spacial

Spacial is an adjective relating to space, position, or the arrangement of objects in space. In contemporary English, the standard spelling is spatial, and most dictionaries treat spacial as a variant or obsolete form. Spacial appears more rarely today and is sometimes found in historical texts, in older scientific literature, or in regional or stylistic usages.

Etymology-wise, the word derives from space, via Latin spatium, with the suffix -al forming adjectives. The dominant modern form is spatial, while spacial is a variant that has largely fallen out of common usage. Some writers persist with spacial in specific contexts, but it is generally considered nonstandard by major style guides.

Usage-wise, spatial is the preferred term in geography, cartography, GIS, architecture, and cognitive science when describing the organization of objects or data in space. When spacial occurs, it is typically seen in older documents or in narrowly defined contexts, and modern practice usually substitutes spatial. In fields such as spatial analysis or spatial reasoning, the standardized spelling is almost always spatial, even when discussing historical materials that may contain the variant.

See also: spatial, spatial data, spatial analysis.