Deck 5: Spatial Data Exploration With Statistics

Question 1

Exploratory spatial data analysis is to

A) make inferences about a population from observations
B) analyse a sample, assuming that observations are spatially independent
C) test hypotheses
D) detect the patterns in the spatial data and suggest ideas for further investigation

Answer 1

D

Question 2

A sample taken from a population should

A) be representative of that population
B) be always evenly distributed across the study area
C) be always randomly selected
D) contain all members of the population

Answer 2

A

Question 3

Which of the following measures of central tendency identifies the centre of gravity of a spatial distribution?

A) central feature
B) mean centre
C) median centre
D) linear directional mean

Answer 3

B

Question 4

Which of the following measures of central tendency identifies the most accessible place or locates services and facilities in terms of accessibility?

A) central feature
B) mean centre
C) median centre
D) linear directional mean

Question 5

Linear directional mean identifies the general direction or orientation for a set of

A) point features
B) line features
C) polygon features
D) a combination of the above

Question 6

The standard deviational ellipse provides information about

A) the dispersion of features
B) the orientation of the distribution of the features
C) the core area of the distribution of the features
D) all of the above

Question 7

To answer the question of 'are gorals more dispersed than serows?', which of the following measures should be used?

A) mean centre
B) median centre
C) standard distance
D) linear directional mean

Question 8

To detect the directional trends of a disease outbreak in different seasons, which of the following measures should be used?

A) median centre
B) standard distance
C) standard deviational ellipse
D) linear directional mean

Question 9

Which of the following statements is incorrect?

A) The nearest neighbour statistic is independent of the size and shape of the study area.
B) The nearest neighbour statistic only relates to the distance between points, and does not account for other characteristics of the spatial arrangements of the points.
C) The nearest neighbour statistic only describes a spatial pattern in terms of the number of individual features in a given area.
D) The nearest neighbour statistic ignores spatial variations in feature attributes and spatial autocorrelation.

Question 10

When locations with similar values are nearby forming clusters, or features with similar attributes are concentrated in space,

A) the spatial pattern is in opposition to Tobler's first law of geography
B) the spatial pattern as a whole shows no spatial autocorrelation
C) the spatial pattern as a whole shows negative spatial autocorrelation
D) the spatial pattern as a whole shows positive spatial autocorrelation

Question 11

If the global Moran's I statistic < 0, then the spatial pattern shows

A) a tendency towards clustering
B) a random pattern
C) a tendency towards dispersion

Question 12

Local Moran's I statistic

A) produces the same result as the global Moran's I statistic does
B) is an application of the global Moran's I statistic at a local scale
C) is used to detect spatial clusters of features with high or low values and spatial outliers that may not show up when using the global Moran's I
D) is a z test statistic for detecting spatial clusters

Question 13

A positive G^*_i value indicates that

A) the feature is part of a spatial cluster of particularly high values
B) the feature is part of a spatial cluster of particularly low values
C) the feature is surrounded by features with low values
D) a) is correct when it is larger than the critical z value at a specific significance level

Question 14

Traditional simple or multiple regression assumes that

A) the relationships vary from location to location across a region
B) the relationships do not change from location to location across a region
C) the relationships are non-linear
D) the independent variables are correlated with each other

Question 15

Geographically weighted regression

A) estimates a linear regression equation at every data location with constant regression coefficients
B) estimates a non-linear regression equation at every data location with constant regression coefficients
C) estimates a linear regression equation at every data location with varying regression coefficients
D) estimates a non-linear regression equation at every data location with varying regression coefficients

Question 16

In geographically weighted regression, a local regression equation at a location is estimated through weighting all surrounding observations by a function of

A) distance from that location
B) distance between the observations
C) distance to the centre of the study area
D) distance to the mean centre of the observations