Location and geometric form constitute a fundamental basis for the characterization of objects in space. The traditional distance-based geographical analysis of objects, however, usually ignores information associated with their forms. In this article, we propose a location-and-form-based distance to simultaneously take into account these basic characteristics. For substantiation, the significance of the proposed distance is examined with respect to its methodological contributions and applicability. In terms of methodology, we use pattern analysis by the L statistic as an example to show the form effect on the conventional geographical analysis, which is based solely on the location-based distance, and show how to generalize point distance–based analyses to the analysis of objects with forms. With respect to applicability, we demonstrate the capability of our proposed distance in improving the performance of matching buildings in OpenStreetMap and the corresponding standard reference of an area. It is also applicable to other real-life problems in which object forms are involved. Generally, the location-and-form-based distance and the associated methods can give us a new perspective on the conceptualization of distance. The proposed distance can be further extended to include other object attributes to study spatial relationships of objects based on a general notion of distance. Therefore, the proposed distance is a powerful concept that can comprehensively reveal the multifaceted nature of geographical relationships. This study advances the frontier of theoretical and applied research in geography where distance plays an important role.

位置和几何形式构成了空间物体表征的基本基础。但是，传统的基于距离的对象地理分析通常会忽略与其形式相关的信息。在本文中，我们提出了一种基于位置和形式的距离，以同时考虑这些基本特征。为了证实这一点，我们从方法论的贡献和适用性方面研究了建议的距离的重要性。在方法论上，我们使用了L的模式分析以统计为例，以显示形式对常规地理分析的影响，该分析仅基于基于位置的距离，并说明如何将基于点距离的分析推广到具有形式的对象分析中。关于适用性，我们证明了我们提出的距离在改善OpenStreetMap中匹配建筑物的性能以及相应区域标准参考的能力。它也适用于涉及对象形式的其他现实问题。通常，基于位置和形式的距离以及相关的方法可以为我们提供距离概念的新视角。提议的距离可以进一步扩展为包括其他对象属性，以基于距离的一般概念来研究对象的空间关系。所以，提议的距离是一个强大的概念，可以全面揭示地理关系的多面性。这项研究推动了地理学理论和应用研究的前沿，而距离在地理学中起着重要的作用。