The article presents the person and works of Georgy Voronoi (1868-1908), the inventor of an original method of diagrams, a student of the famous mathematician Andrey Markov. Georgy Voronoi graduated from the Department of Physics and Mathematics at the University of St. Petersburg, and subsequently worked as a professor of mathematics at the Imperial University of Warsaw. One of his students was the future outstanding Polish mathematician Wacław Sierpiński. In his brief lifetime G. Voronoi published several important scientific articles on number theory. In an almost 100 page paper in French published in 1908 he described a method of diagrams, or polygons, which became known as the method of Voronoi diagrams. In the digital age this method and its modifications found new applications. The entry “Voronoi” is getting more popular on the Internet, and the method of Voronoi diagrams and its modifications are widely described in handbooks and scientific articles. The article presents application of the method in the most popular computer programs from the Geographic Information System (GIS) group and presents examples of its usage in research on geographic space in various scientific disciplines.

Recently, due to Web 2.0 and neocartography, heat maps have become a popular map type for quick reading. Heat maps are graphical representations of geographic data density in the form of raster maps, elaborated by applying kernel density estimation with a given radius on point- or linear-input data. The aim of this study was to compare the usability of heat maps with different levels of generalization (defined by radii of 10, 20, 30, and 40 pixels) for basic map user tasks. A user study with 412 participants (16–20 years old, high school students) was carried out in order to compare heat maps that showed the same input data. The study was conducted in schools during geography or IT lessons. Objective (the correctness of the answer, response times) and subjective (response time self-assessment, task difficulty, preferences) metrics were measured. The results show that the smaller radius resulted in the higher correctness of the answers. A larger radius did not result in faster response times. The participants perceived the more generalized maps as easier to use, although this result did not match the performance metrics. Overall, we believe that heat maps, in given circumstances and appropriate design settings, can be considered an efficient method for spatial data presentation.

The article is dedicated to the phenomenon of spatial chaos in the suburban areas of Polish cities, which, due to uncontrolled scattering of buildings (urban sprawl), require urgent retrofitting. These activities should contribute to the gradual densification of buildings and the more frequent functioning of suburbanites in the local environment, close to the place of residence. The authors claim that the retrofitting of suburbs can be accomplished by impacting two dimensions of spatial chaos: limited pedestrian mobility around the place of residence (walkability) and low access to basic services. The article proposes a set of ten indicators and a synthetic index of spatial chaos that allow measuring the level of disorder in particular suburbs, and therefore on a smaller scale than a municipality, and at the same time refer to the features of the living environment typical of Polish suburbs. These indicators are a direct reference to the abovementioned dimensions of suburban spatial chaos and allow to estimate the degree of compactness of suburban settlements in its functional aspect. The research proved that the more sprawl-like features, the higher the level of spatial disorder.

The authors of the review aim to understand and assess cartographic Heat Maps’ (HM) designs, tools, and applications. The paper consists of two parts. First describes HM in the context of neocartography and map design by tackling such issues as definition, input data, methods of density determination and generalization, colour schemes, legend construction, and base maps. The second part assesses the range of 17 tools used for creating HM. Tools are divided into non-GIS tools (visualization tools and programming libraries) and GIS applications (desktop and webGIS). GIS desktop software has been selected due to its popularity and wide application. Paper presents an expert assessment of this software with the use of a research questionnaire. The analysis made it possible to develop a division of tools based on their embedding in computer programs and applications and taking into account the types of visualization. It also made it possible to indicate tools that can be used by both professional GIS users (e.g. analysts, cartographers) and the general public, including teachers using HM to visualize geo data for geography lessons. The limitation of the review was the analysis from the expert’s point of view. It would be desirable to include novices perspectives in future studies due to the wide demand for visualization.

The traditional understanding of geographical space as a given place seems to be insufficient nowadays. It should be analyzed in a wider context of social, cultural, economic and environmental aspects and even psychological and emotional factors should be considered. It means that tourism space/destination, which has mostly been treated as a geographical domain, should also be studied as a set of similar factors. In this respect, any tourism space/destination is characterized by complexity and multi-dimensionality, which generate an ontological question concerning its nature. Taking these considerations into account, a research problem related to the essence of tourism space/destination as well as the possibility of its development has been formulated. The problem is followed by the hypothesis that the development of tourism space/destination is measured by the achievement of the state of tourism sustainability. In the empirical part, a method to assess the development of tourism space/destination has been proposed.