A Review of Spatial Interpolation Methods for Environmental Scientists

A review paper from the Australian Ocean Data Network compares 62 spatial interpolation methods across 51 comparative studies. It quantifies the impact of factors like sample density and data variation using data from 77 cases and classifies 26 methods based on their features. The paper also provides a decision tree for method selection and a list of relevant software packages.

Use Cases

• Selecting an interpolation method based on data availability and nature using the provided decision tree.
• Comparing the performance of non-geostatistical, geostatistical, and combined interpolation methods for environmental variables.
• Understanding the impact of sampling design, data quality, and variable correlation on interpolation accuracy.
• Identifying software packages suitable for implementing specific spatial interpolation techniques.

Strengths

• Summarizes 51 comparative studies on interpolation method performance.
• Compares 62 methods and sub-methods across the reviewed studies.
• Quantifies impacts using data from 77 cases.
• Provides a decision tree for selecting from 26 classified methods.

Limitations

• Description metadata is limited; actual data quality requires manual inspection after download.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.

Provenance

Source

Australian Ocean Data Network

Collection Method

Literature review and comparative analysis of existing studies.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-06-04 07:00:06.719894; freshness should be verified.