Transcript Nearest Neighbour Analysis

Nearest Neighbour
Analysis
Settlement Geography
Learning outcomes
 To
study the nearest neighbour analysis
and how it determines patterns of
settlements
Nearest Neighbour Analysis
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Settlements often appear on maps as dots
The patterns of these dots are difficult to
describe
Sometimes patterns are obvious:
Nucleated
Dispersed
However the pattern is likely to lie between
these two extremes
Nearest neighbour helps to determine the
pattern
The technique
 Was
devised by a botanist to determine
plant distributions
 Allows one region to be compared to
another
 It is only a technique and offers no
explanation of patterns
Formula
 The
formula is
 Rn= 2đ √n/A
 Rn= The description of the distribution
 đ = The mean distance between the
nearest neighbours
 n= the number of settlements in the study
area
 A= the area under study (km)
Rn
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Rn is the description of the settlement
distribution
This can be as follows:
Clustering- where dots are very close together.
In extreme cases the value of Rn=0
Random- distributions occur where there is no
pattern at all. Rn= 1
Regular- these are perfectly uniform. If ever
found in reality they would have a value of 2.15
Nearest Neighbour values
 See
page 402 in Waugh