Abstract
Map algebra is a data model and simple functional notation to study the distribution and patterns of spatial phenomena. It uses a uniform representation of space as discrete grids, which are organized into layers. This paper discusses extensions to map algebra to handle neighborhood operations with a new data type called a template. Templates provide general windowing operations on grids to enable spatial models for cellular automata, mathematical morphology, and local spatial statistics. A programming language for map algebra that incorporates templates and special processing constructs is described. The programming language is called MapScript. Example program scripts are presented to perform diverse and interesting neighborhood analysis for descriptive, model-based and processed-based analysis.
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Pullar, D. MapScript: A Map Algebra Programming Language Incorporating Neighborhood Analysis. GeoInformatica 5, 145–163 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1011438215225
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1011438215225