Spatial-Temporal Analysis and Visualization of Rural Development Works Implemented Under World's Largest Social Safety Programme in India-a Case Study

Regional- and national-level studies by researchers across the globe have used exploratory spatial data analysis (ESDA) to reveal interesting facts about the various environmental socioeconomic issues. However, its utility in rural development and planning has not been demonstrated at large. We used hotspot and emerging hotspot analysis tools of ESDA to analyse the spatial and temporal clustering of rural assets created under the world's largest social safety programme, i.e. MGNREGA, in Prakasam district of Andhra Pradesh, India. Results of hotspot and emerging hotspot analysis show that most of the assets tend to cluster at village level at selected locations and particular periods during the course of the project implementation. It also highlights the complementary nature of the two approaches in intuitively differentiating the geotagged rural assets. We also deployed a three-dimensional approach for visualizing the spatio-temporal associations among the event regions that enable a better understanding of the underlying spatial processes and the reasons behind their creation at a specific location by further corroborating with other spatial inputs and information. We conclude that ESDA tools are highly useful for simultaneous visualization of spatial and temporal clusters. The empirical results presented in the study could be helpful and valuable in enhanced planning and implementation of MGNREGA as well as other similar rural development programmes.