Lecture Notes on Spatial Data Analysis (12 hours)

Spatial Analysis

Spatial analysis involves examining the location, attributes, and relationships of features
in spatial data. It allows users to gain insights into geographical patterns, trends, and
relationships. Spatial analysis is crucial in decision-making processes related to land use
planning, resource management, environmental monitoring, and transportation
planning.

• Types of Spatial Analysis:

1. Descriptive Analysis: Describes patterns, trends, and distributions of

geographic features.

2. Predictive Analysis: Forecasts future trends based on historical data.

3. Prescriptive Analysis: Recommends actions based on the results of

predictive models.

• Applications of Spatial Analysis:

✓ Urban planning (e.g., determining suitable locations for schools or parks).

✓ Environmental studies (e.g., monitoring deforestation or habitat loss).

✓ Public health (e.g., analyzing disease spread or pollution exposure).

Example:

• Analyzing the distribution of tree cover in a city to determine areas in need of

reforestation.

Spatial Join and Spatial Relate

Spatial join and spatial relate are two methods used to combine spatial and attribute
data from different layers based on spatial relationships between features.

• Spatial Join: Combines two spatial datasets based on their spatial relationships,
like proximity or containment.

✓ Example: Joining a "Schools" dataset to a "District Boundaries" dataset to

identify which district each school belongs to.
 • Spatial Relate: Similar to spatial join but allows for more complex relationships
between features (e.g., overlap, proximity, containment).

✓ Example: Relating hospitals to regions based on the proximity of hospitals

to residential areas.

• Key Differences:

✓ Spatial Join: Directly combines datasets based on their spatial overlap or

proximity.

✓ Spatial Relate: Allows for more flexible relationships (e.g., determining if

a point is within a polygon or within a certain distance).

Vector Overlay Operations (Point-in-Polygon, Line-in-Polygon, Polygon-in-Polygon)

Vector overlay operations combine two or more vector datasets to analyze their spatial
relationships. These operations are fundamental to spatial analysis and are frequently
used in GIS.

• Point-in-Polygon: Determines whether a point (e.g., a city) is located inside a

polygon (e.g., a country boundary).

✓ Example: Identifying which country a particular city belongs to.

• Line-in-Polygon: Determines whether a line (e.g., a road) intersects or lies within

a polygon (e.g., a park boundary).

✓ Example: Analyzing which roads pass through a protected area.

• Polygon-in-Polygon: Analyzes the relationship between two polygons. It can be

used to identify areas of overlap or containment.

✓ Example: Identifying which land parcels are within a specific zoning

district.

Example:

• Performing a point-in-polygon operation to check if certain environmental

monitoring stations fall within protected forest areas.

6.4 Raster Analysis

Raster analysis involves analyzing raster data (grids of pixels) to derive information.
Raster data is useful for analyzing continuous data, such as elevation, temperature, or
land cover.

• Single Layer Analysis:

✓ Classification: Grouping raster values into discrete categories based on

certain thresholds or criteria.

▪ Example: Classifying land cover types based on satellite imagery

(e.g., water, forest, urban areas).

✓ Reclassification: Modifying the values in a raster to categorize or

transform data.

▪ Example: Reclassifying a land use map to simplify it into urban,

agricultural, and natural categories.

• Multiple Layer Analysis: Involves analyzing more than one raster layer to derive
new insights.

✓ Example: Overlaying layers of rainfall, temperature, and soil type to predict

agricultural yields.

• Raster Overlay: Combining multiple raster layers to perform spatial operations

like summing, averaging, or comparing values across layers.

✓ Example: Combining soil fertility data with rainfall data to identify optimal
agricultural zones.
Measuring Distance and Length (Euclidean Distance, Manhattan Distance)

Measuring Area and Perimeter

Measuring area and perimeter are fundamental spatial operations, especially in land
management and urban planning.

• Area: The total size or extent of a polygonal feature (e.g., a park or lake).

✓ Example: Calculating the area of a forest reserve for conservation

purposes.

• Perimeter: The total length of the boundary of a polygonal feature.

✓ Example: Measuring the perimeter of a coastal island for environmental

impact analysis.

Proximity Analysis (Vector and Raster Buffer)

Proximity analysis involves analyzing the proximity between features. It is often used in
decision-making to understand the impacts of spatial features relative to one another.

• Vector Buffer: A buffer is a zone of a specified distance around a feature (point,

line, or polygon).

✓ Example: Creating a buffer around a river to analyze areas susceptible to

flooding.

• Raster Buffer: Similar to vector buffers but applied to raster data. It involves
creating a buffer around pixel values within a raster.
 ✓ Example: Creating a raster buffer around areas with high pollution levels
to identify affected regions.

Pattern Analysis (Cluster Detection, Measure of Density and Dispersion, Seek

Computation)

Pattern analysis helps in detecting spatial patterns, clustering, or distribution trends

within data.

• Cluster Detection: Identifies regions where features are clustered together more
than would be expected by chance.

✓ Example: Identifying clusters of disease outbreaks or crime incidents

within a city.

• Measure of Density and Dispersion: Analyzes how features are distributed

across an area, measuring their concentration or spread.

✓ Example: Calculating the population density of different urban zones.

• Seek Computation: Identifying the locations of features that meet specific spatial
criteria or conditions.

✓ Example: Identifying areas with a high concentration of parks or schools.

Spatial Interpolation (Thiessen Polygon, Nearest Neighbor (NN), Inverse Distance

Weighting (IDW), Spline, Kriging)

Spatial interpolation is the process of estimating unknown values at certain locations

based on known values at surrounding locations.

• Thiessen Polygon: Divides the space into regions based on proximity to known
points, assigning all locations in a polygon to the nearest point.

✓ Example: Estimating rainfall in areas where no measurements are

available using surrounding weather stations.

• Nearest Neighbor (NN): Assigns the value of the nearest known point to
unknown locations.

✓ Example: Estimating population density for regions lacking census data.

 • Inverse Distance Weighting (IDW): Weighs surrounding data points by their
distance, with closer points given more influence.

✓ Example: Estimating air quality in areas without monitoring stations.

• Spline: Uses mathematical functions to create a smooth surface through known

points, minimizing overall surface curvature.

✓ Example: Modeling the terrain surface based on elevation points.

• Kriging: A more advanced interpolation method that considers both the distance
and the spatial correlation of data points, often used for geostatistical data.

✓ Example: Estimating mineral concentrations in soil samples.

Map Calculations (Raster Calculator, Zonal Statistics)

• Raster Calculator: A tool used for performing mathematical calculations on raster

datasets, allowing users to manipulate pixel values based on various formulas.

✓ Example: Calculating the vegetation index by combining red and infrared

bands from satellite imagery.

• Zonal Statistics: Calculates statistics (e.g., mean, sum, maximum) for raster cells
within specific zones defined by a vector layer (e.g., within administrative
boundaries).

✓ Example: Calculating the average elevation within different land use zones.

Network Analysis (Geocoding, Types of Networks – Undirected and Directed

Networks, Linear Referencing)

Network analysis is used to analyze the connectivity and flow within transportation,
utility, or communication networks.

• Geocoding: The process of converting addresses or place names into geographic

coordinates (latitude, longitude).

✓ Example: Geocoding a list of customer addresses to plot on a map.

• Types of Networks:
 ✓ Undirected Networks: Networks where movement can occur in both
directions (e.g., road networks without one-way restrictions).

✓ Directed Networks: Networks where movement is constrained to one

direction (e.g., one-way streets or flow of electricity).

• Linear Referencing: A method of locating features along a linear network, often

used in transportation planning or infrastructure analysis.

✓ Example: Locating incidents or assets along highways using mile markers

or other reference points.

Example:

• Analyzing the most efficient routes for deliveries using a network analysis of road
networks with geocoding for address location.

Conclusion

➢ Spatial data analysis is a powerful set of techniques for understanding geographic

data and making informed decisions.
➢ From basic operations like distance and area measurement to more complex
techniques like spatial interpolation and network analysis, spatial analysis tools
provide valuable insights for diverse applications, including urban planning,
environmental management, public health, and transportation optimization.