Towards a collective spatial analysis: Proposal of a new paradigm for supporting the spatial decision-making from a Geoprospective approach

Abstract

This paper presents the progress of a research work that seeks to establish prospective spatio-temporal locations of goods, services or events in a given territory primarily through the application of concepts and/or tools that combine Collective Intelligence (CI), Geographic Information Science (GISc) and Complexity Theory. Relying on this notion, probable and plausible future scenarios could be projected to conduct various studies within the context of the Geoprospective (an emerging field of research aimed at issues of territorial forecasting), which might provide valuable alternatives in the decision-making process in order to carry out anticipatory actions to achieve or avoid such scenarios. In the light of the above, it is suggested that this kind of Collective Spatial Analysis (CSA) would provide a new paradigm about how to perform spatial analysis, the same that is based on a cognitive approach of a multidisciplinary group of users who collectively participate with their knowledge on an interdisciplinary basis, and not from a limited single user approach that uses geometric, statistical or mathematical geoprocessing algorithms.