Basics of spatial statistics

EG1106: GI, a primer

12th November 2004
Topics
 Introduction
 The study of spatial statistics
 Some basic definitions
 Types of spatial data
 Methods of spatial analysis
 Practical Today
Introduction
 Don’t be put off by the word ‘statistics”
 As geographers (or environmental
scientists) we are inherently interested
in the spatial dependency of physical
and/or human characteristics
 We need to quantify the magnitude of
this spatial dependency to understand it
The study of spatial statistics
 SS is an area of study which has developed
out of real-world problems
 SS is a set of methods that are applied to
data that are spatially correlated
 Most SS methods operate on the premise
that “data collected over a region in space
found more close together are more highly
correlated with each other than points further
apart” (Cressie, 1991)
The study of spatial statistics
 Underlying SS and spatial modelling is
a coordinate space that enables
measurements of distances and
bearings between points according to
formulas and functions
 This model of space is known as
Euclidean space
 A 2-D model utilises a Euclidian plane
Some basic definitions
 Regionalised variable: any variable
distributed in space is said to be
regionalised. Examples are:
 Price of gold in NYSE (1 dimension)
 Monthly rainfall (2 dimensions)
 Ozone conc. in atm. (3 dimensions)
Some basic definitions
 Random function: a type of
regionalised variable which has both
random and structured spatial
characteristics
 E.g. movement of people (moving
home)
Types of spatial data
 Geostatistical data: data from a
random process where our variable
(e.g. magnesium concentration) can be
measured at any point (coordinate) over
a fixed area or surface (for example a
field)
Methods of spatial analysis
 Linear interpolation: based on inverse-
distance weighting

Known Interpolated Known

20 10 0

 Does not account for variability in the

data due to errors or assumptions
Methods of spatial analysis
 Kriging: method attempts to model the
variability in the data as a function of
distance, through a variogram
 A variogram is a function which
summarises the strength of association
between responses as a function of
distance, and possibly direction
Methods of spatial analysis
 Not all variables are suitable for point to
surface interpolation
 Temperature
 Rainfall
 Drainage and hydrology
 Population
 Etc…
Methods of spatial analysis
 We typically assume that the degree of
spatial correlation does not depend on
where a pair of observations is located,
but rather the distance between the two
observations
 When estimating a surface from point
values, kriging is a better approach than
simple linear interpolation
Methods of spatial analysis
 One powerful means of testing an assumed
degree of pattern existence (clustering or
scattering) is to use a quadrat analysis
 We can select small sub-regions at random
and sample the distribution of points within
that test region
 We compare the distance between points
against a randomly distributed field pattern
Randomly distributed field of points
Randomly distributed field of points - sampled
Sample point distribution
Test distribution 1
Test distribution 2
Regular pattern
Methods of spatial analysis
 One of the best ways of examining point
patterns is to produce a frequency
distribution of counts (of the events or
cases) within a particular quadrat area
 Distances between points within the
area and their frequency distribution can
be used to objectively test for
randomness, clustering or order
Methods of spatial analysis
 The science of spatial analysis can be quite
complex
 Be aware not only of concepts of scale and
distance - but also of geographic patterns
 SS has MANY practical uses - e.g. How could
you objectively test if incidences of cancer
were anomalous around a nuclear power
station?
Science Direct References
 The geographic distribution of Parkinson's disease mortality in the United
States, Journal of the Neurological Sciences, Volume 150, Issue 1, 1
September 1997, Pages 63-70
Douglas J. Lanska
 Geostatistical and GIS analyses on soil organic carbon concentrations in
grassland of southeastern Ireland from two different periods, Geoderma, In
Press, Corrected Proof, Available online 24 September 2003,
Chaosheng Zhang and David McGrath
 Species diversity and spatial distribution of enchytraeid communities in
forest soils: effects of habitat characteristics and heavy metal
contamination, Applied Soil Ecology, Volume 23, Issue 3, July 2003, Pages
187-198
Pawe Kapusta, ukasz Sobczyk, Anna Ro en and January Weiner
Practical Today

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