In many areas of ecology there is an increasing emphasis on spatial relationships.

Often, ecological data are spatially-referenced, i.e. related directly to their locations,
usually in two-dimensional space.

Below are the mapped locations of 97 male tupelo trees.




Ecologists are interested in testing for randomness and quantifying spatial patterns.
The arrangement of the trees above is significantly non-random.

There is a version of SADIE for mapped data, such as those above.

According to the degree of spatial pattern present, so the interpretation of surveys and experiments in ecology differs.