What You See Is Not What Is There: Mechanisms, Models and Methods for Point Pattern Deviations
Journal article, 2026
Many natural systems are observed as point patterns in time, space, or space and time. Examples include plant and cellular systems, animal colonies, earthquakes and wildfires. In practice, the locations of the points are not always observed correctly. However, in the point process literature, there has been relatively scant attention paid to the issue of errors in the location of points. In this paper, we discuss how the observed point pattern may deviate from the actual point pattern and review methods and models that exist to handle such deviations. The discussion is supplemented with several scientific illustrations.
thinning
measurement error
point process
missing data
Ghost point
Key words and phrases
Author
Peter Guttorp
Norwegian Computing Center (NR)
Janine Illian
University of Glasgow
Joel Kostensalo
Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke)
Mikko Kuronen
Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke)
Mari Myllymaki
Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke)
Aila Särkkä
University of Gothenburg
Chalmers, Mathematical Sciences, Applied Mathematics and Statistics
Thordis L. Thorarinsdottir
University of Oslo
Statistical Science
0883-4237 (ISSN)
Vol. 41 1 143-162Subject Categories (SSIF 2025)
Earth and Related Environmental Sciences
Mathematical sciences
DOI
10.1214/24-STS953