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spatial data — English
The specifics that describe the location or locations of a certain condition, phenomenon or object under investigation. It describes where a certain thing occurs and which things happen or occur where. A map can be drawn to indicate the localities where the subject under investigation occurs. Even if a phenomenon occurs in one single place or locality only, its intensity might differ from point to point within the locality; therefore it describes a spatial distribution pattern within the area in which it occurs. Geographers always ask “where?” (see “spatial distribution” and “spatial pattern”), and the answer to that question is spatial data about the object under investigation. Spatial data is “mapable” (that is, it can be mapped) and is often called geographical data, and that is not unjustified. Geographers draw maps of the distributions of the things they investigate. Geographical data can be mapped (it is “mapable”); if the particulars (variables) of an investigation cannot be mapped, the research is probably not geographical research. There are different caves in the Cradle of Humankind world heritage site and some of them are quite far apart. A visitor to the site would be quite lost and would never find the different caves without the aid of a map which provides the spatial data, that is, indicates the locations of the different caves. Even in a relatively small area such as that formed by a few street blocks in the centre of Pretoria, one needs spatial data in order to know which streetcorners and alleys should be avoided for the sake of one’s personal safety. Spatial data and spatial distribution are two concepts that should not be considered disconnectedly; in fact, the two cannot be separated (see “spatial distribution”).
