A GENERAL APPROACH TO THE STUDY OF SPATIAL SYSTEMS II. Two Examples of Application

The emphasis in this work is on the practical application of ideas set forth in Part I. Two studies involving spatial distribution are discussed: the distribution of human population in the Indianapolis, Indiana Region, and the world distribution of mammals. In the first, populations over the period 1890–1980 of Ihe 393 townships making up the study area are used to produce classifications involving various numbers of classes of township types. A test of the theoretical structure posed in Part I is then detailed. On the theory that the underlying relations involved cannot sustain a real world structure involving more than five functional classes, it is hypothesized that classifications involving more than five classes will be associated with township distribution patterns that conflict with Central Place Theory. This is shown to be clearly so. In the second study, the derivation of a five region partitioning of world mammalian distribution patterns is described. Discussion includes the introduction of a wholly new rationale for taxonomic revision based on biogeographic criteria (and ultimately the principles described in Part I). The study closes with a short argument regarding why the model described in Part I should not be labelled as either social physics or anti-humanistic.