Barry Boots

Professor
Department of Geography & Environmental Studies
Wilfrid Laurier University
Waterloo, Ontario Canada N2L 3C5
Office: 3E5 Arts Building
Phone: 884-1970, ext. 2604
Email: bboots@wlu.ca

Degrees:

BA Special Honours Degree in Geography (June 1967), University of Bristol

MA in Geography (June 1970), Rutgers University

PhD in Geography (June 1972), Rutgers University

DSc (March 1995), University of Bristol

Specialization: Spatial Data Handling
Urban/Economic

My main research interests are in developing measures of spatial structure and spatial relationships and determining the mutual relationship of these two with spatial processes. Current major projects involve developing and applying generalized Voronoi diagrams and modelling spatial autocorrelation at global and local scales. Much of my work has a theoretical basis (one colleague has categorized what I do as theoretical GIS) and consequently its applications cover a broad spectrum. Amongst the natural phenomena I have examined are seismic events in central Canada, drumlin fields, lemming mats, remotely sensed images and air pollution, while human phenomena include supermarkets, residential mobility and political divisions. Currently, my funded research deals with the Mountain Pine Beetle epidemic in the pine forests of British Columbia. The nature of my work means that I do not get into "the field" very often, although when I do I find it enjoyable, especially if it results in a discovery such as that I found in Newfoundland in August 1997(see photo).

Graduate Courses Taught:

Geography 604: Spatial Statistics

Geography 616: Multivariate Statistics

Publications

Professional Activities:

Co-Editor, The Canadian Geographer, 1993-1999. Member of the Editorial Advisory Boards, Materials Characterization, 1991-present, Journal of Geographical Systems, 1998-present, Geographical Analysis, 2004-present. Chair, International Geographical Union, Commission on Modelling Geographical Systems, 1996-2000, Full Member 2000-present.

Personally Speaking:

I like most contact sports, especially football (soccer). Although I'm too old to play any more, I remain a life-long supporter of the English team Swindon Town. I have a passion for British military history and especially British military medals and I'm a member of CSMMI, MCC of C, OMRS and NHCRA. Most antiques interest me, although my main concern is glass and china marbles and related items.

GAMBINI (Multiplicative Weighted Voronoi Diagram)

The program GAMBINI is a small GIS-utility which calculates, draws and exports multiplicative weighted Voronoi Diagrams. It is available in a 16-bit and a 32-bit Windows version.