ARTICLES
SHUAI Fangmin, WANG Xinsheng, ZHU Chaoping, YU Ruilin, ZHANG Hong, SUN Yanling
2008, 10(1): 34-38.
The fractal dimensions,shape indices and compactness of the boundaries of 32 provinces(regions) of China have been calculated in this paper based on GIS software.The results show that the provinces with irregular shapes calculated with the method of fractal dimensions are provinces of Fujian,Zhejiang,Guangdong,Chongqing,Guizhou,etc.The provinces with regular shapes are in the order of Hainan,Xinjiang,Inner Mongolia,Tibet,Taiwan,Shanxi,etc.The provinces with large fractal dimensions are almost all located in southern China,which show obvious differences between the North and the South.The provinces with irregular shapes based on shape index come out as below: Hebei,Inner Mongolia,Shaanxi,Chongqing,Ningxia,and those with irregular shapes include Zhejiang,Guangxi,Hunan,Qinghai,Hainan and other provinces.Although no obvious differences can be shown the same as fractal results,yet some differences between the East and the West are identified.Those with irregular shapes based on compactness are in the order of Fujian,Gansu,Guangdong,Inner Mongolia,Chongqing,and other provinces with regular shapes are Shanghai,Xinjiang,Shanxi, Taiwan,Tibet and other provinces,which also show marked differences between the East and the West.Those with complex shapes(edge complex and greater fragmentation) are mostly concentrated in the eastern and coastal areas;and the other provinces with compact shapes are mainly concentrated in western regions,such as Xinjiang,Tibet,Qinghai.Between eastern provinces and western provinces,there are greater differences in the shape features.This paper studies the reasons and concludes that the root cause is the geographical and climate environment and historical human characteristics,and preliminarily analyzes the effects of the traffic,and other organizations impacted by the features.Meanwhile,the planar provincial outline can also reflect the transport connectivity and development level of inter-and intra-provinces.Quantitative study of the provincial space form is one of the important contents of research in regional geography and urban/regional planning.It is also an important direction of the regional research.