Spatial modeling’s place in health geography: Trends, critiques and future directions

Spatial modeling comprises a set of methods and approaches for measuring, analyzing and visualizing geographical relationships among people and the contexts in which they live, work and interact. This chapter begins by discussing the historical and intellectual trajectory of spatial approaches in health and medical geography, focusing on key questions, debates and realignments. It discusses spatial methods and themes, along with ongoing critical directions and topics for future research. The history of spatial modeling in health geography reveals both enthusiastic adoption of the methods and trenchant critiques of their validity and value. The give-and-take between embrace and critique led to the current pluralistic state in which spatial modeling stands alongside other methodologies as a well-used approach in health geography and a vibrant area of research endeavor. Researchers have long recognized that the processes impacting health and health care unfold in space and time, but the complexity and computing power needed to handle space-time data posed major barriers to spatiotemporal analysis.