SpatialMedian

SpatialMedian[{x1,x2,}]

gives the spatial median of the elements .

SpatialMedian[data]

gives the spatial median for several different forms of data.

Details and Options

Examples

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Basic Examples  (3)

Find the spatial median of a list of vectors:

Find the spatial median of a list of vectors with given weights:

Compute the spatial median of geo locations:

Scope  (5)

Same inputs with different precisions:

Spatial median works with WeightedData:

Spatial median of a large array:

Weighted spatial median:

Spatial median of data involving quantities:

Compute the spatial median of geodetic positions:

Options  (4)

DistanceFunction  (2)

By default, EuclideanDistance is used for numerical data:

The ChessboardDistance only takes into account the dimension with the largest separation:

DistanceFunction can be given as a symbol:

Or as a pure function:

Method  (2)

Specify the initial point for the iterative procedure of spatial median:

"NMinimize" and the method options of FindMinimum can be used:

Use with specified DistanceFunction:

Applications  (8)

Obtain a robust estimate of a multivariate location when outliers are present:

Extreme values have a large influence on the Mean:

Consider data from a Gaussian mixture distribution:

Estimate the center with Mean:

The sample mean estimator has a large spread for non-Gaussian data. The standard deviation of the estimator is:

Estimate the center with SpatialMedian:

Assess the spread via bootstrapping. The spatial median has a smaller spread compared to the mean:

Consider the stock prices of five companies: GOOG, MSFT, FB, AAPL and INTC in 2015 as five-dimensional data:

Compute the log returns and estimate the center using Mean and SpatialMedian:

Fit the data with MultivariateTDistribution and extract the location parameters:

Spatial median estimator gives a closer estimate to the location parameters of multivariate t distribution than the empirical mean with the given stock data:

With the number of points equal to 3, spatial median is also the Fermat point:

Create equilateral triangles on each side:

Construct the Fermat point geometrically and compare it with the result of SpatialMedian (red):

Sample points from a convex polygon:

Estimate the center of the polygon by computing the spatial median of random points:

Find the spatial median of California based on the locations of cities:

Find the spatial median of California based on the locations of cities, weighted by population:

Draw the city locations (gray), unweighted spatial median (red) and weighted spatial median (black):

For geo locations that are far enough apart on the surface of the Earth, the spatial median depends significantly on the choice of the distance function:

The spatial median under GeoPosition:

The spatial median of the projected coordinates under EuclideanDistance:

Show the locations of the spatial medians and the cities:

Centroids of geographic entities can be approximated by the spatial median of the uniformly sampled geo locations. Obtain the country polygon of Spain:

Sample points from the region and compute the corresponding spatial median:

Find the closest city from the spatial median:

Visualize the results:

Properties & Relations  (5)

SpatialMedian is a multivariate location measure:

Compute the spatial median:

Mean is also a location measure:

Visualize the data points with spatial median and mean:

SpatialMedian is the L1 location estimator of spatial points:

Compute SpatialMedian from the definition with FindMinimum:

Visualize the sum of distances function:

Mean (or spatial mean) is the L2 location estimator of spatial points:

Compute Mean from the definition with FindMinimum:

Visualize the sum of distances function:

SpatialMedian is the same as Median for univariate data:

SpatialMedian under ManhattanDistance for multivariate data is the same as Median:

SpatialMedian finds a point in the domain that minimizes the sum of distances:

CentralFeature finds a point that belongs to the data that minimizes the sum of distances:

The sum of distances with respect to CentralFeature is greater than or equal to the one with respect to SpatialMedian:

Wolfram Research (2017), SpatialMedian, Wolfram Language function, https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/SpatialMedian.html.

Text

Wolfram Research (2017), SpatialMedian, Wolfram Language function, https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/SpatialMedian.html.

CMS

Wolfram Language. 2017. "SpatialMedian." Wolfram Language & System Documentation Center. Wolfram Research. https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/SpatialMedian.html.

APA

Wolfram Language. (2017). SpatialMedian. Wolfram Language & System Documentation Center. Retrieved from https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/SpatialMedian.html

BibTeX

@misc{reference.wolfram_2023_spatialmedian, author="Wolfram Research", title="{SpatialMedian}", year="2017", howpublished="\url{https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/SpatialMedian.html}", note=[Accessed: 18-March-2024 ]}

BibLaTeX

@online{reference.wolfram_2023_spatialmedian, organization={Wolfram Research}, title={SpatialMedian}, year={2017}, url={https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/SpatialMedian.html}, note=[Accessed: 18-March-2024 ]}