ESPON HyperAtlas

Theme

Tools for territorial analysis.

Thematic scope

The ESPON HyperAtlas tool has been initially elaborated for ESPON 2006 (under Project 3.1 and subsidiary contracts). The ESPON HyperAtlas has shown to be a useful tool for people working or interested in the topic of European territorial development. Both the European Parliament and the European Environmental Agency have shown user interest. This was a good reason to further develop this tool and incorporate new functionalities.

The ESPON HyperAtlas tool is based on the statement that statistical observations of the territory are complex. Any representation, directly linked to a specific objective, is the result of a combination of different choices relative to the territories and geographical scales, and the statistical indicators. This means that in order to evaluate a situation of a given territorial unit one has to take into account its relative situation and localisation. The ESPON HyperAtlas uses a methodology, Multiscalar Territorial Analysis, which on the one hand gives the opportunity to derive several indicators on the basis of the ratio of two initial geographical indices according to different spatial contexts and on the other hand allows the analysis and visualisation of a spatial phenomenon taking into account its multiple possible representations.

In practical terms, this means that one can map the deviations of a certain region for a specific phenomenon to three different levels: European or a specific value, medium (NUTS 0, 1 and 2) and local (contiguity and units less than 2, 4, 6 or 8 hours by car).The phenomena that can be mapped and analysed range from population density to (un)employment rate and productivity.

Please read more about the main research areas and main results envisaged on the next page.

Lead Institution

Université Joseph Fourier Grenoble (LIG laboratory), France
Contact: Jérôme Gensel
E-mail: jerome.gensel@imag.fr

Budget: € 74.937,00

Project’s lifetime: February 2010 – February 2011

Delivery of Reports
Inception Report: 31 August 2010
Draft Final Report: 31 December 2010
Final Report: 28 February 2011

Publishing
Reports will be published once they are approved by the ESPON Monitoring Committee

More information
Please contact the Project Expert at the ESPON Coordination Unit:
Marjan VAN HERWIJNEN, e-mail: marjan.vanherwijnen@espon.eu