Considering spatiotemporal processes in big data analysis: Insights from remote sensing of land cover and land use

Data are increasingly spatio‐temporal—they are collected some‐where and at some‐time. The role of proximity in spatial process is well understood, but its value is much more uncertain for many temporal processes. Using the domain of land cover/land use (LCLU), this article asserts that analyses of big data should be grounded in understandings of underlying process. Processes exhibit behaviors over both space and time. Observations and measurements may or may not coincide with the process of interest. Identifying the presence or absence of a given process, for instance disentangling vegetation phenology from stress, requires data analysis to be informed by knowledge of the process characteristics and, critically, how these manifest themselves over the spatio‐temporal unit of analysis. Drawing from LCLU, we emphasize the need to identify process and consider process phase to quantify important signals associated with that process. The aim should be to link the seriality of the spatio‐temporal data to the phase of the process being considered. We elucidate on these points and opportunities for insights and leadership from the geographic community.