R is a programming language as well as a computing environment to perform a wide variety of data analysis, statistics, and visualization. One of the reasons for the popularity of R is that it embraces open, transparent scholarship and reproducible research. It is possible to combine content and code in one document, so data, analysis, and graphs are tied together into one narrative, which can be shared with others to recreate analyses and reevaluate interpretations. Different from tools like ArcGIS or QGIS that are specifically built for spatial data, GIS functionality is just one of many things R offers. And while users of dedicated GIS tools typically interact with the software via a point-and-click graphical interface, R requires command-line scripting. Many R users today rely on RStudio, an integrated development environment (IDE) that facilitates the writing of R code and comes with a series of convenient features, like integrated help, data viewer, code completion, and syntax coloring. By using R Markdown, a particular flavor of the Markdown language, RStudio also makes it particularly easy to create documents that embed and execute R code snippets within a text and to render both, static documents (like PDF), as well as interactive html pages, a feature particularly useful for exploratory GIS work and mapping.

ArcGIS Online is a hosted geographic information system (GIS) created and hosted by Environmental Systems Research Institute (Esri). In a few short years, it has eclipsed desktop software as the most popular tool for mapping and spatial analysis. ArcGIS Online is more than a traditional GIS software in that it also includes access to a wide range of authoritative datasets. ArcGIS fits into the Web 2.0 model where users of the platform are able to create and share maps.

Areal interpolation is the process of transforming spatial data from source zones with known values or attributes to target zones with unknown attributes. It generates estimates of source zone attributes over target zone areas. It aligns areal spatial data attributes over a single spatial framework (target zones) to overcome differences in areal reporting units due to historical boundary changes of reporting areas, integrating data from domains with different reporting conventions or in situations when spatially detailed information is not available. Fundamentally, it requires assumptions about how the target zone attribute relates to the source zones. Areal interpolation approaches can be grouped into two broad categories: methods that link target and source zones by their spatial properties (area to point, pycnophylactic and areal weighed interpolation) and methods that use ancillary or auxiliary information to control, inform, guide, and constrain the interpolation process (dasymetric, statistical, streetweighted and point-based interpolation). Additionally, there are new opportunities to use novel data sources to inform areal interpolation arising from the many new forms of spatial data supported by ubiquitous web- and GPS-enabled technologies including social media, PoI check-ins, spatial data portals (e.g for crime, house sales, microblogging sites) and collaborative mapping activities (e.g. OpenStreetMap).

R is a programming language as well as a computing environment to perform a wide variety of data analysis, statistics, and visualization. One of the reasons for the popularity of R is that it embraces open, transparent scholarship and reproducible research. It is possible to combine content and code in one document, so data, analysis, and graphs are tied together into one narrative, which can be shared with others to recreate analyses and reevaluate interpretations. Different from tools like ArcGIS or QGIS that are specifically built for spatial data, GIS functionality is just one of many things R offers. And while users of dedicated GIS tools typically interact with the software via a point-and-click graphical interface, R requires command-line scripting. Many R users today rely on RStudio, an integrated development environment (IDE) that facilitates the writing of R code and comes with a series of convenient features, like integrated help, data viewer, code completion, and syntax coloring. By using R Markdown, a particular flavor of the Markdown language, RStudio also makes it particularly easy to create documents that embed and execute R code snippets within a text and to render both, static documents (like PDF), as well as interactive html pages, a feature particularly useful for exploratory GIS work and mapping.

ArcGIS Online is a hosted geographic information system (GIS) created and hosted by Environmental Systems Research Institute (Esri). In a few short years, it has eclipsed desktop software as the most popular tool for mapping and spatial analysis. ArcGIS Online is more than a traditional GIS software in that it also includes access to a wide range of authoritative datasets. ArcGIS fits into the Web 2.0 model where users of the platform are able to create and share maps.