Geographic information and spatial analysis

The Institut offers customized geographic information analysis and mapping services. These services are available to departments and agencies and to researchers using our data access services.

These services are billed according to the Institut’s rates.

Spatial analysis approaches data differently, by placing pre-existing data on a map (geocoding process). It thus becomes possible to study their location and spatial interactions (proximity, organization, etc.). Statistical information from various sources can also easily be added, with location used as the join key.

Main analytical methods (based on available information)

• Analysis of the statistical distribution and join of socio-economic variables;
• Density analysis of a phenomenon;
• Spatial interpolation: going from point information to continuous information (covering the entire study area);
• Spatial autocorrelation (estimation of the spatial dependence between the values of a given variable in different locations within the territory).

These different analyses significantly enhance all types of data and support the decision-making process. Spatial analysis is based on georeferenced microdata (address, postal code, or geographic coordinates).

A picture is worth a thousand words. The same goes for a map: it easily illustrates a phenomenon and can even summarize an analysis.

The Institut has powerful mapping tools. From standard thematic maps integrated into reports to interactive online maps representing several phenomena simultaneously at different spatial scales: we have the solution.

There are many types of thematic maps:

• representation of a statistical distribution for a given geography (demographic change, per capita income, employment rate, etc.);
• land cover of a territory by class (environment);
• illustration of a phenomenon on a local scale,
• spatial analysis results,
• etc.