Geographic Information Analysis: Using Spatial Data to Display, Manipulate, and Analyze

Over the past few decades, the amount and variety of freely available spatial data has increased dramatically, allowing researchers to leverage this information within a Geographic Information System (GIS) to examine and explore problems and research questions that were previously unimaginable. Spatial data can be considered special in that the observations are georeferenced to locations on Earth’s surface, and the nature of spatial data requires a special set of tools to display, manipulate, and analyze this information. While GIS software provides these tools, the analyst must also possess the specialized skills required to convert spatial data into useful geographic information. Geographic information analysis takes this idea one step further by integrating geographic information, subject matter expertise, GIS-based analysis, and statistical analysis together within the larger endeavor of conducting scientific research.