---
path: docs/layers/spatial-analysis
title: "Spatial Analysis"
desc: "Run spatial analysis operations without writing code."
date: "Apr 2, 2026"
---

# Spatial Analysis

GISOwl includes a no-code spatial analysis toolkit accessible from the Layers panel. Run common geospatial operations directly in the browser.

## Available Operations

### Buffer
Create a buffer zone around features at a specified distance. Choose between round, flat, or square end caps. Output is a new polygon layer.

### Intersect
Find the geometric intersection of two layers. The output contains only the areas where both layers overlap, with attributes merged from both.

### Union
Merge two layers into a single layer, combining all geometries and dissolving shared boundaries.

### Clip
Cut one layer using the boundary of another. Features outside the clip boundary are removed.

### Difference
Subtract one layer's geometry from another. Useful for finding areas in layer A that are not covered by layer B.

### Nearest Neighbor
For each feature in layer A, find the closest feature in layer B. Output includes the distance and the matched feature's attributes.

### Dissolve
Merge features within a single layer based on a shared attribute value. For example, dissolve census tracts into counties by the `county_name` field.

### Centroid
Generate point features at the geometric center of each polygon.

## Running an Analysis

1. Right-click a layer and select **Spatial Analysis**.
2. Choose the operation.
3. Select the second layer (if applicable) and configure parameters.
4. Click **Run**. A new layer is created with the results.

## Performance

Spatial analysis runs server-side on GISOwl's PostGIS backend. Operations on large datasets (100k+ features) may take a few seconds. Progress is shown in the status bar.

## Next Steps

- [AI SQL Queries](/docs/owl-ai/ai-sql-queries) — Write custom spatial queries.
- [Filters](/docs/layers/filters) — Filter features by attribute or location.