Statistics do sweat: Situated messiness and spatial science

The information, practices and views in this article are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG). © 2019 Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers). David Livingstone's The Geographical Tradition remains a landmark in geographic historiography. This commentary argues that Livingstone contravened his own methodology when discussing geography's spatial science era. After situating the book in its own spatiotemporal context, I suggest elements that could enrich a contemporary account of the spatial science era sensitive to Livingstone's methodological approach.