Richard Healey
Buckingham Building, Lion Terrace, Portsmouth, Hants, PO1 3HE
Room: 2.15
Telephone : +44 (0) 23 92 84 2487
Fax: +44 (0) 23 92 84 2512
Email: Richard.Healey@port.ac.uk
Position
Professor of GeographyResearch Interests
- Historical GIS - use of GIS and visualisation methods for the development and analysis of large spatio-temporal databases of regional economic development; Internet-based historical GIS data resources; simulation modelling of regional development
- Historical regional dynamics - economic development of the North-East United States 1850-1900 with particular reference to the coal mining, iron and railroad industries
- GIS - use of parallel processing and database methods within a GIS framework; Internet map and database server technologies; interfacing of GIS and environmental modelling techniques using object-oriented methods; environmental applications of GIS
Profile
MA, PhD University of Cambridge
Taught at University of Edinburgh 1980-1995; Co-Director of ESRC Regional Research Laboratory for Scotland
University of Portsmouth 1995-
Co-ordinator of the GIS Research Group
Course Director, MSc in GIS, MSc in Historical Landscape Change
Current Projects
- Development of an Historical GIS of industrial development in the North-East United States. Major work has been completed to date on the railroad network of the Middle Atlantic States and the mining industry in the Northern Anthracite coal field of Pennsylvania. Work on the iron industry of the United States in the 1850?s is nearing completion, based on the Lesley industrial directory of 1859. This last study is being undertaken in collaboration with Dr. Anne Knowles of Wellesley College, Mass.
- Analysis of the relationship between business cycle changes, mining investment and corporate decision-making by railroad companies in the anthracite coal fields from the end of the Civil War to the 1902 coal strike. This study utilises the historical GIS but is based on a very wide range of both quantitative and qualitative archival sources.
- Implementation of a web-based interface to the Historical GIS using state-of-the-art ORACLE database webserver tools and ESRI Internet Map Server technology. This interface also provides access to bibliographical data on 19th century US economic development.
- GIS and Environmental Modelling ? this project is a collaboration between the GIS and Environmental Research Groups and my interests concentrate particularly on technical areas of software interfacing and the use of object-oriented simulation methods. A related application area is the use of GIS for the monitoring and forecasting of locust swarm movements. This latter work is being undertaken in collaboration with the University of Greenwich.
Potential PhD topics
- Historical GIS as a framework for regional economic analysis
- The growth of the cotton textile industry of New England in the 19th century
- Railroads and urban growth in the N.E. United States before 1900
- Use of the Internet for the dissemination and visualisation of historical geo-information
- Database methods in GIS
- Object-oriented simulation and GIS
- Environmental applications of GIS
