Connecting the dots

Mini-Geo Journey: Theories of Space and Place

Welcome to my Mini-Geo Journey - an interactive exploration of how theories of space and place shape my intellectual development and research trajectory toward understanding built-environment-personality relationships.

This visualization represents my intellectual roadmap, demonstrating how foundational spatial theories connect to contemporary research in GeoAI and human-environment interactions. Each node in the web below represents a key reading, and the connections show how ideas flow and build upon one another in my scholarly journey.

Related post: Integrating Elements into Geographic Science

📊 Interactive Analysis Options

Option 1: Jupyter Notebook Format

🎯 Recommended for Deep Exploration

🔬 Interactive Data Analysis: Explore the complete bibliography dataset with Python code, network visualizations, and interactive widgets.

Key Features:

📈 Interactive network graphs with clickable nodes
🔍 Filterable paper explorer by domain, year, and keywords
📊 Timeline analysis of reading progression
🎛️ Dynamic visualizations with hover details
💻 Full Python code for reproducible analysis

🚀 Launch Interactive Notebook

Best viewed in Jupyter Lab or VSCode. Click nodes to see paper properties, use widgets to filter by domain/year.

Option 2: 3D Web Visualization

🌐 Browser-Based Exploration

About This Journey

This interactive knowledge web serves as both:

Academic Assignment: First Mini-Geo Journey focusing on space/place theories for my graduate coursework
Research Foundation: Theoretical groundwork for my built-environment-personality study
Intellectual Map: Visual demonstration of how I engage with spatial theory and connect it to methodological approaches

Interactive Knowledge Web

Drag to rotate • Scroll to zoom

Theoretical Framework Development

From Phenomenology to Digital Methods

This knowledge web demonstrates my theoretical journey from classical phenomenological approaches to contemporary digital methodologies:

Foundational Spatial Theory: Starting with Tuan’s Topophilia and phenomenological geography
Critical Spatial Theory: Incorporating Lefebvre’s production of space and Lynch’s urban imaging
Environmental Psychology: Bridging spatial theory with psychological frameworks
Contemporary Applications: Connecting theory to GeoAI and machine learning methods

Research Evolution

Phase 1: Theoretical Grounding

Establishing understanding of space vs. place distinctions
Exploring phenomenological approaches to spatial experience
Understanding critical perspectives on spatial production

Phase 2: Psychological Integration

Connecting spatial theory to environmental psychology
Investigating person-environment relationships
Exploring design principles that support well-being

Phase 3: Methodological Innovation

Applying machine learning to spatial behavior patterns
Using GeoAI for large-scale environmental psychology research
Developing new approaches to built-environment-personality studies

Assignment Reflection

This Mini-Geo Journey accomplishes several academic goals:

Theoretical Engagement: Demonstrates deep reading in space/place literature
Intellectual Connections: Shows how different theoretical traditions inform my research
Methodological Bridge: Connects classical theory to contemporary digital methods
Research Roadmap: Illustrates progression toward my built-environment-personality study

Interactive Features

Drag and Rotate: Explore the 3D knowledge space
Hover for Details: Learn about each work and its relevance
Connection Mapping: See how ideas flow between different authors and approaches
Theoretical Clustering: Notice how different schools of thought group together

Papers I Have Read

Below are the comprehensive bibliographies of papers I have read across three key areas of my research. These readings form the foundation of my theoretical understanding and inform my approach to built-environment-personality research.

📊 GeoAI & Spatial Intelligence

**Brown, C. F., Kazmierski, M. R., Pasquarella, V. J., et al.** (2025). *AlphaEarth Foundations: An embedding field model for accurate and efficient global mapping from sparse label data* (arXiv:2507.22291). arXiv. [https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2507.22291](https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2507.22291) **Goodchild, M. F., & Janelle, D. G.** (2004). Thinking Spatially in the Social Sciences. In M. F. Goodchild & D. G. Janelle (Eds.), *Spatially Integrated Social Science* (p. 0). Oxford University Press. [https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780195152708.003.0001](https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780195152708.003.0001) **Goodchild, M. F., & Li, W.** (2021). Replication across space and time must be weak in the social and environmental sciences. *Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences*, *118*(35), e2015759118. [https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2015759118](https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2015759118) **Hu, Y., Gao, S., Lunga, D., Li, W., Newsam, S., & Bhaduri, B.** (2019). GeoAI at ACM SIGSPATIAL: Progress, challenges, and future directions. *SIGSPATIAL Special*, *11*(2), 5–15. [https://doi.org/10.1145/3377000.3377002](https://doi.org/10.1145/3377000.3377002) **Janowicz, K., Gao, S., McKenzie, G., Hu, Y., & Bhaduri, B.** (2020). GeoAI: Spatially explicit artificial intelligence techniques for geographic knowledge discovery and beyond. *International Journal of Geographical Information Science*, *34*(4), 625–636. [https://doi.org/10.1080/13658816.2019.1684500](https://doi.org/10.1080/13658816.2019.1684500) **Jean, N., Wang, S., Samar, A., Azzari, G., Lobell, D., & Ermon, S.** (2019). Tile2Vec: Unsupervised Representation Learning for Spatially Distributed Data. *Proceedings of the AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence*, *33*(01), 3967–3974. [https://doi.org/10.1609/aaai.v33i01.33013967](https://doi.org/10.1609/aaai.v33i01.33013967)

🧠 Geography & Personality Research

**Biljecki, F., & Ito, K.** (2021). Street view imagery in urban analytics and GIS: A review. *Landscape and Urban Planning*, *215*, 104217. [https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2021.104217](https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2021.104217) **Ebert, T., Gebauer, J. E., Brenner, T., Bleidorn, W., Gosling, S. D., Potter, J., & Rentfrow, P. J.** (2022). Are Regional Differences in Psychological Characteristics and Their Correlates Robust? Applying Spatial-Analysis Techniques to Examine Regional Variation in Personality. *Perspectives on Psychological Science*, *17*(2), 407–441. [https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691621998326](https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691621998326) **Götz, F. M., Ebert, T., Gosling, S. D., Obschonka, M., Potter, J., & Rentfrow, P. J.** (2021). Local housing market dynamics predict rapid shifts in cultural openness: A 9-year study across 199 cities. *American Psychologist*, *76*(6), 947–961. [https://doi.org/10.1037/amp0000812](https://doi.org/10.1037/amp0000812) **Götz, F. M., Gosling, S. D., & Rentfrow, P. J.** (2022). Small Effects: The Indispensable Foundation for a Cumulative Psychological Science. *Perspectives on Psychological Science*, *17*(1), 205–215. [https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691620984483](https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691620984483) **Götz, F. M., Montello, D. R., Varnum, M. E. W., Luca, D., & Kenrick, D. T.** (2025). A unified framework integrating psychology and geography. *Nature Human Behaviour*, 1–13. [https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-025-02237-y](https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-025-02237-y) **Ito, K., Kang, Y., Gosling, S. D., Potter, J., Yao, X., & Biljecki, F.** Uncovering the Associations between Human Big Five Personality Traits and Built Environment Characteristics from Street View Imagery. *[In Preparation]* **Ito, K., Zhu, Y., Abdelrahman, M., et al.** (2025). ZenSVI: An open-source software for the integrated acquisition, processing and analysis of street view imagery towards scalable urban science. *Computers, Environment and Urban Systems*, *119*, 102283. [https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compenvurbsys.2025.102283](https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compenvurbsys.2025.102283) **Jokela, M., Bleidorn, W., Lamb, M. E., Gosling, S. D., & Rentfrow, P. J.** (2015). Geographically varying associations between personality and life satisfaction in the London metropolitan area. *Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences*, *112*(3), 725–730. [https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1415800112](https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1415800112) **Militaru, I. E., Serapio-García, G., Ebert, T., et al.** (2024). The lay of the land: Associations between environmental features and personality. *Journal of Personality*, *92*(1), 88–110. [https://doi.org/10.1111/jopy.12822](https://doi.org/10.1111/jopy.12822) **Rentfrow, P. J., Gosling, S. D., Jokela, M., Stillwell, D. J., Kosinski, M., & Potter, J.** (2013). Divided we stand: Three psychological regions of the United States and their political, economic, social, and health correlates. *Journal of Personality and Social Psychology*, *105*(6), 996–1012. [https://doi.org/10.1037/a0034434](https://doi.org/10.1037/a0034434) **Rentfrow, P. J., Gosling, S. D., & Potter, J.** (2008). A Theory of the Emergence, Persistence, and Expression of Geographic Variation in Psychological Characteristics. *Perspectives on Psychological Science*, *3*(5), 339–369. [https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1745-6924.2008.00084.x](https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1745-6924.2008.00084.x) **Wei, W., Lu, J. G., Galinsky, A. D., et al.** (2017). Regional ambient temperature is associated with human personality. *Nature Human Behaviour*, *1*(12), 890–895. [https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-017-0240-0](https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-017-0240-0)

🏛️ Critical Issues in Geography

**Cox, K.** (2021). Human and physical geography and the question of space. *Belgeo. Revue Belge de Géographie*, *4*. [https://doi.org/10.4000/belgeo.52790](https://doi.org/10.4000/belgeo.52790) **Fluri, J. L.** (2021). Political geography 1: Extractions. *Progress in Human Geography*, *45*(4), 855–865. [https://doi.org/10.1177/0309132520970258](https://doi.org/10.1177/0309132520970258) **Goodchild, M. F.** (2011). Scale in GIS: An overview. *Geomorphology*, *130*(1), 5–9. [https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geomorph.2010.10.004](https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geomorph.2010.10.004) **Kobayashi, A.** (2014). The Dialectic of Race and the Discipline of Geography. *Annals of the Association of American Geographers*, *104*(6), 1101–1115. [https://doi.org/10.1080/00045608.2014.958388](https://doi.org/10.1080/00045608.2014.958388) **Lin, Y., & Kim, J.** (2025). Pillars of GeoAI in Human Geography. In X. Huang, S. Wang, J. Wilson, & P. Kedron (Eds.), *GeoAI and Human Geography: The Dawn of a New Spatial Intelligence Era* (pp. 29–40). Springer Nature Switzerland. [https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-87421-5_3](https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-87421-5_3) **Mansfield, B., Lave, R., McSweeney, K., et al.** (2019). It's time to recognize how men's careers benefit from sexually harassing women in academia. *Human Geography*, *12*(1), 82–87. [https://doi.org/10.1177/194277861901200110](https://doi.org/10.1177/194277861901200110)

📚 Reading Strategy & Research Impact

These comprehensive reading lists demonstrate my systematic approach to literature review across multiple domains:

🔬 Technical Foundation: GeoAI papers provide methodological grounding for computational spatial analysis
🧩 Theoretical Integration: Geography-personality research bridges spatial theory with psychological frameworks
⚖️ Critical Perspective: Issues in geography ensure awareness of disciplinary challenges and social justice concerns
🔗 Interdisciplinary Synthesis: Combined readings inform my built-environment-personality research approach

The papers listed above represent active engagement with current literature in my field, informing both my Mini-Geo Journey theoretical development and my ongoing research methodology.

This visualization serves as my first Mini-Geo Journey, demonstrating how theories of space and place inform my research trajectory in environmental psychology and GeoAI. The interactive format allows viewers to explore the connections between foundational readings and contemporary methodological approaches.

Assignment Context: First of three Mini-Geo Journeys for graduate coursework, focusing on space/place theory engagement and research foundation building.

Xihan Yao