Applied Spatial Data Analysis with R (Use R!)

This book addresses the needs of researchers and students using R to analyze spatial data across a range of disciplines and professions. The book is co-authored by a group involved in the Comprehensive R Archive Network.

Applied Spatial Data Analysis with R is divided into two basic parts, the first presenting R packages, functions, classes and methods for handling spatial data. This part is of interest to users who need to access and visualise spatial data. Data import and export for many file formats for spatial data are covered in detail, as is the interface between R and the open source GRASS GIS. The second part showcases more specialised kinds of spatial data analysis, including spatial point pattern analysis, interpolation and geostatistics, areal data analysis and disease mapping. The coverage of methods of spatial data analysis ranges from standard techniques to new developments, and the examples used are largely taken from the spatial statistics literature. All the examples can be run using R contributed packages available from the CRAN website, with code and additional data sets from the book's own website.

This book will be of interest to researchers who intend to use R to handle, visualise, and analyse spatial data. It will also be of interest to spatial data analysts who do not use R, but who are interested in practical aspects of implementing software for spatial data analysis. It is a suitable companion book for introductory spatial statistics courses and for applied methods courses in a wide range of subjects using spatial data, including human and physical geography, geographical information systems, the environmental sciences, ecology, public health and disease control, economics, public administration and political science.

The book has a website where coloured figures, complete code examples, data sets, and other support material may be found: http://www.asdar-book.org.

The authors have taken part in writing and maintaining software for spatial data handling and analysis with R in concert since 2003.

Roger Bivand is Professor of Geography in the Department of Economics at Norges Handelshøyskole, Bergen, Norway. Edzer Pebesma is Professor of Geoinformatics at Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität, Münster, Germany. Virgilio Gómez-Rubio is Research Associate in the Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom.