Geography

Map errors that could account for deviations from a uniform intensity of land change

Document Type

Article

Abstract

Intensity Analysis is a mathematical framework that compares a uniform intensity to observed intensities of temporal changes among categories. Our article summarizes Intensity Analysis and presents a new method to compute the minimum hypothetical error in the data that could account for each observed deviation from a uniform intensity. A larger hypothetical error gives stronger evidence against a hypothesis that a change is uniform. The method produces results for five groups of measurements, which are organized into three levels of analysis: interval, category, and transition. The method applies generally to analysis of changes among categories during time intervals, because the input is a standard contingency table for each time interval. We illustrate the method with a case study concerning change during three time intervals among four land categories in northeastern Massachusetts, USA. Modelers can perform the analysis using our computer program, which is free. © 2013 Taylor & Francis.

Publication Title

International Journal of Geographical Information Science

Publication Date

9-1-2013

Volume

27

Issue

9

First Page

1717

Last Page

1739

ISSN

1365-8816

DOI

10.1080/13658816.2013.787618

Keywords

category, change, error, Intensity Analysis, time

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