Analysis of the Alberta Settlement Pattern for 1961 and 1966 by Nearest Neighbor Analysis

Geographers interested in describing and analyzing settlement patterns have been concerned with trying to distinguish among different observed patterns. Although they have been able to describe them as dispersed, random, or clustered, until recently they have had no way of deciding objectively which of these types of patterns prevailed in a given area. Dacey (1958) introduced into geography the technique of nearest neighbor analysis, which was developed originally by Clark and Evans (1954) for measuring spatial relationships among biological populations. By this technique the departure from randomness in the distribution of a two-dimensional point pattern can be ascertained. The distance from each point to its nearest neighbor is measured and the mean observed distance is compared with the distance which would be expected if the same number of points were distributed at random over the same area. The nearest neighbor statistic R is a measure of the degree of departure from randomness in either of two directions: towards clustering or towards uniformity. Dacey (1960b, 1962) later applied the technique of nearest neighbor analysis to central places in southwestern Wisconsin. He extended it to study spacing along lines, and generalized these concepts to describe patterns in multi-dimensional