Category: Glossary

All terms in my glossary

Spatial statistics

Spatial statistics – meaning, description and approach

Spatial statistics is a statistical sub-branch. It is handling the problems with geographic distributions of the data. In addition this includes point patterns, aggregation on regional and lattice level and measurements on specific sites on the surface.

Approach

We start the analysis with definition of what information we need. The most convenient way is to frame a question. After that we need to understand our data – what type of data we have, what are the appropriate methods. The next step is to choose a method and process the data. In the end we look at the results and answer the question.

Remote sensing

Remote sensing – meaning, description and approach

Remote sensing is a process of acquiring information about physical objects through imagery and variety of sensors. It is a measurement of the electromagnetic properties of the surface of this objects without actual contact with them. We collect the imagery with satellites, aircraft and drones, while sensors we place in the study area and if possible to cover it all.

Approach

We can use this approach in variety of cases. It is especially relevant for monitoring weather, environmental control, land cover classification and urban analysis. In all cases we use either GIS or some open source platform for data management and analysis.

Georeferencing

Georeferencing of vector and raster layers in GIS – meaning, description and approach

Georeferencing will align different types of geographic information to a known geographic coordinate system. This allow to view the respective information together with another already georeferenced layers of information. The process include shifting, scaling, rotating, rectifying and etc. the data. In other words it provide geographical coordinate systems for all layers.

Step by step approach
  1. Coordinate system: Define the coordinate system of already referenced layers;
  2. Align the input information to the existing layers with already available geographic coordinate system;
  3. Upload the information in the database together with other layers.

Geographic information systems (GIS)

Geographic information systems (GIS) – abbreviation, meaning, description and benefits

A geographic information system (GIS) is information system including, software, hardware, data, databases, users and procedures necessary allowing users to collect, manage and also analyze geographic information. The biggest advantage of this information system is the opportunity to combine all types of information with geographic locations. As a result, it is possible to compute a lot of statistical procedures. This allow better understanding of geographic patterns and the significance level that they occur.

There are two key components of GIS – geographic data and users. Most of all, the users should be familiar with the software and procedures. This is important in order to upload information in the system and to perform its validation, georeferencing and describing.