This book characterizes and investigates large relational networks via a family of stochastic network models based on the spatial layout of actors, which applies to the analysis of relational structures in large, spatially embedded populations. In addition to exploring some basic properties of these models, this text introduces a number of space-related measures of macrostructure that can be employed to aid in the characterization and investigation of these networks. Finally, this volume demonstrates the use of these measures on sample population distributions under empirically-calibrated spatial models, and presents some suggestions for additional investigations using simulation analysis. The result is a general theoretical and methodological framework for the treatment of large, spatially embedded social networks. This framework should be of value both in studying the effects of spatial macrostructure on other phenomena of social scientific interest (e.g., migration, information transfer, cultural diffusion, stratification) and in understanding the determinants of macrostructure itself. As such, the book is a must read for researchers who want to work with spatial network models.

Carter T. Butts is Chancellor's professor in the Departments of Sociology, Statistics, Computer Science, and EECS and a member of the Institute for Mathematical Behavioral Sciences and Calit2 at the University of California, Irvine, USA. His research focuses on Social and Biological Networks, Computational and Statistical Methodology, Molecular Biophysics, and Human Judgment and Decision Making.

Zack W. Almquist is a Professor in the Department of Sociology, an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Statistics, a Senior Data Science Fellow in the eScience Institute, a Faculty Fellow at the Center for an Informed Public, and an affiliate of the Center for Statistics and the Social Sciences (CSSS) and the Center for Studies in Demography and Ecology (CSDE) at the University of Washington, USA. His research develops and applies mathematical, computational, and statistical methods to social networks, demography, homelessness, and environmental governance.