Module 5 - Spatial Statistics

This week for Cartography class we delved into the world of spatial statistics. What a world! A lot of math functions that are vaguely familiar or completely impossible for me to understand. Luckily, at this stage I don't have to know all the in-depth math, just how it applies to exploring spatial data. Despite there being a lot of terminology and statistical mapping techniques that I had to skim over for now, I found this to be an enjoyable and interesting lab. I liked learning how different tools in ArcMap can help you visually discover spatial patterns and relationships within your data, as well as identify potential data errors or areas for further investigation-all of which help us in choosing an analysis method that best fits the characteristics of our data.

For this lab we used an ESRI virtual training module to walk us through the basic steps of spatial analysis. We looked at Histograms, QQ plots, and created a map looking at the spatial distribution of weather monitoring stations in Western Europe. Below is my map, using ESRI's provided data and spatial analysis tools in ArcMap to find the mean, median center, and directional distribution of the stations. In this map, these analysis tools show that the data is oriented in an east-west direction, fairly evenly distributed due to the mean center being about in the middle of the data, with a few more clusters to the south causing the median center to fall more in that direction. All of these visual tools help us to determine if the data is normally distributed (it is).

Map showing spatial analysis of weather monitoring stations in Western Europe, including mean center, median center, and directional distribution.