Skip to main content
Log in

A J-Function for Marked Point Patterns

  • Published:
Annals of the Institute of Statistical Mathematics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

We propose a new summary statistic for marked point patterns. The underlying principle is to compare the distance from a marked point to the nearest other marked point in the pattern to the same distance seen from an arbitrary point in space. Information about the range of interaction can be inferred, and the statistic is well-behaved under random mark allocation. We develop a range of Hanisch style kernel estimators to tackle the problems of exploding tail variance earlier associated with J-function plug-in estimators, and carry out an exploratory analysis of a forestry data set.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Baddeley, A.J., Gill, R.D. (1994). The empty space hazard of a spatial pattern, Research Report, No. 1994/3, Department of Mathematics, The University of Western Australia.

  • Baddeley A.J., Gill R.D. (1997). Kaplan–Meier estimators of distance distributions for spatial point processes. Annals of Statistics 25:263–292

    Article  MATH  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  • Baddeley A.J., Møller J. (1989). Nearest-neighbour Markov point processes and random sets. International Statistical Review 57:89–121

    Article  MATH  Google Scholar 

  • Baddeley A.J., Silverman B.W. (1984). A cautionary example for the use of second-order methods for analysing point patterns. Biometrics 40:1089–1094

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  • Baddeley, A.J., and Turner, R. (2005). Spatstat; An R library for spatial statistics http://www.cran.r-project.org.

  • Baddeley A.J., Kerscher M., Schladitz K., Scott B.T. (2000). Estimating the J function without edge correction. Statistica Neerlandica 54:315–328

    Article  MATH  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  • Besag J.E., Diggle P.J. (1977). Simple Monte Carlo tests for spatial pattern. Applied Statistics 26:327–333

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bedford T., Van den Berg J. (1997). A remark on the Van Lieshout and Baddeley J-function for point processes. Advances in Applied Probability 29:19–25

    Article  MATH  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  • Chen, J. (2003). Summary statistics in point patterns and their applications, PhD Thesis, Department of Mathematics and statistics, Curtin University of Technology

  • Chen, J., Baddeley, A.J., Nair, G. (2001). Uncorrected estimators of J-functions in multivariate point patterns, Paper Presented at 11th International Workshop on Stereology, Stochastic Geometry and Related Fields, Perth, Australia.

  • Chiu S.N., Stoyan D. (1998). Estimators of distance distributions for spatial patterns. Statistica Neerlandica 52:239–246

    Article  MATH  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  • Cox, D.R., Lewis, P.A.W. (1972). Multivariate point processes, In Proceedings of the Sixth Berkeley Symposium on Mathematical Statistics and Probability, vol. 3, 401–448, University of California Press, Berkeley

  • Cressie N.A.C. (1991). Statistics for spatial data. Wiley, New York

    MATH  Google Scholar 

  • Daley D.J., Vere-Jones D. (1988). An introduction to the theory of point processes vol. I. Elementary theory and methods. Springer, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Diggle P.J. (1983). Statistical analysis of spatial point patterns. Academic, London

    MATH  Google Scholar 

  • Foxall R., Baddeley A.J. (2002). Nonparametric measures of association between a spatial point process and a random set, with geological applications. Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series C 51:165–182

    Article  MATH  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  • Hanisch K.-H. (1984). Some remarks on estimators of the distribution function of nearest neighbour distance in stationary spatial point patterns. Mathematische Operationsforschung und Statistik, Series Statistics 15:409–412

    MATH  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  • Hansen M.B., Gill R.D., Baddeley A.J. (1996). Kaplan–Meier type estimators for linear contact distributions. Scandinavian Journal of Statistics 23:129–155

    MATH  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  • Kerscher M. (1998). Regularity in the distribution of superclusters?. Astronomy and Astrophysics 336:29–34

    Google Scholar 

  • Kerscher M., Schmalzing J., Buchert T., Wagner H. (1998). Fluctuations in the IRAS 1.2 Jy catalogue. Astronomy and Astrophysics 333:1–12

    Google Scholar 

  • Kerscher M., Pons-Bordería M.J., Schmalzing J., Trasarti–Battistoni R., Buchert T., Martínez V.J., Valdarnini R. (1999). A global descriptor of spatial pattern interaction in the galaxy distribution. Astrophysical Journal 513:543–548

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Last G., Holtmann H. (1999) On the empty space function of some germ-grain models. Pattern Recognition 32:1587–1600

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Van Lieshout M.N.M., Baddeley A.J. (1996). A nonparametric measure of spatial interaction in point patterns. Statistica Neerlandica 50:344–361

    Article  MATH  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  • van Lieshout M.N.M., Baddeley A.J. (1999). Indices of dependence between types in multivariate point patterns. Scandinavian Journal of Statistics 26:511–532

    Article  MATH  Google Scholar 

  • Nguyen X.-X., Zessin H. (1979). Integral and differential characterizations of the Gibbs process. Mathematische Nachrichten 88:105–115

    Article  MATH  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  • Ogata Y., Tanemura M. (1989). Likelihood estimation of soft-core interaction potentials for Gibbsian point patterns. Annals of the Institute of Statistical Mathematics 41:583–600

    Article  MATH  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  • Paulo, M.J. (2002). Statistical sampling and modelling for cork oak and eucalyptus stands, PhD thesis, Department of Mathematics, Wageningen University.

  • Penttinen A., Stoyan D. (1989). Statistical analysis for a class of line segment processes. Scandinavian Journal of Statistics 16:153–168

    MATH  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  • Ripley B.D. (1988). Statistical inference for spatial processes. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Ripley B. D. (1989). Gibbsian interaction models. In D.A. Griffiths (Eds), Spatial statistics: past, present and future, (55–57).

  • Ripley B.D., Kelly F.P. (1977). Markov point processes. Journal of the London Mathematical Society 15:188–192

    Article  MATH  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  • Silverman B.W. (1986). Density estimation for statistics and data analysis. Chapman and Hall, Londan

    MATH  Google Scholar 

  • Stein A., Van Lieshout M.N.M., Booltink H.W.G. (2001). Spatial interaction of methylene blue stained soil pores. Geoderma 102:101–121

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stoyan D., Stoyan H. (1994). Fractals, random shapes and point fields. Methods of geometrical statistics. (translated from the 1992 German original), Wiley, Chichester

    MATH  Google Scholar 

  • Stoyan D., Stoyan H. (2000). Improving ratio estimators of second order point process characteristics. Scandinavian Journal of Statistics 27:641–656

    Article  MATH  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  • Stoyan D., Kendall W.S., Mecke J. (1987). Stochastic geometry and its applications. Akademie-Verlag, Berlin

    MATH  Google Scholar 

  • Thőnnes E., Van Lieshout M.N.M. (1999). A comparative study on the power of Van Lieshout and Baddeley’s J–function. Biometrical Journal 41:721–734

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • White S.D.M. (1979). The hierarchy of correlation functions and its relation to other measures of galaxy clustering. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 186:145–154

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to M. N. M. van Lieshout.

About this article

Cite this article

Lieshout, M.N.M.v. A J-Function for Marked Point Patterns. Ann Inst Stat Math 58, 235–259 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10463-005-0015-7

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10463-005-0015-7

Keywords

Navigation