Bayesian approaches to spatial inference: Modelling and computational challenges and solutions

We discuss a range of Bayesian modelling approaches for spatial data and investigate some of the associated computational challenges. This paper commences with a brief review of Bayesian mixture models and Markov random fields, with enabling computational algorithms including Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) and integrated nested Laplace approximation (INLA). Following this, we focus on the Potts model as a canonical approach, and discuss the challenge of estimating the inverse temperature parameter that controls the degree of spatial smoothing. We compare three approaches to addressing the doubly intractable nature of the likelihood, namely pseudo-likelihood, path sampling and the exchange algorithm. These techniques are applied to satellite data used to analyse water quality in the Great Barrier Reef.