Application of Spatial Analysis

1. Urban Development

• Create Resilient Urban Cities – Climate change has a great impact on urban life. Thus, policymakers are working on ways to minimize the effect of climate by analyzing deforestation patterns, sea level analysis due to increasing global warming, and emission analysis and strategy to shift to efficient energy resources.
• Monitor and Reduce Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect – The UHI effect is the phenomenon where natural vegetation is replaced with buildings. This leads to more heat retention. Spatial analysis techniques like thermal remote sensing, satellite imagery, and field observations can be used to collect relevant data and understand spatial patterns.
• Determine Quality of Life – Spatial data can be used to determine the socioeconomic quality of life. For example, areas with distributed hospital services have a better quality of life. Areas near industrial areas have a poor quality of life due to emissions.
• Traffic Analysis – Spatial imagery can be used to recognize congestion and high-traffic routes. This identification of busy routes can help improve public transportation infrastructure.

2. Public Health Sector

• Mapping Spreading of Disease – Satellite data can be used to monitor the spread of disease in an area that helps policymakers come up with prevention plans. The disease data can be integrated with climatic attributes and nearby water bodies’ presence to analyze how various factors combine to increase the spread.
• Sanitation and Health Facilities Analysis – Spatial data can be used to identify areas with low sanitation and health facilities. Recognizing these areas can help the authorities to come up with a better healthcare management system.
• Vaccination Statistics – GIS technologies and spatial data can be used by authorities to come up with vaccination strategies and track even distribution of vaccines among the population.

3. Agriculture and Farming

• Crop Monitoring – Remote sensing can be used to collect data related to climate, soil nutrients, and sunlight which play a major role in crop productivity.
• Crop Yield Prediction – Satellite imagery can be used to provide insights about climate, weather conditions, and soil nutrients. Using this information, farmers can make better decisions for the best crop yield.
• Farm Animals Monitoring – Spatial analysis can be used to monitor freely roaming livestock which play a major role in methane production and soil and water contamination.
• Soil Analysis – Spatial analysis can help soil specialists retrieve important information about soil like pH level, nitrogen levels, moisture content, etc. which play an important role in a better crop.

Have you ever wondered how city planners come up with decisions like what is the best location for a school, hospital, or park? How did during the COVID outbreak the spread of the virus was recorded and monitored to effectively alienate affected areas to decrease the spread? How vaccination strategies are made for various diseases and monitored to ensure an equal distribution. How are such accurate maps created? How does our GPS know all the high-traffic routes in the area and help find the shortest and fastest route?

It can all be done using spatial data and spatial analysis. Spatial analysis involves understanding patterns and relationships based on spatial data. In this article, we will discuss what is spatial analysis and how it works.