National Center for Geographic Information and Analysis

The application of second-order neighborhood analysis for determining clustering tendency in spatial point patterns is examined within a GIS context. A computer program implementing the second-order methods discussed and demonstrated by Getis (1983; 1984; 1988; 1990) has been developed for the GRASS GIS. A variety of sample point patterns are analyzed using these methods to illustrate the advantages of incorporating spatial statistics such as these within a GIS.