Arc-Mat, a toolbox for using ArcView shape files for spatial econometrics and statistics

Abstract

The ability to use statistical functionality for spatial modeling and analysis in conjunction with a mapping interface in the same environment has received a great deal of attention in the spatial analysis literature. We demonstrate the feasibility of extracting map polygon and database information from ESRI's ArcView shape files for use in statistical software environments. Specifically, we show that information containing map polygons can be used in these environments to produce high quality mapping functionality. Improvements in recent computer graphics hardware and software allow basic plotting functionality that is part of statistical software environments to produce mapping functionality based on the high quality ArcView map polygons. © Springer-Verlag 2004.