In this chapter, we will look at the process of analyzing geospatial data. Sometimes, the results of your geospatial analysis will be one or more numbers, for example, How many countries lie south of the Equator? or What is the length of the Australian coastline? At other times, the results of your analysis will be a geometry object, for example, Where is the northernmost point in Alaska? or What part of Texas lies east of New Mexico? And at other times, the results of your analysis will be a list, for example, Which countries are within 1,000 kilometers of New Guinea? In all these cases, you will need to be familiar with the tools and techniques available for calculating your desired results.

To help you learn these tools and techniques, we will examine the following: