The analysis of spatial distributions and the processes that produce and alter them is a central theme in geographic research and this volume is concerned with statistical methods for analyzing spatial distributions by measuring and testing for spatial autocorrelation. Spatial autocorrelation exists whenever a variable exhibits a regular pattern over space in which its values at a set of locations depend on values of the same variable at other locations. Spatial autocorrelation is present, for example, when similar values cluster together on a map. Spatial autocorrelation statistics make it possible to use formal statistical procedures to measure the dependence among nearby values in a spatial distribution, test hypotheses about geographically distributed variables, and develop statistical models of spatial patterns. Scientific Geography Series Editor: Grant Ian Thrall.https://researchrepository.wvu.edu/rri-web-book/1019/thumbnail.jp
