Spatial Analysis Methods and Practice Describe – Explore – Explain through GIS

As spatial data are more and more widely available, and as locationbased services, from smartphone applications to smart cities monitoring, are becoming standard to everyday’s humans’ interaction and communcation, a growing number of researchers, scientists and professionals, far crossing the typical boundaries of geography discipline, realize the need for in-depth analysis of georeferenced data. Although geographical information systems map and link attributes to locations, spatial data hide much more treasure than a glossy mapping representation. To unlock this information, spatial analysis is necessary, as it provides the methods and tools to transform spatial data into knowledge, assisting in enhanced decision making and better planning. As such, a tremendous demand for accurately analyzing georeferenced data (including big data) across a wide range of disciplines exists.