The 20th FIFA football World Cup took place in Brazil from 12 June to 13 July 2014. The national teams of 31
countries and Brazil played 64 matches in 12 stadiums across the country.
Brazil, the largest country in both South America and Latin America is the world’s fifth largest country in terms of population and size. In 2010, the population of Brazil was 190,732,694, although this number has grown considerably since then.
The average population density, in number of people per square kilometre was 23.28 in 2011, according to the World Bank. However, the distribution of people is very uneven in Brazil.
World cup 2014 poster
Image courtesy of http://www.copa2014.gov.br/en/noticia/2014-fifa-world-cup-ambassadors-unveil-official-poster under the Licença Creative Commons Atribuição 3.0 Brasil
The stadiums are located in 12 state capitals and cover all the main regions of Brazil.
Map adapted from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_FIFA_World_Cup_venues
Regular Random Clustered
The technique is best applied to a sample size of 30 or more locations – however, a Nearest Neighbour Analysis can be used to consider the locations of the 12 World Cup 2014 stadiums if a suitable warning as to the validity and interpretation of the result is given.
Nearest Neighbour Analysis
The Nearest Neighbour Analysis statistic is calculated from the formula:
R
n
= 2đ √
A
n
đ is the mean of the distance observed between each location and its nearest neighbour, n is the number of sampled locations – for this analysis, n = 12
and A is the area under consideration.
Distances need to be measured accurately, as straight-line measurements in kilometres.
The area must also be measured in square kilometres. Brazil occupies approximately half of South America, with a total area of 8,514,215 km2. This
Student tasks
Using the map of the World Cup 2014 stadiums and Google Earth, complete the table below to calculate the nearest neighbour analysis value.
From stadium To nearest
stadium Distance (km)
Belo Horizonte Rio de Janeiro 346
Brasília Belo Horizonte 614
Cuiabá Curitiba Fortaleza Manaus Natal Porto Alegre Recife Rio de Janeiro Salvador São Paulo Total distance Mean distance
R
n
= 2đ √
A
n
The Nearest Neighbour Analysis will always generate a result between 0 and 2.15. Values of 2.15 indicate a regular pattern of the distribution, values close to a value of one indicate a random distribution and values of zero indicate a clustered distribution.
Extension task
Calculate the Nearest Neighbour Analysis value using the distribution of the World Cup 2014 teams’ training camps.
Team City Team City
Algeria Sorocaba Greece Aracaju
Argentina Vespasiano Honduras Porto Feliz
Australia Vitória Iran Guarulhos
Belgium Mogi das
Cruzes Italy Mangaratiba
Bosnia and
Herzegovina Guarujá Ivory Coast
Águas de Lindoia
Brazil Teresópolis Japan Itu
Cameroon Vitória Mexico Santos
Chile Horizonte Belo Netherlands Janeiro Rio de
Colombia Cotia Nigeria Campinas
Costa Rica Santos Portugal Campinas
Croatia Mata de São João Russia Itu
Ecuador Viamão South Korea Foz do Iguaçu
England Rio de
Janeiro Spain Curitiba
France Ribeirão Preto Switzerland Porto Seguro Germany Santa Cruz Cabrália United States São Paulo
From training camp
To nearest training
camp Distance (km)
Águas de Lindoia Ivory Coast
Aracaju Greece
Belo Horizonte Chile
Campinas Nigeria
Campinas Portugal
Cotia Colombia
Curitiba Spain
Foz do Iguaçu South Korea Guarujá Bosnia and Herzegovina
Guarulhos Iran
Itu Japan
Itu Russia
Maceió Ghana
Mangaratiba Italy Mata de São João Croatia
Mogi das Cruzes Belgium Porto Feliz Honduras Porto Seguro Switzerland Ribeirão Preto France Rio de Janeiro England Rio de Janeiro Netherlands Santa Cruz Cabrália Germany Santos Costa Rica
São Paulo United States Sete Lagoas Uruguay
Sorocaba Algeria Teresópolis Brazil Vespasiano Argentina Viamão Ecuador Vitória Australia Vitória Cameroon Total distance Mean distance N = 32 Area = 8,456,510 km2
R
n
= 2đ √
A
n
Suggested answer
Using Google Earth to measure the distances between the stadiums:
From stadium To nearest
stadium Distance (km)
Belo Horizonte Rio de Janeiro 346
Brasília Belo Horizonte 614
Cuiabá Brasília 882
Curitiba São Paulo 354
Fortaleza Natal 430
Manaus Cuiabá 1453
Natal Recife 244
Porto Alegre Cuiabá 546
Recife Natal 244
Rio de Janeiro Belo Horizonte 346
Salvador Recife 661
São Paulo Cuiabá 354
Total distance 6474 Mean distance 539.5
