Define spatial analysis.

• A. The branch of mathematics dealing with the shape and area of the earth or large portions of it.
• B. A competitive sport in which participants find their way to various checkpoints across rough country with the aid of a map and compass, the winner being the one with the lowest elapsed time.
• C. Answering questions about relationships between objects by filtering, measuring, and overlaying spatial data.
• D. Examining and recording the area and features of an area to construct a map, plan, or description.

Answer: (C)

Spatial analysis is the process of answering questions about how features relate to one another in space by filtering, measuring, and overlaying spatial data. It focuses on the relationships and patterns among objects, using operations like distance calculations, containment checks, overlaps, and combining layers to reveal insights. In practice, you might determine which parcels are within a certain distance of a road, identify areas where two land-use types overlap, or compute the total area of a feature within a boundary. The best description here captures the idea of deriving meaning from spatial relationships through these kinds of data operations.

Other options describe different activities that aren’t about analyzing relationships among spatial features: describing the Earth’s shape is more geodesy, a sport is orienteering, and simply recording areas to make maps is mapping or surveying rather than analyzing spatial relationships.