
142 Spatial Point Patterns: Methodology and Applications with R
5.6 Fundamental issues
Before embarking on a statistical analysis of spatial point pattern data, it is important to ask two
questions. Firstly, are poin t process methods appropriate to the scientific c ontext? Secondly, are the
standard assumptions for point process methods appropriate in the context?
5.6.1 Should I treat the data as a point proc ess?
Treating a spatial point pattern as a realisation of a spatial point process effectively assumes that
the pattern is random (in the general sense, i.e. the locations and numbe r of points are not fixed)
and that the point patter n is the