TEN SPATIAL PROBLEMS WITH MYGEOFFICE© FOR TEACHING PURPOSES

Abstract

FOR A LONG TIME, GEOGRAPHY DID NOT HOLD A SPECIFIC MATHEMATICAL APPROACH FOR ANY INTERPRETATION OF SPACE AND THIS WAS THE KEY REASON WHY GEOGRAPHY DEGREES COVERED A WIDE VARIETY OF SUBJECTS SUCH AS DEMOGRAPHY, GEOLOGY OR TOPOGRAPHY TO FULFILL ITS CURRICULUM. YET FROM THE 90’S, GEOGRAPHY FINALLY CREATED ITS OWN RESEARCH AGENDA TO MEET FOUR VITAL QUESTIONS OF ANY TRUE GEOGRAPHER: “WHERE IS …?”, “IS THERE A GENERAL SPATIAL PATTERN?”, “WHAT ARE THE ANOMALIES?” AND “WHY DO THESE PHENOMENA PURSUE CERTAIN SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION?” THE PRESENT REVIEW ARTICLE ADDRESSES TEN DIFFERENT SPATIAL (POINT, REGRESSION AND EVENT) ISSUES FOR LEARNING AND TEACHING AIM WHERE STATISTICS PLAY A MAJOR BACKGROUND ROLE ON THE OUTCOMES OF MYGEOFFICE© FREE WEB GIS PLATFORM. THESE INCLUDE CLUSTER ANALYSIS, GEOGRAPHICALLY WEIGHTED REGRESSION (GWR), ORDINARY LEAST SQUARES (OLS) REGRESSION, PATH ANALYSIS, MINIMUM SPANNING TREE, LINEAR REGRESSION, SPACE-TIME CLUSTERING AND POINT PATTERNS, FOR INSTANCE. ALTHOUGH THE TECHNICAL VIEWPOINT OF THE ALGORITHMS IS NOT EXPLAINED AT FULLY, THIS REVIEW PAPER MAKES A RATHER STRONG EMPHASIS ON THE RESULT’S INTERPRETATION, THEIR RESPECTIVE MEANING AND WHEN THESE TECHNIQUES SHOULD BE APPLIED IN A LEARNING/TEACHING CONTEXT.