Pro Spatial with SQL Server 2012

C H A P T E R  13

Clustering and Distribution Analysis

When dealing with large sets of spatial data (as with other sorts of data) we frequently don't want to consider each individual item at its most granular level. A dataset containing the details of hundreds of thousands of individual points is not particularly useful for business intelligence or analysis purposes, for example. Instead, what is generally required is a way of understanding trends in that data, by identifying patterns in the geographic spread and distribution of the underlying items.

In this chapter, we'll consider ways in which you can create such a summarized view of the distribution of a set of spatial data, and also look at methods to cluster that data. Clustering is a ...