Collecting Spatial Data

Course Summary
The collection of spatial data is important to answer pressing scientific questions in many application areas, including environmental monitoring and public health. This course provides an overview of modern statistical methods for the design of spatial studies and the modelling of the resultant data. Assuming only basic prior knowledge of statistical modelling (i.e. applied regression modelling), the course will arm participants with the skills to efficiently collect and model spatial data to answer a variety of practical problems.

Course Description
The course offers an overview over various techniques for optimizing spatial sampling plans. Main parts will follow the book of the same title by the lecturer published by Springer (first edition 1998, third and most recent edition 2007). Other material will be drawn from the latest volume coedited by the lecturer in 2012 and his ongoing research on multiobjective design optimization, generalized dependence structures, approximate Bayesian computation, and constrained experiments.

Course Code
S3RICSD2016

Timetable
17th May 2016 – 19th May 2016

Day 1:
9.00-9.30 Registration and coffees
9.30-10.45 Fundamentals of spatial statistics
10.45-11.15 Morning break – Coffees and biscuits
11.15-12.30 Fundamentals of experimental design
12.30-13.30 Lunch
13.30-14.30 Applications and application fields
14.30-15.00 Afternoon break – Tea and biscuits
15.00-16.00 Exploratory designs

Day 2:
9.00-10.30 Designs for spatial trend estimation
10.30-11.00 Morning break – Coffees and biscuits
11.00-12.30 Design and dependence
12.30-13.30 Lunch
13.30-14.30 Generalized dependence structures (copulas)
14.30-15.00 Afternoon break – Tea and biscuits
15.00-16.00 Problematic issues in spatial design

Day 3:
9.00-10.30 Multipurpose designs
10.30-11.00 Morning break – Coffees and biscuits
11.00-12.30 Constrained experiments
12.30-13.30 Lunch
13.30-15.00 Approximate Bayesian computation design (ABCD)

Course presenter
Professor Werner G. Müller is currently full professor at and deputy head of the Department of Applied Statistics at the Johannes Kepler University Linz, Austria (JKU) and President of the Austrian Statistical Society (ÖSG). He gained his PhD in Statistics from the University of Vienna in 1991 and has worked as an assistant/associate professor at the University of Economics Vienna until 2006. His research interests are in the areas of experimental design and spatial statistics. Author of the book Collecting Spatial Data Müller has co-edited six other books, has published more than 40 research papers in refereed journals, and has contributed with more than 60 other publications, with currently 1900 citations on Google Scholar. He serves as Coeditor of Statistical Papers (Springer) since 2010.

Places available
21