Lab 1: Introduction

If you have not already done so, you’ll need to start R and load the spatstat package by typing

library(spatstat)

Exercise 1

We will study a dataset that records the locations of Ponderosa Pine trees (Pinus ponderosa) in a study region in the Klamath National Forest in northern California. The data are included with spatstat as the dataset ponderosa.

assign the data to a shorter name, like X or P;

To assign the data to X we simply write:
```
X <- ponderosa
```
plot the data;

To plot the data we do the following:
```
plot(X)
```
By the S3 method dispatch, this calls the plot.ppp function. The chars argument indicate that the point type should be be periods (“.”).
find out how many trees are recorded;

Both npoints and print.ppp displays the number of recorded trees:
```
npoints(X)
```
```
## [1] 108
```
```
print(X)
```
```
## Planar point pattern: 108 points
## window: rectangle = [0, 120] x [0, 120] metres
```
I.e. there are 108 trees in the dataset.
find the dimensions of the study region;

The dimensions of the observation window can be seen above. Alternatively, it can be directly assesed via
```
Window(X)
```
```
## window: rectangle = [0, 120] x [0, 120] metres
```

obtain an estimate of the average intensity of trees (number of trees per unit area).

The average intensity can be computed via intensity.ppp

intensity(X)

## [1] 0.0075

or the more expansive summary.ppp:

summary(X)

## Planar point pattern:  108 points
## Average intensity 0.0075 points per square metre
## 
## Coordinates are given to 3 decimal places
## i.e. rounded to the nearest multiple of 0.001 metres
## 
## Window: rectangle = [0, 120] x [0, 120] metres
## Window area = 14400 square metres
## Unit of length: 1 metre

Exercise 2

The Ponderosa data, continued:

When you type plot(ponderosa), the command that is actually executed is plot.ppp, the plot method for point patterns. Read the help file for the function plot.ppp, and find out which argument to the function can be used to control the main title for the plot;

From the documentation, the argument that controls the title is main as is also the case in the regular generic plot.
plot the Ponderosa data with the title Ponderosa Pine Trees above it;
```
plot(ponderosa, main = "Ponderosa Pine Trees")
```
from your reading of the help file, predict what will happen if we type
```
plot(ponderosa, chars="X", cols="green")
```
then check that your guess was correct;

Each point will be plotted as an green “X” and indeed:
```
plot(ponderosa, chars="X", cols="green")
```
try different values of the argument chars, for example, one of the integers 0 to 25, or a letter of the alphabet. (Note the difference between chars=3 and chars="+", and the difference between chars=4 and chars="X").

There are subtle differences in the actual character/point types plotted. When given a string literal, the actual character is plotted as the point type.
```
plot(ponderosa, chars=3, cols="green")
```
```
plot(ponderosa, chars="+", cols="green")
```
```
plot(ponderosa, chars=4, cols="green")
```
```
plot(ponderosa, chars="X", cols="green")
```

Exercise 3

The dataset japanesepines contains the locations of Japanese Black Pine trees in a study region.

Plot the japanesepines data.

We use the generic plot function which is dispatched to plot.ppp:
```
plot(japanesepines)
```
What is the average intensity (the average number of points per unit area?

The average intensity can be computed via intensity.ppp:
```
intensity(japanesepines)
```
```
## [1] 65
```
Using density.ppp, compute a kernel estimate of the spatially-varying intensity function for the Japanese pines data, using a Gaussian kernel with standard deviation \(\sigma=0.1\) units, and store the estimated intensity in an object D say.

From the documentation (?density.ppp) we see that the following will work:
```
D <- density(japanesepines, sigma = 0.1)
```
Plot a colour image of the kernel estimate D.

The plotting of the colour image is automatically done by dispatched call to the plot.im method by calling plot on the im object.
```
plot(D, main = "")
```
Most plotting commands will accept the argument add=TRUE and interpret it to mean that the plot should be drawn over the existing display, without clearing the screen beforehand. Use this to plot a colour image of the kernel estimate D with the original Japanese Pines data superimposed.

We can use the add = TRUE functionality of the plotting methods.
```
plot(D, main = "")
plot(japanesepines, add = TRUE, cols = "white", cex = 0.5, pch = 16)
```

Lab 1: Introduction – solution

Exercise 1

Exercise 2

Exercise 3