Spatial data and statistical methods: A chronological overview

Abstract

We review some of the special properties of spatial data and the ways in which these have influenced developments in spatial data analysis. We adopt a historical perspective beginning in the early twentieth century before moving to the development of spatial autocorrelation statistics in geography’s Quantitative Revolution. Phases of development after the Quantitative Revolution are divided into emergence of spatial econometrics, the development of exploratory methods for spatial data analysis, and local statistics for handling heterogeneity. We then consider more recent advances in the areas of spatial data mining, the “new” geostatistics, and Bayesian hierarchical statistical modeling of spatial data.