## Introduction

As stated in the vignette (Network Kernel Density Estimate), it is possible to use adaptive bandwidths instead of a fixed bandwidth to adapt the level of smoothing of the NKDE locally. The default approach is to use the method proposed by Abramson (1982), implying a variation of the bandwidth that is inversely proportional to the square root of the target density itself. However, one can also specified the bandwidths to use for each event directly and thus try other approaches. We give in this vignette some examples.

## K nearest neighbours adaptive bandwidth for NKDE

For each event, the K nearest neighbour distance could be used as a locally adapted bandwidth for intensity estimation. This method is called the k-nearest neighbour kernel density estimation method .

To apply it in spNetwork, one can use the network_knn function. The first step is to load the required packages and data.

# first load data and packages
library(sf)
library(spNetwork)
library(tmap)
library(ggplot2)
library(RColorBrewer)
library(classInt)
library(viridis)

data(mtl_network)
data(bike_accidents)

We must then aggregate the events that are very close.

bike_accidents$weight <- 1 bike_accidents_agg <- aggregate_points(bike_accidents, 15, weight = "weight") We can now calculate for each event its distance to its 20th neighbour. knn_dists <- network_knn(origins = bike_accidents_agg, lines = mtl_network, k = 20, maxdistance = 5000, line_weight = "length", digits = 2, tol = 0.1) bws <- knn_dists$distances[,20]

ggplot() +
geom_histogram(aes(x = bws), fill = "white", color = "black", bins = 50) +
labs(x = "distance to 20th neighbour (m)")

There is some events for which the 20th neighbour is very far. We decide here to trim the bandwidth at 1500m.


trimed_bw <- ifelse(bws > 1500, 1500, bws)

lixels <- lixelize_lines(mtl_network,200,mindist = 50)
samples <- lines_center(lixels)

densities <- nkde(lines = mtl_network,
events = bike_accidents_agg,
w = bike_accidents_agg$weight, samples = samples, kernel_name = "quartic", bw = trimed_bw, div= "bw", adaptive = FALSE, method = "discontinuous", digits = 1, tol = 1, grid_shape = c(1,1), verbose = FALSE, diggle_correction = FALSE, study_area = NULL, max_depth = 10, agg = NULL, sparse = TRUE) We can now map the result  # rescaling to help the mapping samples$density <- densities*1000

colorRamp <- brewer.pal(n = 7, name = "Spectral")
colorRamp <- rev(colorRamp)

samples2 <- samples[order(samples$density),] title <- paste0("bike accident density by kilometres in 2016,", "\nusing an adaptive bandwidth (20th nearest neighbour)") tm_shape(mtl_network) + tm_lines("black") + tm_shape(samples2) + tm_dots("density", style = "kmeans", palette = colorRamp, n = 7, size = 0.1) + tm_layout(legend.outside = TRUE, main.title = title, main.title.size = 1) It is easy to calculate the density for several distances and comparing the results with maps.  # calculating all the densities all_densities <- lapply(c(3,7,12,15,17,20), function(i){ bws <- knn_dists$distances[,i]
upper_trim <- quantile(bws, probs = 0.95)
trimed_bws <- ifelse(bws > upper_trim, upper_trim, bws)
densities <- nkde(lines = mtl_network,
events = bike_accidents_agg,
w = bike_accidents_agg$weight, samples = samples, kernel_name = "quartic", bw = trimed_bws, div= "bw", adaptive = FALSE, method = "discontinuous", digits = 1, tol = 1, grid_shape = c(1,1), verbose = FALSE, diggle_correction = FALSE, study_area = NULL, max_depth = 10, agg = NULL, sparse = TRUE) return(list("dens" = densities, "knn" = i)) }) ## calculating a shared discretization #all_values <- c(sapply(all_densities, function(x){x$dens}))
#color_breaks <- classIntervals(all_values * 1000, n = 7, style = "kmeans")

# producing all the maps
all_maps <- lapply(all_densities, function(element){

densities <- element$dens samples$density <- densities*1000

samples2 <- samples[order(samples$density),] title <- paste0("bike accident density by kilometres in 2016,", "\nusing an adaptive bandwidth (",element$knn,"th nearest neighbour)")

knnmap <- tm_shape(mtl_network) +
tm_lines("black") +
tm_shape(samples2) +
#tm_dots("density", breaks = color_breaks$brks, palette = viridis(7), size = 0.05) + tm_dots("density", n = 7, style = "kmeans", palette = colorRamp , size = 0.05) + tm_layout(legend.outside = TRUE, main.title = title, main.title.size = 1) return(knnmap) }) tmap_animation(all_maps, filename = "images/animated_densities.gif", width = 800, height = 800, dpi = 150, delay = 200, loop = TRUE) #> Creating frames #> ============= #> ============== #> ============= #> ============= #> ============== #> ============= #> #> Creating animation #> Animation saved to E:\R\Packages\spNetwork\vignettes\web_vignettes\images\animated_densities.gif knitr::include_graphics("images/animated_densities.gif") With no suprise, the larger the bandwidth, the smoother the results ## K nearest neighbours adaptive bandwidth for TNKDE This method can be extended to the spatio-temporal case. We propose here a two-steps approach: 1. Finding for each event its 20 nearest neighbours on the network. The distance to the last neighbour will be the local network bandwidth for this event. 2. Within the selected neighbours, calculating the median of the temporal distances with the event. This value will be used as the local time bandwidth for this event. This approach ensures that relatively small network bandwidths are selected, and limits the risk of obtaining very wide temporal bandwidths. It is well adapted if the events are characterized by strong spatio-temporal autocorrelation.  # creating a time variable bike_accidents$time <- as.POSIXct(bike_accidents$Date, format = "%Y/%m/%d") # associating each original event with its new location bike_accidents$locID <- dbscan::kNN(st_coordinates(bike_accidents_agg),
k = 1, query = st_coordinates(bike_accidents))$id[,1] # matrix of all reached agg events ids_mat <- knn_dists$id

# finding for each event its temporal distance to its neighbours
bike_accidents_table <- st_drop_geometry(bike_accidents)

temporal_mat <- sapply(1:nrow(bike_accidents_table), function(i){
loc_ids <- ids_mat[bike_accidents_table[i,"locID"],]
events <- subset(bike_accidents_table, bike_accidents_table$locID %in% loc_ids) dists <- abs(as.numeric(difftime(bike_accidents_table[i,"time"], events$time, units = "days")))
return(dists)
})

# calculating the medians
medians <- sapply(temporal_mat,median)
ggplot() +
geom_histogram(aes(x = medians), bins = 30, color = "white")

Once again, we could trim the obtained bandwidths and setting a limit at 120 days (4 months).

trimed_bws_time <- ifelse(medians > 120, 120, medians)

And we can now calculate the TNKDE with these bandwidths:


net_bws <- knn_dists$distance[bike_accidents$locID,20]
trimed_net_bws <- ifelse(net_bws > 1500, 1500, net_bws)

bike_accidents$int_time <- as.integer(difftime(bike_accidents$time,
min(bike_accidents$time), units = "days")) sample_time <- seq(0, max(bike_accidents$int_time), 15)

tnkde_densities <- tnkde(lines = mtl_network,
events = bike_accidents,
time_field = "int_time",
w = rep(1,nrow(bike_accidents)),
samples_loc = samples,
samples_time = sample_time,
kernel_name = "quartic",
bw_net = trimed_net_bws,
bw_time = trimed_bws_time,
div= "bw",
method = "discontinuous",
digits = 1,
tol = 1,
grid_shape = c(1,1),
verbose = FALSE,
diggle_correction = FALSE,
study_area = NULL,
max_depth = 10, agg = NULL, sparse = TRUE)

We can now create an animated map to display the results:

# creating a color palette for all the densities
library(classInt)
library(viridis)
all_densities <- c(tnkde_densities)
color_breaks <- classIntervals(all_densities, n = 10, style = "kmeans")

start <- min(bike_accidents$time) # generating a map at each sample time all_maps <- lapply(1:ncol(tnkde_densities), function(i){ time <- sample_time[[i]] date <- as.Date(start) + time lixels$density <- tnkde_densities[,i]
lixels <- lixels[order(lixels$density), ] map1 <- tm_shape(lixels) + tm_lines(col = "density", lwd = 1.5, breaks = color_breaks$brks, palette = viridis(10)) +
tm_layout(legend.show=FALSE, main.title = as.character(date), main.title.size = 0.5)
return(map1)
})

# creating a gif with all the maps
tmap_animation(all_maps, filename = "images/animated_map_tnkdeknn.gif",
width = 1000, height = 1000, dpi = 300, delay = 50)
knitr::include_graphics("images/animated_map_tnkdeknn.gif")

Abramson, Ian S. 1982. “On Bandwidth Variation in Kernel Estimates-a Square Root Law.” The Annals of Statistics, 1217–23.
Loftsgaarden, D. O., and C. P. Quesenberry. 1965. “A Nonparametric Estimate of a Multivariate Density Function.” The Annals of Mathematical Statistics 36 (3): 1049–51. https://doi.org/10.1214/aoms/1177700079.
Orava, Jan. 2011. “K-Nearest Neighbour Kernel Density Estimation, the Choice of Optimal k.” Tatra Mountains Mathematical Publications 50 (1): 39–50. https://doi.org/10.2478/v10127-011-0035-z.
Terrell, George R., and David W. Scott. 1992. “Variable Kernel Density Estimation.” The Annals of Statistics 20 (3): 1236–65. https://www.jstor.org/stable/2242011.