Geary's C

Geary's C is a statistical measure used in spatial analysis to assess how similar or different neighboring areas are based on a specific value, such as income or disease rates. Essentially, it evaluates whether similar values tend to cluster together (positive spatial autocorrelation) or are randomly distributed. Values of Geary's C near 1 suggest a random pattern, less than 1 indicate clustering of similar values, and greater than 1 imply a dispersed pattern. It helps researchers understand spatial relationships, identifying areas of high or low values that may be geographically related.