Cartographic Skills Module 5: Spatial Statistics

The map below was created while progressing through ESRI's online course, "Exploring Spatial Patterns in Your Data".  This exercise involved several tools from the Spatial Statistics toolbox in ArcMap.  After weeding through some cobwebs to recall my statistics education, I found this to be a fascinating way to visually show the mean center, median center, and directional distribution of the data.  Having this visual representation of the data is helpful in determining whether there are potential issues with the data set which can also be confirmed with additional analysis using some of the other tools in the Spatial Statistics toolbox.

Analysis of Data: Weather Stations in Western and Central Europe

While the creation of this map, the histogram, and the QQ plot were rather straightforward, I found the latter part of the online course to be far more foreign.  Additional work with Voronoi maps, semivariogram clouds, trend analysis, and the like will be necessary before I feel confident working with them.