Density estimation and adaptive bandwidths: a primer for public health practitioners.

International Journal of Health Geographics
Heather A CarlosEthan M Berke

Abstract

Geographic information systems have advanced the ability to both visualize and analyze point data. While point-based maps can be aggregated to differing areal units and examined at varying resolutions, two problems arise 1) the modifiable areal unit problem and 2) any corresponding data must be available both at the scale of analysis and in the same geographic units. Kernel density estimation (KDE) produces a smooth, continuous surface where each location in the study area is assigned a density value irrespective of arbitrary administrative boundaries. We review KDE, and introduce the technique of utilizing an adaptive bandwidth to address the underlying heterogeneous population distributions common in public health research. The density of occurrences should not be interpreted without knowledge of the underlying population distribution. When the effect of the background population is successfully accounted for, differences in point patterns in similar population areas are more discernible; it is generally these variations that are of most interest. A static bandwidth KDE does not distinguish the spatial extents of interesting areas, nor does it expose patterns above and beyond those due to geographic variations in the density ...Continue Reading

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Citations

Sep 4, 2013·Nicotine & Tobacco Research : Official Journal of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco·Daniel RodriguezJames Sargent
Apr 12, 2012·Tobacco Control·Daniel RodriguezJames D Sargent
Mar 19, 2013·International Journal of Health Geographics·Benoit ThierryYan Kestens
Sep 8, 2015·Gaceta sanitaria·Diana Gómez-BarrosoRafael Fernández-Cuenca
Oct 9, 2012·Health & Place·Eleni SofianopoulouTanja Pless-Mulloli
Jan 7, 2015·Health & Place·Jennifer CantrellThomas R Kirchner
Feb 24, 2012·Health & Place·Joseph R OppongSonia Arbona
Nov 9, 2014·Journal of Urban Health : Bulletin of the New York Academy of Medicine·Christoph BuckIris Pigeot
Dec 9, 2014·PloS One·Jonathan A PolonskyFrancisco J Luquero
Aug 26, 2016·Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology·Thomas R Kirchner, Saul Shiffman
Oct 8, 2016·International Journal of Health Geographics·Alba CebrecosFrancisco Escobar
Mar 13, 2016·Tobacco Control·Thomas R KirchnerJasjit S Ahluwalia
Feb 10, 2018·Cancer Causes & Control : CCC·Robert W KorycinskiDavid Berrigan
Jul 3, 2019·Journal of Urban Health : Bulletin of the New York Academy of Medicine·Pamela J TrangensteinDavid H Jernigan
Dec 5, 2018·Journal of Urban Health : Bulletin of the New York Academy of Medicine·Yusuf RansomeS V Subramanian
Nov 20, 2014·AIDS·Joseph Larmarange, Victoria Bendaud
May 21, 2017·BMC Public Health·Heather A CarlosJames D Sargent
May 10, 2018·International Journal of Health Geographics·Warangkana RuckthongsookPrathiba Natesan
Jul 5, 2018·BMC Veterinary Research·Paolo MottaBarend Mark Bronsvoort
Oct 5, 2020·International Journal of Health Geographics·Matthew TusonDavid Whyatt

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