Üheks levinumaks komplikatsioonide allikaks ruumiliselt paiknevate objektide uurimisel on ruumiline autokorrelatsioon – lähestikku paiknevad kohad kipuvad olema sarnased ainuüksi selle pärast, et on lähestikku.
The interrelatedness of the various properties of a location is an important aspect of the nature of geographic data and is key to understanding how the world works [...]. But it is also a property that defines conventional statistical analysis, since most such methods assume zero spatial autocorrelation of sampled observations - in direct contradiction to Tobler's Law.