Page 279 - Modern Spatiotemporal Geostatistics

260 Modern Spatiotemporal Geostatistics — Chapter 12

Figure 12.17. An example flowchart of S/TRF models and their relations.

The Emergence of the Computational
Viewpoint in BME Analysis

Chapters 2-12 provide an introduction to the world of modern spatiotemporal
geostatistics. Distinguishing characteristics of the BME model, which are of
considerable importance in the scientific analysis and mapping of spatiotem-
poral natural variables, were discussed. These characteristics include BME's
sound epistemic foundations, its considerable generalization power, its fertility,
the high correspondence of BME with reality and, of course, its beauty (which,
regretfully, cannot be captured by words). The generality of the BME model
has been emphasized throughout the book. Several demonstrations of this
generality have been offered, including the fact that most of the mapping tech-
niques of classical geostatistics are special cases of the BME model. Indeed,
BME does not discard the kriging methods, rather it shows them to be special
cases of limited application within a more general concept. In this sense, the
BME theory has been amply confirmed.
BME focuses on levels of spatiotemporal mapping as they relate to under-
standing. It produces elegant analytical formulations that are able to account
for physical knowledge bases of considerable complexity. Given the latter, which
reflect the complexity of real-world applications, future developments of BME
analysis should focus on computational issues as well. A natural consequence