GIS Exploration Of A Point Pattern

Figure 1: Locations of each cholera death and water pump as observed by Snow.

Attempting to determine a pattern strictly from observing the datasets, one could reasonably conclude that there is likely
some kind of association between pump locations and cholera cases, specifically for the pumps within the center region.
However, it would appear that not all pumps are suspect, nor does it appear as if only one specific pump could be
definitively pinpointed as the culprit, but it certainly presents rather a far more narrowed list of likely suspect pumps.

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 Figure 2: Zones created with the Euclidean Allocation tool showing locations closest to each water pump.

The Zonal Statistics results seem to confirm the initial assumptions regarding suspect pumps but also help clarify that the
mean density is highest in the zone around the most central pump (SnowID #6).

Interestingly, these two points are in close proximity to one another and close to the most central pump previously
suspected from our Zonal Statistics activity. Both the results of the Central Feature (the most centrally located feature)
and the Mean Center (the geographic center or center of concentration for a set of features) tools do seem to support
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previous findings. Both of these points are within the previously determined Euclidean Allocation suspect zone and close
to the largest point density concentration also.

Figure 3: Point Density analysis of the cholera deaths

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 Figure 4: Zonal Statistics (shown as raster), set at 50% transparency and overlaid the Point Density analysis of
the cholera deaths. The Central Feature and Mean Center are also shown.

I do believe there are some limitations in the analysis. Obviously the ideal situation for greatest spatial accuracy would
involve an explicit coordinate system and map projection rather than arbitrary units. Additionally, although stacking each
coordinate point representing a death in a line away from the street does help visualize them more easily, it may affect
overall statistics differently than if the points for each address were more accurately stacked on top of each other.
Nevertheless, Snows analysis was well-done and well-ahead of its time.