Geospatial analysis techniques and digital mapping for music research

Maps help us make sense of people and landscapes around us. Music can do the same. Recent developments in digital mapping, geographical information systems and geospatial analysis, together with increased access to large, fine-resolution ‘geocoded’ datasets, are transforming environmental, social and economic research. Over the past decade, there has been a small, but growing application of these techniques within the fields of music making, music education and music research. This presentation will offer an overview of some of these developments as a whole. It will go on to offer specific examples of geospatial analysis techniques which, it is hoped, may be applicable to a wide range of music-related research fields. These will include location quotients, tests for spatial autocorrelation and distinct distributions, and geographically weighted regression. I will discuss how these techniques can be applied using open-source software and freely-available census, government and cartographic data.

Case study examples will be drawn from ongoing research exploring geographical, socio-economic and familial influences on young people’s ability to access instrumental music tuition. I will argue that geospatial techniques such as these can help us understand aspects of musical behaviour and highlight inequities in musical participation.

This presentation can be viewed on YouTube here: https://youtu.be/xUUZKsc2rUI?list=PLWeWxth3ChujkiGr3YM-kPhhwU5Mymhl3&t=1