Context-dependent spatial analysis: A role for GIS?

The relationship between spatial analysis and GIS has been a debating point for over a decade. Some see GIS as leading the way to a new era in which the desire and the ability to analyse spatial data is widespread, not just in geography but throughout all disciplines in which spatial data are encountered. Others see GIS as simply providing a medium for the recycling of out-dated spatial analytical techniques and models. This paper describes a role for GIS through the development of new forms of 'local' or 'context-dependent' spatial analytical methods in which the focus is on exceptions to the general trend represented by the more traditional 'global' methods.