Digitized Map Measurement and Correlation Applied to an Example in Crop Ecology

M A APS can be analyzed by computers once the irksome task of digitizing is accomplished. Although modern, high-speed digital computers are capable of processing vast amounts of geographical information, spatial associations are measured, regional trends are detected, and basic dimensions are isolated only when the computer receives the data in numerical form. In some cases quantitative data must be painstakingly extracted from existing maps or from aerial photographs. Nonetheless the digital computer is immensely superior to the human brain in rapidly performing simple arithmetic and switching operations according to a prespecified plan or program, though it cannot readily detect geographical relationships that an elementary-school pupil is able to spot immediately from simple distribution maps. Progress is being made in automated pattern recognition, however, by providing computers with eyes, though in many cases specially designed machinery is necessary. For instance, the United States Post Office is now using a character-recognition system to sort mail by reading zip codes on envelopes.' Admittedly, most spatial patterns are more complex than pictures of simple numerals, no matter how poorly written. Our interest lies not in whether a forest resembles the crude outline of a dog, but in whether its incidence is influenced by the distribution of highly acidic soils. This correlation can be computerized if both distribution maps are divided into a large number of grid cells, each of which is assigned a number that indicates either the presence or the absence of a phenomenon. These geographical arrays can then be scanned together by a digital computer to determine the degree of correspondence. But spatial association often involves more than the simple correspondence of phenomena. The presence of a trait at a point may require favorable condi

Biology · Crop · Geography · Ecology · Environmental Science · Leaf Properties and Growth Measurement · Smart Agriculture and AI · Soil Geostatistics and Mapping

• Manual and Automated Interpolation of Climatic and Geomorphic Statistical Surfaces

  Gebeyehu Mulugeta•Annals of the Association of…•1996

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