Author(s)

J. Negreiros & M. Painho

Abstract

SAKWeb is the result of research integrating developments in spatial autocorrelation and Kriging as well as in Web services. This paper presents the first Web application to offer spatial autocorrelation and association measures, spatial exploratory tools, variography, Ordinary Kriging (OK) and Simple Kriging with global mean (SK). SAKWeb© version 2.0 exploits IE®, ASP®, PHP® and IIS® capabilities and was designed in an attractive and straightforward way for everyone’s use. Major features are presented in summary. As confirmed by the survey to GIS users, researchers suggest that this Web service and its enhanced developments are a promising alternative for the near future, including its use in an E-learning environment. Keywords: geostatistics, spatial autocorrelation, kriging, web services, E-learning. 1 Introduction Spatial analysis technology is now beginning to reach the stage where advanced users are struggling with new methods of spatial exploratory data analysis relating to possible explanations for any spatial phenomena. From an explanation of the unitary to a description of the collective, all views of space are correct if the where question is answered, what spatial correlations exist and why spatial distribution is structured in that way. Hence, this article mainly focuses on methods that address the inherent stochastic nature of patterns, interpolation and relationships based on measured point properties such as spatial autocorrelation and Kriging rather than deterministic ones such as buffering areas.

Keywords

geostatistics, spatial autocorrelation, kriging, web services, E-learning.