Book review: GIS for Transportation

Posted on 2003-08-25 by

Revised on: 2015-09-30

Having been a student with Harvey Miller at the University of Utah 2000-2002 probably makes my review somewhat biased. Nevertheless, Geographic Information Systems for Transportation: Principles and Applications (Spatial Information Systems) written by Harvey Miller and Shih Lung shaw is an excellent book if you’re a student or professional in the field of GIS and need to know how GIS can be applied to transportation, or vice versa, knowing transportation, this book will tell you what GIS can do for you.

Solid

Mind you, this is not for the fainthearted, this is solid academic work and presumes some academic knowlegde prior to reading this book. It is specked with references that are hard to get, and you are likely to spend more time in the library reading up on the bibliography than digesting the actual text. Still, if GIS-T is your line of research, you cannot avoid having this book. It is by far one of the most comprehensive I have seen. It is clear that the authors posess solid knowledge and have covered a wide field and left nothing out. It may have a rather inhibitive price; in hindsight it was well worth the money spent.

Content

The book covers most subjects that are relevant to GIS-T. It first outlines what GIS-T is, talks in depth about database design and data models and the advantages and disadvantages of the different approaches and how data can be sourced and integrated. GIS-T applications like shortest paths, routing and facility location are mentioned, as well as spatial analysis and transportation planning. ITS is not left out, and there is a short chapter on transportation hazards, and…look and behold: logistics. The book really covers every aspect of GIS-T.

Academic value

This is not a practitioner’s handbook like GIS for Transportation. This is a book for academic research in GIS-T, and for what goes on before research reaches practice. Four hundred and forty-seven pages of references confirm that the authors have done their homework, and if there is a GIS-T reference you need, you can be sure to find it listed here.