POIvariation

POIvariation is a metric used to quantify variation in Points of Interest within a geographic area. It integrates how many POIs exist (density), how diverse the POI categories are (diversity), and how they are spatially arranged (distribution).

Data sources for POIvariation typically include open data such as OpenStreetMap, municipal POI registries, and commercial datasets. POIvariation can be computed for a fixed grid or administrative boundary and can be assessed for a single snapshot or across a time series to capture changes.

Measurement components. POI density measures the count of POIs per unit area. Diversity assesses category variety, using indices such as Shannon entropy or Simpson index. Spatial distribution captures clustering or dispersion, using metrics like Moran's I or Ripley's K. A composite POIvariation score may be formed by normalizing each component and applying weighted aggregation.

Applications. The metric supports urban planning, tourism development, retail and service location decisions, and accessibility analysis. Limitations include data incompleteness, category misclassification, biases in data sources, and sensitivity to spatial scale and boundary definitions.

Variations. Researchers may study temporal POIvariation to monitor neighborhood change, compare regions, or tailor weights to emphasize certain POI types. Related concepts include points of interest, spatial statistics, and diversity indices.