spbal: An R package for spatially balanced master sampling

Citation

Robertson, B., P. Davies, O. Gansell, P. van Dam-Bates, and T. L. McDonald (2024). “spbal: An R package for spatially balanced master sampling”. In: Australian & New Zealand Journal of Statistics (In Press).

Keywords

environmental sampling,master samples,panel designs,sampling software,spatial balance,spatial populations,surveys

Abstract

One of the most critical design features for sampling spatial populations is being able to draw spatially balanced samples. A substantial body of literature on sampling methodology has shown that spatially balanced samples can improve the precision of commonly used design-based estimators in various settings. Spatially balanced master samples offer several practical advantages for practitioners, including adjusting the sample size to match budgetary constraints, intensifying a previous sample, or defining a panel design for surveying over time. These designs are of practical importance and should be easy to generate with reliable and efficient software. The spbal R package provides explicit functionality for spatially balanced master sampling designs from point and areal resources. Stratified and panel designs are also possible with spbal. In this article, we demonstrate the flexibility of spbal with several example designs using spatial populations from New Zealand.