SPATIAL ANALYSIS EXAM QUESTIONS AND
ANSWERS RECENTLY UPDATED
Geography - ANSWER Integrative Spatial Science
Explains and predicts spatial distribution and variation of human activity and
physical features
Traditonal questions of geography - ANSWER Where? Why? What can we do
about it?
Statistics - ANSWER collection, classification, presentation and analysis of
numerical data
Common use of statistics - ANSWER Describe and summarize data
Generalizations about complex spatial patterns
Estimate likelihood or probability of outcome of an event at a location
Use sample (limited geographic data) to make inferences about population
(larger geographic data)
Determine if the magnitude or frequency of phenomena differs from one
location to another
Confirm that actual spatial pattern matches some expected pattern
Descriptive Statistics - ANSWER provides summaries/numerical description of
data
Summarize characteristics of variable in data set
Center, dispersion
Lose data details but presents concise representation
Inferential Statistics - ANSWER Create and test hypothesis about a statistical
population based on information obtained from a sample of that population
Primary data - ANSWER acquired from the original source
In situ or "in the field"
, secondary data - ANSWER collected by an organization or government agency
Processed/organized - accessible and formatted
Less time and expense
Often comprehensive
US Census data, Missouri land use, USGS NHD
Potential issues/errors
Improperly collected/summarized
Out of date as soon as it is measured
explicitly spatial - ANSWER locations or placement of the observations or
units of data are themselves directly analyzed
Spatial statistics: examine patterns for randomness
Example, diseased trees in National Forest
Clustered or randomly distributed
implicitly spatial - ANSWER observations or units of data represent locations
or places, but the locations themselves are not directly analyzed
Example, relationship between house values and age
Neighborhood not individual locational pattern
ecological fallacy - ANSWER invalid transfer of conclusions from spatially
aggregated analysis to smaller areas or individual level
Transfer results or apply conclusions down
Example, median income in a county is low - people from said county are poor
discrete variable - ANSWER some restriction placed on the values a variable
can assume
Results from counting or tabulating the number of items (whole integer)
Example, number of households, number of active volcanos
continuous variable - ANSWER infinitely large number of possible values
along some interval of a real number line
Result from measurement - values expressed as decimals
Example, precipitation, area in forest, commute time
ordinal-weak - ANSWER - values are placed in categories and resulting
categories are ranked
ANSWERS RECENTLY UPDATED
Geography - ANSWER Integrative Spatial Science
Explains and predicts spatial distribution and variation of human activity and
physical features
Traditonal questions of geography - ANSWER Where? Why? What can we do
about it?
Statistics - ANSWER collection, classification, presentation and analysis of
numerical data
Common use of statistics - ANSWER Describe and summarize data
Generalizations about complex spatial patterns
Estimate likelihood or probability of outcome of an event at a location
Use sample (limited geographic data) to make inferences about population
(larger geographic data)
Determine if the magnitude or frequency of phenomena differs from one
location to another
Confirm that actual spatial pattern matches some expected pattern
Descriptive Statistics - ANSWER provides summaries/numerical description of
data
Summarize characteristics of variable in data set
Center, dispersion
Lose data details but presents concise representation
Inferential Statistics - ANSWER Create and test hypothesis about a statistical
population based on information obtained from a sample of that population
Primary data - ANSWER acquired from the original source
In situ or "in the field"
, secondary data - ANSWER collected by an organization or government agency
Processed/organized - accessible and formatted
Less time and expense
Often comprehensive
US Census data, Missouri land use, USGS NHD
Potential issues/errors
Improperly collected/summarized
Out of date as soon as it is measured
explicitly spatial - ANSWER locations or placement of the observations or
units of data are themselves directly analyzed
Spatial statistics: examine patterns for randomness
Example, diseased trees in National Forest
Clustered or randomly distributed
implicitly spatial - ANSWER observations or units of data represent locations
or places, but the locations themselves are not directly analyzed
Example, relationship between house values and age
Neighborhood not individual locational pattern
ecological fallacy - ANSWER invalid transfer of conclusions from spatially
aggregated analysis to smaller areas or individual level
Transfer results or apply conclusions down
Example, median income in a county is low - people from said county are poor
discrete variable - ANSWER some restriction placed on the values a variable
can assume
Results from counting or tabulating the number of items (whole integer)
Example, number of households, number of active volcanos
continuous variable - ANSWER infinitely large number of possible values
along some interval of a real number line
Result from measurement - values expressed as decimals
Example, precipitation, area in forest, commute time
ordinal-weak - ANSWER - values are placed in categories and resulting
categories are ranked
