Comparing two layers of points

745
2
01-11-2014 05:59 AM
HarrietA
New Contributor
Hello,

I was wondering if anyone could help me. I have two layers containing data points (one human population and one species occurrence) and was looking for a way of studying whether there was a relationship between the two using ArcMap (i.e. does the presence of humans reduce the likelihood of the animal species being present). What would you suggest would be the best tool to do this?

Thanks in advance.
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2 Replies
DanPatterson_Retired
MVP Emeritus
look at the distance between using the Near tool first comes to mind...a large average distance would suggest avoidance
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JoshThompson1
Occasional Contributor II
Harriet,

Before you proceed, I would think that you may need to consider your input data.  For example, you mentioned that the human population is represented as point data.  A population value of say 5000 in and of itself may not provide enough information regarding population density.  That is to say, over what area does the 5000 cover?  If the population density information were available as polygonal data (for example, 5000 within the one city boundary, 2000 within the adjacent city boundary, etc), then one possible approach may be to do a simple overlay (IDENTITY) of the human population density onto the animal species point data.  Then you could use this as a starting point in your analysis.

Josh
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