Measuring Geographic Distributions with ArcGIS Tools

Obtaining basic spatial statistics about a dataset is often the first step in the analysis of geographic data. The Measuring Geographic Distributions toolset in the ArcGIS Spatial Statistics Tools toolbox contains a set of tools that provide descriptive geographic statistics including the Central Feature, Directional Distribution, Linear Directional Mean, Mean Center, Median Center, and Standard Distance. Together, this toolset provides a set of basic statistical exploration tools.

In this chapter, you will learn how to use many of these tools to obtain basic spatial statistical information about a dataset, including the following topics:

• Measuring geographic centrality with the Central Feature, Mean Center, and Median Center tools
• Measuring the degree to which features are concentrated or dispersed around the geometric mean center with the Standard Distance tool
• Summarizing spatial characteristics of geographic features, including central tendency, dispersion, and directional trends, with the directional distribution or standard deviational ellipse tool