Areal Weighted Interpolation • areal
Description: A pipeable, transparent implementation of areal weighted interpolation with support for interpolating multiple variables in a single function call. These tools provide a full-featured workflow for validation and estimation that fits into both modern data management (e.g. tidyverse) and spatial data (e.g. sf) frameworks.

# areal

Areal interpolation is the process making estimates from a source set of polygons to an overlapping but incongruent set of target polygons. One challenge with areal interpolation is that, while the processes themselves are well documented in the academic literature, implementing them often involves “reinventing the wheel.” While the `R` package `sf` does offer a basic interface for areal weighted interpolation (`st_interpolate_aw`), it lacks some features that we use in our work. The `areal` package contains a suite tools for validation and estimation, providing a full-featured workflow that fits into both modern data management (e.g. `tidyverse`) and spatial data (e.g. `sf`) frameworks.

### Joural of Open Souce Software Article

An article describing `areal`’s approach to areal weighted interpolation has been published in the The Journal of Open Source Software. The article includes benchmarking of `areal` performance on several data sets. Please cite the paper if you use `areal` in your work!

## Quick Start

If the `sf` package is already installed, the easiest way to get `areal` is to install it from CRAN:

    install.packages("areal")

Alternatively, the development version of `areal` can be accessed from GitHub with `remotes`:

    # install.packages("remotes")
    remotes::install_github("slu-openGIS/areal")

Additional details, including some tips for installing `sf`, can be found in the Get started article.

## Resources

In addition to instructions for installation, the main Get started article has:

- a quick overview of areal interpolation,
- some notes on preparing data for interpolation,
- a brief introduction to the `aw_interpolate()` function,
- tips for getting help and submitting feedback,
- and the `areal` package’s development roadmap!

This site also offers dedicated articles on data preparation and using `areal` for areal weighted interpolation.