Practice question · Multiple choice
A GIS analysis finds a strong spatial correlation between two historical variables at parish level. What is the standing objection?
Hints
- Ask whether two adjacent parishes are really independent observations.
- The test assumes independent samples. Does geography supply them?
Show the answer
A. Spatial autocorrelation between neighbouring places
Why
Nearby places share soil, markets, dialect and lords, so treating parishes as independent samples inflates significance. Tobler's first law made into a statistical problem. Option 3 is true of every analysis and so distinguishes nothing; this objection is specific to spatial data and has specific remedies.
Practise GIS and Spatial Analysis
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