Research Article

ANALYSIS OF SELECTED SPATIAL

INTERPOLATION TECHNIQUES FOR RAINFALL
IJCRR
Section: General DATA
Science
Sci. Journal
Impact Factor
4.016
B. Mahalingam, Amin Noori Deldar, M. Vinay
Center for Geoinformatics, DOS in Geography, ManasagangothriUniversity of Mysore, Mysore.

ABSTRACT
Spatial interpolation techniques are used to find out the unknown places values using known location values. There are several
interpolation techniques available to predict the unknown area’s values, so it is necessary to find out, which is highly suitable
interpolation technique before conducting any study. Therefore the present study has been conducted to find out the suitable
interpolation technique for rainfall distribution of Mysore and Chamrajanagar districts using collected sample known location rain
gauge values. The study has been analyzed selected interpolation techniques such as, Inverse Distance Weighting, Kriging,
Natural Neighbor, Spline and Trend. The result of present study found that, Kriging Ordinary method is highly suitable more than
any other method followed by IDW and Kriging Universal.
Key Words: Interpolation, Rainfall variability, Spatial analysis, Mean square error

INTRODUCTION STUDY AREA

The study of spatial rainfall variation is very impor-
tant to classify the region to make any related decision.
Collecting continuous data of rainfall for any region
is practically not possible, which have been collecting
through random distance rain gauge stations. So it is
necessary to predict the entire area using collected-
known location data. The method interpolation has
been used to predict the values of unknown locations
using collected known location data. There are several
interpolation methods which have been used by the re-
searcher like spline, Kriging, trend, natural neighbour
and inverse distance weighting. The biggest question
among the researchers is to find out which is the suit-
able method for interpolate data. There have been sev-
eral discussions and researches conducted to find out
the best method of interpolation (Matthew 2008, Wu
Hao 2013, Sarann2013, Gour2013).The present study
also has been conducted to analysis the different inter-
polation techniques and find out the suitable method of
interpolation for rainfall data.
The study area is consisted of two main districts in south
of Karnataka state in India, which geographical area ex-
terns from latitude 110 34’ 5.87” to 120 37’ 54.8” and
latitude from 750 54’ 41.2” to 770 47’ 54.8”.The average
elevation of Chamrajanagar is 658.58 meter and Mysore
is 770 meterabove the meansea level. Agriculture is the
predominant occupation of both districts and monsoon
rainfall plays the major role in the production of agri-
cultural crops. According to Census of India 2011, the
population of Chamrajanagar is 1,020,791 and Mysore is
3,001,127. The collected thirty years of rainfall data for
study shows that, the average annual rainfall of Mysore
is 768.60 mm and Chamrajanagar is 823.45 mm. The
study area is surrounded by other districts of Karnataka
as well as by districts of other states, such as Tamil Nadu
and Kerala (Map: 1). The districts Mandya, Bangalore
rural, Hassan and Kodugu of Karnataka state cover the
North and East. The districts Dharmapuri, Salem, Erode
and Nilgiris belong to state of Tamil Nadu cover East and
South while the district Wayanad belongs to state of Ker-
ala covers South-West.

Corresponding Author:
Corresponding
B. Mahalingam,Author:
Center for Geoinformatics, DOS in Geography, ManasagangothriUniversity of Mysore, Mysore.
Anil Pawar, Assistant Professor, Department of Zoology, D.A.V. College for Girls, Yamunanagar (Haryana); Mobile:919467604205;
E-mail: mahabose@gmail.com
Email: sumanil27@yahoo.co.in
Received: 23.01.2015 Revised: 19.02.2015 Accepted: 15.03.2015
Received: 16.6.2014 Revised: 11.7.2014 Accepted: 29.7.2014

Int J Cur Res Rev | Vol 7 • Issue 7 • April 2015 66

 Mahalingam et. al.: Analysis of selected spatial interpolation techniques for rainfall data
MATERIALS AND METHODS
To find out the suitable method of interpolation for rain-
fall observation sample data, twenty rain gauge stations
from Chamrajanagar district and twelve rain gauge sta-
tions from Mysore district as well as one station from
Kodugu district has been selected, the reason for select-
ing a rain gauge station from Kodugu is its adjutancy to
Mysore district as well as availability of its long term data
(map: 1). Totally 33 rain gauge stations data have been
used for the study. To compare the predicted interpola-
tion results with the actual observation results, two rain
gauge stations from the total 33 have been chosen, one
from Mysore district and another from Chamrajanagar
district, based on the center feature analysis using dis-
tricts outer boundaries.
The mean annual rainfall of each rain gauge station has
been taken for the analysis, which has been found from
collected thirty years data (the mean value of each rain
gauge station is shown in Map:1). These mean value of
31 rain gauge stations used as input to predict the val-
ues of unknown locations, and selected two rain gauge
stations mean value have been used to compare the pre-
dicted results with actual values. Therefore the value of
31 rain gauge stations rainfall data have been used for
interpolation analysis and two rain gauge stations value
used to compare the predicted results.
Table 1: Inverse Distance Weighting
Mysore
Power Interpolation Result Actual Value
0.5 801.512 806.730
1 800.585 806.730
2 803.055 806.730
3 811.472 806.730
67
There are several interpolation methods whichhave
been studied by research community (Coulibaly 2007,
NazilaKhorsandi, 2012, Wisuwat Taesombat, 2009, Da-
vid W. Wong, 2004), to restricts the present study the
interpolation methods which is popularity used by the
Geographical Information System community has been
chosen, such as Inverse Distance Weighting (IDW), Krig-
ing, Natural Neighbor, Spline and Trend. The software
ArcGIS has been used to analysis different interpolation
methods and MS-Excel used to find out the mean square
error of predicted results with the actual values, which
further clearly interpreted using chart.
RESULT AND DISCUSSION
The interpolation of spatial data works based on the First
Law of Geography which is formulated by Waldo Tobler
(1970). The law states that “all the features on the earth
surface have relationship between one another but the
near features are having more relation than features
away”. There are different kinds of interpolations which
is mainly divided into two group such as deterministic
(IDW, Spline) and geo-statistics (Kriging). The result of
each interpolation method differs from one to another,
the detailed analysis of selected interpolation techniques
are discussed below.
Totally six major interpolation methods have been ana-
lyzed in the study, which is further classified into twenty
different sub-interpolation methods (Table 1-6). The
IDW interpolation method analyzed using four differ-
ent power values (0.5, 1, 2 and 3), and Kriging Ordinary
interpolation techniques analyzed using five different
semivariogram models (Spherical, Circular, Exponential,
Gaussian and Linear). The interpolation method Krig-
ing Universal has been done using two different meth-
ods (Linear with Linear Drift and Linear with Quadratic
Drift). Further the interpolation method Spline have
been created in two different methods (Regular and Ten-
sion) while the Trend interpolation has been created in
six polynomial (1 to 6) orders.
Actual - Interpolation (X) X^2 MSE (X ^2/31)
5.218 27.227 0.878
6.146 37.770 1.218
3.676 13.511 0.436
-4.741 22.481 0.725
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 Mahalingam et. al.: Analysis of selected spatial interpolation techniques for rainfall data

Table 1: (Continued)
Chamarajanagar
MSE (X
Power Interpolation Result Actual Value Actual - Interpolation (X) X^2
^2/31)
0.5 788.232 760.444 -27.788 772.165 24.909
1 768.482 760.444 -8.037 64.598 2.084
2 728.501 760.444 31.943 1020.377 32.915
3 704.389 760.444 56.056 3142.222 101.362

Table 2: Kriging (Ordinary)

Mysore
Semivariogram model Interpolation Actual Value Actual - Interpolation X^2 MSE
Result (X) (X ^2/31)
Spherical 805.419 806.730 1.311 1.719 0.055
Circular 807.043 806.730 -0.312 0.098 0.003
Exponential 797.415 806.730 9.316 86.780 2.799
Gaussian 787.153 806.730 19.577 383.263 12.363
Linear 803.003 806.730 3.727 13.891 0.448
Chamarajanagar
Semivariogram model Interpolation Result Actual Value Actual - Interpolation (X) X^2 MSE
(X ^2/31)
Spherical 753.735 760.444 6.710 45.018 1.452
Circular 753.880 760.444 6.564 43.090 1.390
Exponential 759.345 760.444 1.099 1.208 0.039
Gaussian 771.479 760.444 -11.035 121.764 3.928
Linear 761.457 760.444 -1.013 1.025 0.033

Table 3: Kriging (Universal)

Mysore

Method Interpolation Actual Value Actual - Interpola- X^2 MSE

Result tion (X) (X ^2/31)

Linear with Linear Drift 801.275 806.730 5.455 29.759 0.960

Linear with Quadratic Drift 757.193 806.730 49.537 2453.957 79.160

Chamarajanagar

Method Interpolation Actual Value Actual - Interpolation X^2 MSE

Result (X) (X ^2/31)

Linear with Linear Drift 802.336 760.444 -41.892 1754.928 56.611

Linear with Quadratic Drift 729.813 760.444 30.632 938.297 30.268

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 Mahalingam et. al.: Analysis of selected spatial interpolation techniques for rainfall data

Table 4: Natural Neighbor

Mysore
Method Interpolation Actual Value Actual - Interpolation X^2 MSE
Result (X) (X ^2/31)
Natural Neighbor 808.144 806.730 -1.413 1.998 0.064
Chamarajanagar
Method Interpolation Actual Value Actual - Interpolation X^2 MSE
Result (X) (X ^2/31)
Natural Neighbor 701.275 760.444 59.169 3501.013 112.936

Table 5: Spline
Mysore
Method Interpolation Actual Value Actual - Interpolation X^2 MSE
Result (X) (X ^2/31)
Regular 812.296 806.730 -5.566 30.982 0.999
Tension 812.938 806.730 -6.207 38.531 1.243
Chamarajanagar
Method Interpolation Actual Value Actual - Interpolation X^2 MSE
Result (X) (X ^2/31)
Regular 657.646 760.444 102.798 10567.521 340.888
Tension 682.258 760.444 78.187 6113.149 197.198

Table 6: Trend
Mysore
Polynomial Order Interpolation Actual Value Actual - Interpolation X^2 MSE
Result (X) (X ^2/31)
1 801.275 806.730 5.455 29.759 0.960
2 757.193 806.730 49.537 2453.957 79.160
3 776.477 806.730 30.253 915.233 29.524
4 720.867 806.730 85.864 7372.548 237.824
5 882.923 806.730 -76.192 5805.258 187.266
6 833.053 806.730 -26.323 692.909 22.352
Chamarajanagar
Polynomial Order Interpolation Actual Value Actual - Interpolation X^2 MSE
Result (X) (X ^2/31)
1 802.336 760.444 -41.892 1754.928 56.611
2 729.813 760.444 30.632 938.297 30.268
3 755.537 760.444 4.907 24.080 0.777
4 749.152 760.444 11.292 127.517 4.113
5 682.729 760.444 77.716 6039.699 194.829
6 622.464 760.444 137.980 19038.471 614.144

After the creation of each interpolation model using Arc-
GIS, the mean square error (MSE) of each interpolation
method have been found by comparing the predicted
values with the actual values. The result shows that, the
interpolation method Kriging Ordinary has predicted
more accuracy than other interpolation method for the
selected location. The semivariogram model Circular
predicts the mean location of Mysore with 0.003 MSE
while Linear predicts the mean location of Chamrajana-
gar with 0.033 MSE. The detailed mean square error of
each interpolation method is shown in table 1 to 6.

69 Int J Cur Res Rev | Vol 7 • Issue 7 • April 2015

 Mahalingam et. al.: Analysis of selected spatial interpolation techniques for rainfall data
The study also shows that, the interpolation method
Trend predicts very poorly than other selected models,
with the MSE of 237.842 for mean location of Mysore in
polynomial order 4 and with the MSE of 614.144 for the
mean location of Chamrajanagar in polynomial order 6.
Figure 1: Mean Square Error of Interpolation Models.
The fig: 1 shows the variation of mean square errors be-
tween selected interpolation methods. In the figure, X-
axis represents the methods of interpolation and Y-axis
represents the range of MSE. From the graph it is clear
that, Kriging Ordinary gives the higher accuracy than
other methods followed by IDW and Kriging Universal.
The MSE of spline and Natural Neighbor showless in
Mysore and high in Chamrajanagar, so it would not be
much suitable when interpolating vast area and MSE of
Trend shows higher than any other selected models.
CONCLUSION
The analysis of different interpolation techniques to find
out the suitable technique for the rainfall data shows
that, Kriging Ordinary method is highly suitable over any
other method followed by IDW and Kriging Universal.
Therefore the study suggests that based on the result, the
method Kriging Ordinary would be much suitable for in-
terpolating the rainfall data of any area which is similar
to the present study.
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