Point Pattern Analysis

Point pattern analysis is a set of methods for the detection of patterns in maps that contain a set of locations. Typically, these locations are points where some sort of event has occurred – the location of a car crash, a crime, a seed germinating. Point pattern analysis is used to determine the presence or absence of structure in a map of locations. Point pattern analysis is a statistical enterprise involving formal statistical tests of null hypotheses. Inferences about structure in point patterns are dependent upon both the scale of the analysis and the assumptions (or model) used to generate the null hypothesis. Point pattern analysis is gaining contemporary relevance as mobile devices, information technologies, and global positioning systems facilitate the large‐scale collection of geolocated information.