Geostatistics on Real-Time Geodata Streams—High-Frequent Dynamic Autocorrelation with an Extended Spatiotemporal Moran’s I Index

The availability of spatial and spatiotemporal big data is increasing rapidly. Spatially and temporally high resolved data are especially gathered via the Internet of Things. This data can often be accessed as data streams that push new data tuples continuously and make the data available in real time. Such real-time spatiotemporal data have great potential for new analysis approaches based on modern data processing technologies. The ability to retrieve spatial big data in real time, as well as process it in real time, demands new analysis methodologies that catch up with the instantaneous and continuous character of today’s spatiotemporal data. In this work, we present an evaluation of a high-frequent dynamic spatiotemporal autocorrelation approach. This approach allows for geostatistical analysis of streaming spatiotemporal data in real time and can provide insights into spatiotemporal processes while they are still ongoing. To evaluate this new approach, it was applied to mobility data from New York City. The results show that a high-frequent dynamic spatiotemporal autocorrelation approach provides comparable and meaningful results. In this way, high-frequent geostatistical analyses in real time can become an addition to retrospective analyses based on historical data.