Spatial data science is a field of data science focusing on spatial data, thereby incorporating both where and why things happen. Spatial analysis started worldwide with the seminal work of Danie Krige, who worked in mining studies at Wits. Its importance to the South African research community is much wider and these days also include poverty alleviation, meteorology and climate, the environment, ecology, agriculture and epidemiology, to name a few. To analyse spatially allows the analyst to incorporate the spatial correlation present in many datasets, without which model interpretation may be incorrect. There is a wealth of knowledge on spatial statistics within South Africa, however, the research field of spatial statistics is still relatively young and much expert guidance is required to build the field in terms of research as well as training. Spatial data science has very important applications in the South African context. There is a need to have trained spatial statisticians as well as spatial data scientists across industry and academia.

 

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