ABSTRACT
GAMreflectstheviewthatusefulspatialanalysistoolshavetobeable tocopewithboththespecialnatureofspatialdataandend-userswhodo nothavedegreesinstatistics.Theresultshavealsotobeeasilyunderstood andself-evidentsothattheycanbereadilycommunicatedtoothernonexperts.Thisneedhasbeenclearlyexpressedasfollows:'Wewantapushbuttontoolofacademicrespectabilitywherealltheheavystuffhappens behindthescenesbuttheresultscannotbemisinterpreted'(Adrian McKeon,Infoshare:email,1997).Thereisalsoarequirementforthe resultstobeexpressedas'prettypictures'ratherthanstatistics.Thisallows theanalysttopresenttheresultstosuperiorswhohaveneitherthetime norbackgroundtounderstandtheresultsofacomplexmodelorstatistical analysis.Theyarehappythattheanalysishasbeencarriedoutina rigorouswaybutdonotneedtoknowthedetailsofthisprocess.
