Heterogeneous Distance Measures and Nearest-Neighbor Classification in an Ecological Setting

Abstract

Deriving a suitable heterogeneous distance measure that mixes continuous and categorical attributes is a difficult problem with a variety of applications. We developed the Scaled Heterogeneous Euclidean Overlap Metric (SHEOM) and we adapted the Interpolated Value Difference Metric (IVDM) from Wilson and Martinez [2, 3]. Our adaptation of the IVDM utilizes output classes given by a continuous response variable. We applied both distance measures in a nearest-neighbor classification for an ecological assessment. Both of the distance measures we applied were shown to be improvements on the simpler Heterogeneous Euclidean Overlap Metric when used in this ecological assessment setting.