Who can use this feature
Editors of a project within a Professional or Pro + workspace.
Selection requirements for tool to work
At least one polygon layer
Our vector summary statistics tool allows you to compare polygon layers by calculating key metrics such as total area, average size, feature distribution, and spatial relationships. This helps you quickly understand patterns, detect anomalies, and assess the spatial characteristics of your data—whether you're analyzing habitat extents, land parcel distributions, or change detection over time.
To calculate summary statistics from your polygon layers, follow these steps:
Create one or more polygon layers representing the areas or features that you would like to summarize. Each layer can have one or more features within it.
In the table of contents, select your polygon layers (use the ctrl / cmd key to multi-select ToC items).
With the correct items selected, click the
calculate statisticsbutton on the top menu bar (can also access via toolbox > analysis > calculate statistics).
When the analysis is complete, you will see three graphs and a summary table.
Understanding the graphs
Click on any graph to expand it - this will make it easier to see and interact with.
You can show or hide the results for each polygon layer on the graph by clicking its name in the legend.
Total area
The Donut Chart visually compares the area coverage of each polygon layer. The total area of all analyzed layers is displayed in the center. Hovering over a section reveals the layer name, its area, and its percentage of the total. This helps you quickly understand how different layers contribute to the overall area distribution.
Frequency distribution
The Frequency Distribution Chart shows how feature sizes are distributed within a polygon layer. The x-axis represents the area of individual features, while the y-axis indicates how many features fall within each size range. This helps identify common feature sizes, detect outliers, and understand the overall distribution of areas within the dataset.
Below the x-axis, an interactive 'focus slider' lets you adjust the graph to focus on a specific range of values. You can reset the focus to full range at any time.
Compare
The Lollipop Chart compares polygon layers based on a selected statistic. The x-axis lists the polygon layers, while the y-axis represents the chosen metric (e.g., total area, feature count, compactness). Users can switch between different statistics to easily compare values across layers and identify patterns or anomalies in their data.
Understanding the table
By default, the summary table is collapsed. You can expand and collapse individual statistics one at a time, or opt to expand / collapse all.
We calculate the following statistics:
Total area
Average area
Standard deviation of area
Minimum area
Maximum area
Median area
Feature count
Compactness
Nearest neighbour index
The statistics unit for the area measurements (e.g. m2, ft2) will be the same as your project unit. If you would like to change your measurement units, follow these instructions.