ABSTRACT
As models of geographical abstraction, fields are known to possess functional advantages for the analysis of spatially distributed phenomena. The effectiveness and efficiency of fields for geographical modelling and data handling are widely appreciated and amply demonstrated in geographical information science and the geographical information technology industry. The main strength of fields seems to be particularly conspicuous for handling spatial uncertainties, as discussed in Chapters 5 and 6, where uncertainties in variables of both continuous and discrete types were effectively described and modelled through the exploration of spatial variability and dependence. It was also confirmed that field-based representational models and computational methods contribute substantially to a conceptual shift from deterministic description to stochastic modelling.
