Spatial Statistics
Measure the pattern instead of eyeballing the map.
A map of points always looks clustered, because population is clustered. Spatial statistics is the set of tools that tell you whether a pattern is more clustered than chance would produce, and where. These guides run from the question that undermines all of them — the modifiable areal unit problem — through density surfaces, hexagonal binning, DBSCAN, spatial weights, Moran's I and Getis-Ord hotspots, with the parameter choices that decide the answer made explicit rather than left on their defaults.
The first guide is the one people skip and the one that matters most: the modifiable areal unit problem is why the same points produce different answers depending on the zones somebody drew. Everything after it — density, clustering, autocorrelation, hotspots — is a number that inherits that choice.
Start here
The cornerstone guide — the whole workflow end to end. Everything after it goes deeper into one part of it.
Step 1 The Modifiable Areal Unit Problem Explained modifiable areal unit problem Begin the path →The full path, in order
The concepts underneath the work, then each task, then the errors that task produces. Work down, or jump to the step you need.
- Kernel Density Explained: What a Heatmap Actually Shows kernel density explained 🧭 Concept
- How to Make a Point Density Heatmap in Python point density heatmap python ⚙️ How-To
- Your Heatmap Looks Wrong: KDE Bandwidth and Cell Size kde bandwidth wrong 🔧 Fix
- How to Bin Points into Hexagons in Python hexbin points python ⚙️ How-To
- Spatial Clustering Explained: DBSCAN, K-Means and What They Assume spatial clustering explained 🧭 Concept
- How to Cluster Points by Location with DBSCAN in Python dbscan spatial clustering python ⚙️ How-To
- DBSCAN Returns One Giant Cluster or Labels Everything Noise dbscan one cluster 🔧 Fix
- How to Build a Distance Matrix Between Two Layers in Python distance matrix geopandas ⚙️ How-To
- Spatial Autocorrelation Explained spatial autocorrelation explained 🧭 Concept
- How to Calculate Moran's I in Python morans i python ⚙️ How-To
- Spatial Weights Warn About Islands or Moran's I Returns nan spatial weights islands warning 🔧 Fix
- How to Find Hotspots with Getis-Ord Gi* in Python getis ord hotspot python ⚙️ How-To
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