Open AccessMBGapp: A Shiny application for teaching model-based geostatistics to population health scientists
Author(s) -
Olatunji Johnson,
Claudio Fronterrè,
Peter J. Diggle,
Benjamin Amoah,
Emanuele Giorgi
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
plos one
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.99
H-Index - 332
ISSN - 1932-6203
DOI - 10.1371/journal.pone.0262145
Subject(s) - usability , computer science , geostatistics , web application , population , data science , statistical analysis , human–computer interaction , world wide web , statistics , mathematics , medicine , environmental health , spatial variability
User-friendly interfaces have been increasingly used to facilitate the learning of advanced statistical methodology, especially for students with only minimal statistical training. In this paper, we illustrate the use of MBGapp for teaching geostatistical analysis to population health scientists. Using a case-study on Loa loa infections, we show how MBGapp can be used to teach the different stages of a geostatistical analysis in a more interactive fashion. For wider accessibility and usability, MBGapp is available as an R package and as a Shiny web-application that can be freely accessed on any web browser. In addition to MBGapp, we also present an auxiliary Shiny app, called VariagramApp, that can be used to aid the teaching of Gaussian processes in one and two dimensions using simulations.