Spatial Mathematics, Theory and Practice through Mapping, S.L. Arlinghaus, J.J. Kerski, CRC Press/Taylor & Francis, London (2013), 300 pp. ISBN: 978-1-4665-0532-2

This book addresses mathematics related to spatial problems. It aims to build bridges between mathematics and geography. For this purpose it uses ArcGIS as a geographical information system. The topic is interesting for various reasons. First, there is a visualization issue. Mathematicians deal with dimensions in many ways: analytical mathematics is either dimensionless, uses n dimensions or an infinite number of dimensions. A restriction to two (or three) dimensions has its own asset: it helps to visualize the high dimensional concepts in two (or three) dimensions, and then abstraction towards more dimensions is straightforward. Visualization, therefore, is critical when illustrating or explaining important concepts. Second, from a geographical point of view there is an increasing need to support visual impressions and concepts by solid mathematical procedures. Geographical concepts are often expressed in broad and general terms, where a precise description may be beneficial. Here, mathematics has a role to play.