GIS methods to research spatial inequality of population income distribution in Argentina

Argentina is a country with a very specific system of territorial division carried out for the optimization of public administration and collection of statistics. Historically developed spatial heterogeneity of socio-economic development has several specific features, as well as non-trivial factors, due to which the country is formed by a peculiar pattern of territorial inequalities. In addition to administrative divisions into provinces and departments, Argentina has a number of statistical division grids for the lower scale levels. However, the organization of the collection of statistical data for different levels of territorial division is not optimal: for a number of regions, statistical data in the public domain are practically absent, or presented in aggregated form. The aim of the research is to identify territorial differences in socio-economic development between regions and at various scale levels. The use of GIS methods made it possible to obtain the missing data for the lower level of territorial division, such as the spatial data on the administrative boundaries, population and income. The analysis of spatial autocorrelation of income distribution in Argentina can identify regions of growth as well as the influence of local factors on the territorial inequality in Argentina. The value of the coefficient of spatial autocorrelation of population income is one of the highest around the world.