Set Dependent Variable

Monitoring Sites

From the dropdown menu select the point feature class containing the monitoring site locations (dependent variable). Each row (point) must be a unique location, i.e. there must be no spatial duplicates. The spatial extent of the monitoring site feature class must be smaller than and within the spatial extent of the study area.

The point feature class attribute table must contain a text field with IDs for the monitoring sites and one or more numeric fields with monitored data.

Select Site ID

From the dropdown menu select the text field, which shows IDs of the monitoring sites. The IDs must be unique and each point must have a value (i.e. the ID must not be missing). The wizard will automatically rename this field SiteID and add integer IDs to improve performance. However, model diagnostics will show the text IDs.

Dependent Variables

Tick all fields that contain monitored data and that you would like to develop a model for. These fields will be used as the dependent variable in the statistical analysis. Individual models will be developed for each dependent variable, i.e. if you tick more than one field, the corresponding number of models will be developed. Click the Select button. The selected feature class and fields will be imported into the LURdata feature dataset. Fields containing dependent variables will be automatically renamed using the following schema: dep[Original name of numeric field]. Predictor variables containing the X coordinate and Y coordinate of each site will be automatically added and will be called p_XCOORD and p_YCOORD.

If this step is completed successfully, a green tick mark will appear and the selected variables will appear under Outcomes Added. The Next > button will be activated. This completes the Outcomes step.

A warning message may appear, if the selected numeric fields for the dependent variable contain missing, zero or negative values. The user must decide whether this is acceptable or not. A minimum of 8 values is required for the statistical analysis.