We study the continuous evaluation of spatial join queries and extensions thereof, defined by interesting combinations of sensor readings (events) that co-occur in a spatial neighborhood. An example of such a pattern is "a high temperature reading in the vicinity of at least four high-pressure readings". We devise acquisitional and distributed protocols for evaluating this class of queries, aiming at the minimization of energy consumption. Cases of simple and complex join queries with single or multi-hop distance constraints are considered. Finally, we experimentally compare the effectiveness of the proposed solutions on an experimental platform that simulates real sensor networks. Our results show that acquisitional protocols perform best for multi-hop or high-selectivity queries while distributed techniques should be applied for the remaining cases.