Empowering Human Dynamics Research With Social Media And Geospatial Data Analytics PDF Download

This doctoral dissertation research is designed to advance our understanding of human perceptions of places using geospatial data science. Measuring human perceptions of places, such as how safe and lively a neighborhood is, is crucial for investigating the human sense of place and for furthering our knowledge of human-environment relationships. However, previous studies using interpretive approaches (e.g., interviews, questionnaires) to measure human perceptions of places face challenges such as high labor intensity, long update periods, and geographic scale limitations. Geospatial data science, including the usage of multiple sources of urban big data (e.g., street view imagery, human mobility) and the development of advanced geospatial artificial intelligence (GeoAI), provides unprecedented opportunities for researchers to not only model objective geographic phenomenon but also assess subjective human perceptions of places from a variety of dimensions (e.g., lively, safe, wealthy).Here, we first introduce a computational framework to measure human perceptions of places from a data-driven perspective. We employ geocomputational approaches to assess human perceptions of places with large-scale street view images and advanced GeoAI approaches. By comparing with conventional interpretive approaches, we illustrate the effectiveness of geospatial data science for measuring human perceptions of places and acknowledge its potential biases and challenges. We then explore what and how various urban design and environmental factors may affect people's place perceptions to inform city developments. After that, we demonstrate how human subjective perceptions of place might be integrated into place-based spatial analytics and highlight the critical role of human place perception in understanding human-environment interactions. This dissertation is developed based on the author's three peer-reviewed journal articles and has been arranged as chapters 4, 5, and 6. This work makes contributions to the broader fields of GIScience, geography, and urban planning. First, it shows how socioeconomic and environmental factors influence human perceptions of places and reveals the complex interactions between human activities and the physical environment. Second, it provides insights and decision-making suggestions for urban planners and governments toward building safer, livelier, and wealthier communities and cities. Third, it illustrates how humanistic insights can be integrated into geospatial data science and offers insights for addressing ethical issues in the development of GIScience.