Geographical Software

GeoStats5

Dr. Chuck Geiger

Research Theme:

The focus of my software development is on lightweight programs for undergraduate teaching in geographical statistics and cartography. Both GeoStats and NumberLineBreaks run as "macros" within Microsoft Excel.

The concept behind GeoStats (now in version 5), which I have been using since the early 1990s, is that Minitab, SPSS, SAS and other similar packages are overkill for an introductory course, and of course they ignore spatial concepts that are important to geographers.

The concept behind NumberLineBreaks is that none of the existing common statistical and GIS software presents the best interface for assessing alternatives class breaks in the classification process.

Research Activities:

  • Conference Presentations:

    • "Classification Done Right: A Number Line Graph Solution"
      Annual Mtg: Pennsylvania Geographical Society
      November 6, 2015; West Chester, PA
    • "Statistical Software for Geography Undergraduates: GeoStats"
      Annual Mtg: Middle States Division of the Association of American Geographers
      November 7, 2008; Millersville, PA

  • Current Status:

    • GeoStats5
      The GeoStats program is designed for use in my undergraduate course GEOG 292 Quantitative and Spatial Analysis, taught once every two years. That schedule has made program development slow. The course uses the textbook by McGrew, Lembo and Monroe. All of the major components, from simple descriptive statistics through linear correlation and regression, are functional. The next stage is the development of the Quadrat Analysis and Nearest Neighbor Analysis routines, and then exhaustive testing with a wider range of data.
    • NumberLineBreaks
      The NumberLineBreaks program is more recently developed. Its first public display was at the 2015 Pennsylvania Geographical Society meetings (see the listing at left). NumberLineBreaks works effectively to display a single quantitative variable using a number line graph, allowing the user to visualize the placement of a set of breaks, or class limits. It does not (yet) compute the breaks; its purpose is to graphically display breaks input by the user.

  • To get a copy:

    • GeoStats5
      I am not yet ready to release GeoStats for widespread use, but would be happy to interact with potential users. Please feel free to contact me.
    • NumberLineBreaks
      I am more than happy to send copies of the NumberLineBreaks program is more recently. I will eventually set this page up to offer downloads of the program, but for now please e-mail me and request a copy. Instructions for using the software are listed on one of the included Excel worksheets. The program is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License (details are printed within the Excel file).