"Spatial Analysis"
Spatial analysis refers to the formal techniques used in various fields of research which study entities using their topological, geometric, or geographic properties.The history of spatial analysis starts with early mapping, surveying and geography at the begining of history but the formal techniques of analysis arose principally in the later part of the twentieth century. Modern spatial anlysis focuses on computer based techniques due, in part, to the large amount data in the analysis, to the power of modern statistical and geographic information science(GIS) software, and to the complexity of computational modeling.
Common spatial analysis tools provide the following information:
- Distance between two locations
- Distance to a boundary
- Point-in-polygon determination
- Closest site and radial analysis
- Geographic boundary analysis
- Buffered zone analysis