Logistic regression for spatial Gibbs point processes

Abstract

We propose a computationally efficient technique, based on logistic regression, for fitting Gibbs point process models to spatial point pattern data. The score of the logistic regression is an unbiased estimating function and is closely related to the pseudolikelihood score. Implementation of our technique does not require numerical quadrature, and thus avoids a source of bias inherent in other methods. For stationary processes, we prove that the parameter estimator is strongly consistent and asymptotically normal, and propose a variance estimator. We demonstrate the efficiency and practicability of the method on a real dataset and in a simulation study.