Geo-Self-Organizing Map (Geo-SOM) for Building and Exploring Homogeneous Regions

Regionalization and uniform/homogeneous region building constitutes one of the most longstanding concerns of geographers. In this paper we explore the Geo-Self-Organizing Map (Geo-SOM) as a tool to develop homogeneous regions and perform geographic pattern detection. The Geo-SOM presents several advantages over other available methods. The possibility of “what-if” analysis, coupled with powerful visualization tools and the accommodation of spatial constraints, constitute some of the most relevant features of the Geo-SOM. In this paper we show the opportunities made available by this tool and explore different features which allow rich exploratory spatial data analysis.