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Abstract
The statistical analysis of rural change is traditionally based on classifications
of administrative regions, like municipalities or provinces. These classifications
do not allow fine-grained interregional analysis of rural change. Especially
in sparsely-populated countries, like Finland, the border between rural and
urban areas is often fuzzy, which means that rural elements may be found within
administratively urban municipalities. This paper presents a GIS-based approach
for analysis of changes in rural population and industries. The data employed is
based on 1 x 1 km inhabited grid cells defined by base map coordinates, allowing
for a flexible analysis of rural change independent from administrative borders.