fsr: An R package for fuzzy spatial data handling

Abstract

AbstractSpatial libraries are core components in many geographic information systems, spatial database systems, and spatial data science projects. These libraries provide the implementation of spatial type systems that include spatial data types and a large diversity of geometric operations. Their focus relies on handling crisp spatial objects, which are characterized by an exact location and a precisely defined extent, shape, and boundary in space. However, there is an increasing interest in analyzing spatial phenomena characterized by fuzzy spatial objects, which have inexact locations, vague boundaries, and/or blurred interiors. Unfortunately, available spatial libraries do not provide support for fuzzy spatial objects. In this article, we describe the R package named fsr, which is based on the Spatial Plateau Algebra and is publicly available at https://cran.r‐project.org/package=fsr. Our tool provides methods for building fuzzy spatial objects as spatial plateau objects and conducting exploratory spatial data analysis by using fuzzy spatial operations.