Applications in the field of spatial statistics are increasing rapidly: more and more people are interested in incorporating space into their analyses rather than simply dichotomizing or otherwise simplifying the treatment of spatial information. GIS is leading this growth, in the sense thataccessto spatial information is pushing the demand for — and the development of — new techniques. While the major players of GIS (such as Are View and MapInfo) are increasing our access to geo-referenced information, our appreciation of this newfound power must be tempored by the reality that many of the new users don't know much at all about spatial analysis: as Daniel Griffith has said, “… as the issue of computational intensity subsides, and GIS software becomes increasingly user-friendly, more ubiquitously available, and a source for implementing spatial statistical techniques, the danger of malpractice by the non-specialist practitioner grows[23].” We describe in this brief introduction a few of the freely available tools which interested users can count on to help them to get started.