PASSaGE 2: Software for spatial analysis and landscape ecology

Spatial analysis is a fundamental part of scientific inquiry, including ecological, evolutionary and environmental science, epidemiology, geology, geography, and mathematics.  Recent technological advances in genome sequencing, global positioning systems, and remote sensing have led to a rapid expansion of the number and size of spatially explicit datasets available for analysis.  These new data have advanced the scope of spatial analysis to an even broader variety of human endeavors, but have also rapidly outpaced the capabilities of traditional spatial analytic software and methods.  The need to overcome data limitations inherent in much of the specialized spatial analysis programs commonly available led to the development of PASSaGE: Pattern Analysis, Spatial Statistics, and Geographic Exegesis, a free, easy-to-use program for general spatial analysis.  With a fairly simple point-and-click, mouse- and menu-driven interface, but flexible and powerful analysis customization, PASSaGE has been a very popular system for analyzing data in spatial context in both the laboratory and the classroom.  The first version of PASSaGE has been downloaded by thousands of users from over 57 countries and 145 U.S. universities.  The soon-to-be released PASSaGE 2 builds on the success of the first version, adding more analyses and greater flexibility, while maintaining and enhancing the ease-of-use which made the first version so popular.  The software, information about its use, and the upcoming release may be found at http://www.passagesoftware.net.