Analysis are delighted to announce the 2026 annual lecture in San Francisco will be given by Mei-Po Kwan from The Chinese University of Hong Kong. Dr. Kwan is the Head of Chung Chi College and the Director of the Institute of Space and Earth Information Science. Her research addresses health, transport, environmental, and social issues in urban areas through the application of innovative geographic information system (GIS) methods. The title of her talk is, "Neighborhood Effect Averaging Revisited: Why It Matters in Geographic, Social Science and Environmental Health Research."
Neighborhood effect averaging refers to the tendency for individuals’ mobility-based environmental exposures to converge toward the average of the population or participants of the study area when compared to the corresponding residence-based exposures. Discovered by Kwan in 2018, it is a fundamental methodological problem (known as the neighborhood effect averaging problem [NEAP]) that may affect the accuracy and reliability of the results of all studies on the influence of mobility-dependent environmental factors (e.g., noise, air pollution, and green space) on human health behaviors and outcomes. Ignoring it may lead to erroneous conclusions and ineffective (or even wrong) health intervention measures. The NEAP highlights the need to consider people’s daily mobility and exposures at locations other than their residential neighborhoods when assessing people’s environmental exposures. Since 2018, subsequent studies have provided further evidence of the NEAP and articulated it as a statistical phenomenon of regression to the mean, indicating its significance as a general issue that may affect most studies on human-environment interaction. In this presentation, I highlight the research progress on and misunderstanding of the NEAP, clarify its nature, and suggest possible future research on specific aspects of the problem, with the hope of improving the reliability of research findings in geographic, social science, and environmental health research.
| Year | Location | Speaker | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Detroit, MI | Elizabeth Delmelle | It Probably Doesn't Cause Gentrification: Reflections from an Urban Spatial Analyst |
| 2024 | Honolulu, HI | Peter Rogerson | Testing Hypotheses When You Have a Few Too Many |
| 2023 | Denver, CO | Jennifer Miller | On null models in spatial ecology |
| 2022 | Virtual | ||
| 2021 | Virtual | Sergio Rey | Big Code |
| 2020 | Virtual | ||
| 2019 | Washington, DC | Alan Murray | Spatial Analysis and Modeling: Analytics and Spatial Data Science |
| 2018 | New Orleans, LA | Harvey Miller | Some big thoughts about Spatial Analysis and Geographic Information Science in an era of plenty |
| 2017 | Boston, MA | Daniel Griffith | Some Robust Assessments of Eigenvector Spatial Filtering |
| 2016 | San Francisco, CA | Stewart Fotheringham | Dispelling some Myths about Geographically Weighted Regression |
| 2015 | Chicago, IL | Keith Clarke | On the topology of topography |
| 2014 | Tampa Bay, FL | Helen Couclelis | Ignorance in the Age of Information: Prediction and Uncertainty When the Numbers Just Aren't There |
| 2013 | Los Angeles, CA | Morton E. O'Kelly | Hub location: a geographic analysis |
| 2012 | New York, NY | Robert Haining | Space-time modelling to support local policing |
| 2011 | Seattle, WA | Geoffrey Jacquez | Key problems and some solutions in geospatial health analysis |
| 2010 | Washington, DC | Peter Nijkamp | Behavior of Humans and Behavior of Models: A Cognitive Perspective |
| 2009 | Las Vegas, NV | Denis Pumain | Modeling spatial evolution: the example of urban systems |
| 2008 | Boston, MA | ||
| 2007 | San Francisco, CA | Luc Anselin | Spatial econometrics: retrospect and prospect |
| 2006 | Chicago, IL | Kingsley Haynes | Innovation, technology and latecomer strategies: evidence from the mobile handset manufacturing sector in China |
| 2005 | Denver, CO | Richard Church | Beyond 9-11: the new challenges for spatial analysts |
| 2004 | Philadelphia, PA | ||
| 2003 | New Orleans, LA | Nina Lam | Challenges in spatial analysis: an assessment |
| 2002 | Los Angeles, CA | Arthur Getis | Invention as the mother of necessity: a brief history of quantitative methods in geography |
| 2001 | New York, NY | Michael Batty | Generating urban landscapes at the fine-scale: cells, agents, form and development |
| 2000 | Pittsburgh, PA | Michael Goodchild | Spatial analysis in a communicating world |