The Methodological Contribution of the New Geographic Technologies to the Study of International Migration

Petru Daniel MĂRAN1
1 Babeş-Bolyai University, Faculty of Geography, Cluj-Napoca, ROMANIA
E-mail: petremaran@yahoo.fr
Pages: 109-114

Abstract. Migration in general and especially the international economic migration is a factor of vulnerability affecting the rural mountain regions. Geography brings a significant contribution to the understanding of the phenomenon of migration and the geo-technologies allow complex quantitative analysis, highlighting the causes and consequences of migration to and from the rural regions. The present study aims to propose a working methodology for the spatial analysis of the phenomenon of migration in the regions of origin and destination of the migration flows. The proposed research methodology is illustrated by applying it to the two geographical regions studied: the Historical Maramureş (Romania) and Castilla la Mancha (Spain). The Geographical Information Systems analysis allows the outlining of the proposed responses to a series of questions on the origin of migration, dispersal, dynamics and impact of these flows on the geographical space. The technology used is ArcGIS Desktop, one of the most comprehensive Geographical Informational System platforms, which facilitates the spatial database, data representation and geostatistical analyses. The spatial models resulted allow a better understanding of the migration trends and answer the questions generated by the complex social and economic phenomena from the rural space.

K e y w o r d s: international migration, geodatabase, GIS, spatial analysis