Assembling a collection of very prominent researchers in the field, the Handbook of Spatial Statistics presents a comprehensive treatment of both classical and state-of-the-art aspects of this maturing area. It takes a unified, integrated approach to the material, providing cross-references among chapters.

The handbook begins with a historical introduction detailing the evolution of the field. It then focuses on the three main branches of spatial statistics: continuous spatial variation (point referenced data); discrete spatial variation, including lattice...