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Extension to ArcInfo Version 8Geostatistical Analyst Designed for Advanced Spatial Modeling
The generation of predictive surfaces, their accuracy, and their estimation of error are critical to modeling and analysis. The Geostatistical Analyst will help spatial scientists understand and use kriging and other advanced mathematical methods used for surface generation. It will provide control over the surface generation process and provide advanced tools for analysis of resulting surfaces. Potential fields in which the Geostatistical Analyst can be applied include soils science, agriculture, epidemiology, exploration geology (petroleum engineering, mining, etc.), hydrology, environmental science, university research in spatial statistics, and any field that samples point locations. The power of being able to tune predictive analysis and understand the distribution of error is important to all advanced spatial analyses. This, and the ability to explore the nature of spatial data sets, is what makes this offering so significant. "One example of an important application of Geostatistical Analyst would be in agriculture," says Max Crandall, Esri agriculture industry manager. "Soil fertility data can be scientifically analyzed to help make decisions about investing in variable-rate fertilizer applications. The data is given a probability ratio--the higher the probability, the lower the risk for the farmer's investment." |
The Geostatistical Analyst--an extension to ArcInfo Version 8--is aimed at an emerging advanced spatial modeling audience. These tools were developed specifically for surface generation using geostatistical tools and analyzing the error of the resulting estimation (surface). Numerous kriging and predictive tools are the center of the extension, but it is the close integration with GIS functionality and the easy-to-use and rich user interface that distinguishes it from any other geostatistical offering.