The Stewart potentials of population is a spatial interaction modeling approach which aims to compute indicators based on stock values weighted by distance. These indicators have two main interests:
At the European scale, this functional semantic simplification may help to show a smoothed context-aware picture of the localized socio-economic activities.
In this vignette, we show a use case of these "potentials" on the regional GDP per capita at the European scale with three maps:
Note that this example is based on data and mapping functions proposed in the cartography package.
library(cartography) library(sp) library(sf) library(SpatialPosition) data(nuts2006) # Compute the GDP per capita variable nuts3.df$gdpcap <- nuts3.df$gdppps2008 * 1000000 / nuts3.df$pop2008 # Discretize the variable bv <- quantile(nuts3.df$gdpcap, seq(from = 0, to = 1, length.out = 9)) # Draw the map opar <- par(mar = c(0,0,1.2,0)) # Set a color palette pal <- carto.pal(pal1 = "wine.pal", n1 = 8) # Draw the basemap plot(nuts0.spdf, add = F, border = NA, bg = "#cdd2d4") plot(world.spdf, col = "#f5f5f3ff", border = "#a9b3b4ff", add = TRUE) # Map the regional GDP per capita choroLayer(spdf = nuts3.spdf, df = nuts3.df, var = "gdpcap", legend.pos = "topright", breaks = bv, col = pal, border = NA, legend.title.txt = "GDP per capita", legend.values.rnd = -2, add = TRUE) plot(nuts0.spdf, add = TRUE, lwd = 0.5, border = "grey30") plot(world.spdf, col = NA, border = "#7DA9B8", add = TRUE) # Set a layout layoutLayer(title = "Wealth Inequality in Europe", sources = "Basemap: UMS RIATE, 2015 - Data: Eurostat, 2008", author = "T. Giraud, 2015") par(opar)
We compute the potentials of GDP for each spatial unit. The computed value takes into account the spatial distribution of the stock variable and return a sum weighted by distance, according a specific spatial interaction and fully customizable function.
# Create a distance matrix between units mat <- CreateDistMatrix(knownpts = nuts3.spdf, unknownpts = nuts3.spdf) # Merge the data frame and the SpatialPolygonsDataFrame nuts3.spdf@data <- nuts3.df[match(nuts3.spdf$id, nuts3.df$id),] # Compute the potentials of population per units # function = exponential, beta = 2, span = 75 km poppot <- stewart(knownpts = nuts3.spdf, unknownpts = nuts3.spdf, matdist = mat, varname = "pop2008", typefct = "exponential", beta = 2, span = 75000, returnclass = "sf") # Compute the potentials of GDP per units # function = exponential, beta = 2, span = 75 km gdppot <- stewart(knownpts = nuts3.spdf, unknownpts = nuts3.spdf, matdist = mat, varname = "gdppps2008", typefct = "exponential", beta = 2, span = 75000, returnclass = "sf") # Create a data frame of potential GDP per capita pot <- data.frame(id = nuts3.df$id, gdpcap = gdppot$OUTPUT * 1000000 / poppot$OUTPUT, stringsAsFactors = FALSE) # Discretize the variable bv2 <- c(min(pot$gdpcap), bv[2:8], max(pot$gdpcap)) # Draw the map par <- par(mar = c(0,0,1.2,0)) # Draw the basemap plot(nuts0.spdf, add = F, border = NA, bg = "#cdd2d4") plot(world.spdf, col = "#f5f5f3ff", border = "#a9b3b4ff", add = TRUE) # Map the regional potential of GDP per capita choroLayer(spdf = nuts3.spdf, df = pot, var = "gdpcap", legend.pos = "topright", breaks = bv2, col = pal, border = NA, legend.title.txt = "Potential\nGDP per capita", legend.values.rnd = -2, add = TRUE) plot(nuts0.spdf, add=T, lwd = 0.5, border = "grey30") plot(world.spdf, col = NA, border = "#7DA9B8", add=T) # Set a text to explicit the function parameters text(x = 6271272, y = 3743765, labels = "Distance function:\n- type = exponential\n- beta = 2\n- span = 75 km", cex = 0.8, adj = 0, font = 3) # Set a layout layoutLayer(title = "Wealth Inequality in Europe", sources = "Basemap: UMS RIATE, 2015 - Data: Eurostat, 2008", author = "T. Giraud, 2015") par(opar)
This map gives a smoothed picture of the spatial patterns of wealth in Europe while keeping the original spatial units as interpretive framework. Hence, the map reader can still rely on a known territorial division to develop its analyses.
In this case, the potential GDP per capita is computed on a regular grid.
# Compute the potentials of population on a regular grid (50km span) # function = exponential, beta = 2, span = 75 km poppot <- stewart(knownpts = nuts3.spdf, varname = "pop2008", typefct = "exponential", span = 75000, beta = 2, resolution = 50000, mask = nuts0.spdf, returnclass = "sf") # Compute the potentials of GDP on a regular grid (50km span) # function = exponential, beta = 2, span = 75 km gdppot <- stewart(knownpts = nuts3.spdf, varname = "gdppps2008", typefct = "exponential", span = 75000, beta = 2, resolution = 50000, mask = nuts0.spdf, returnclass = "sf") # Create the ratio variable poppot$OUTPUT2 <- gdppot$OUTPUT * 1e6 / poppot$OUTPUT # Create an isopleth layer pot <- isopoly(x = poppot, var = "OUTPUT2", breaks = bv, mask = nuts0.spdf, returnclass = "sf") # Get breaks values bv3 <- sort(c(unique(pot$min), max(pot$max)), decreasing = FALSE) # Draw the map par <- par(mar = c(0,0,1.2,0)) # Draw the basemap plot(nuts0.spdf, add = F, border = NA, bg = "#cdd2d4") plot(world.spdf, col = "#f5f5f3ff", border = "#a9b3b4ff", add = TRUE) # Map the potential GDP per Capita choroLayer(x = pot, var = "center", legend.pos = "topright", breaks = bv3, col = pal, add=T, border = NA, lwd = 0.2, legend.title.txt = "Potential\nGDP per capita", legend.values.rnd = -2) plot(nuts0.spdf, add=T, lwd = 0.5, border = "grey30") plot(world.spdf, col = NA, border = "#7DA9B8", add=T) # Set a text to explicit the function parameters text(x = 6271272, y = 3743765, labels = "Distance function:\n- type = exponential\n- beta = 2\n- span = 75 km", cex = 0.8, adj = 0, font = 3) # Set a layout layoutLayer(title = "Wealth Inequality in Europe", sources = "Basemap: UMS RIATE, 2015 - Data: Eurostat, 2008", author = "T. Giraud, 2015") par(opar)
Unlike the previous maps, this one doesn't keep the initial territorial division to give a smoothed picture of the spatial patterns of wealth in Europe. The result is easy to read and can be considered as a bypassing of the Modifiable Areal Unit Problem (MAUP).
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