SHAPE INDICES: USEFUL MEASURES OR RED HERRINGS?

Abstract

Considerable attention has been devoted to shape analysis in geography with few fruitful results. We ask whether or not shape analysis is worth pursuing, referring to papers by Griffith and Lo. The methodology utilizes a two-step procedure. First, Lo's analysis is reconstructed to include indices reported in Griffith. Second, findings from the investigations are compared. Similar results are obtained from both studies, but the failure to extract any one-to-one correspondence between a shape and its associated index value(s) continues to cast doubt on the utility for subsequent studies.