GIS – Course Outline

➲ Fundamentals of GIS; techniques and applications

➲ Principles, GIS development, geographic data sets
➲ Analysis of geographic data
➲ Software and equipments
➲ Relational databases, spatial data infrastructure and management
➲ Information management methodologies and infrastructure
➲ Geospatial data centers, global and regional frameworks
➲ Disaster management
➲ Community based knowledge and needs assessment
➲ Image processing and analysis
➲ Data sharing agreements and Information security

Overview
 GIS stands for 'Geographical(Geospartial) Information System'.
 Geography is the study of the Earth's surface and climate, and is the founding
science to GIS
 Geographic refers to Earth’s surface and near surface while Spatial refers to
any space (more general).
 Geographical / Geospartial is:
o information about places on the earth’s surface
o knowledge about “what is where when” (NB: time is important)
 Geography furnishes information about the Earth and distinguishes how
features upon the Earth correlate with one another
o Example: basic geographic study involves how climate and landforms
interrelate with inhabitants, soil, and vegetation.
 Data are intimately concerned with the properties of such objects and hold
attributes that can be associated to other types of geodata
 Geography as with for other subjects, stipulates the use of ICT to gain access
to additional information sources and to assist in handling, presenting and
analyzing spatial information.
 Data representing the real world can be stored and processed so that they can
be presented later in simplified forms to suit specific needs.

Definition of GIS
 A (computer) system for capturing, storing, checking, integrating,
manipulating, analyzing, and displaying data which are spatially referenced to
the Earth. This is normally considered to involve a spatially referenced
computer database and appropriate application software.
 GIS can also be defined as: Activity by which people do
o Measure aspects of geographic phenomena and processes;
o Represent these measurements, usually in the form of computer
database, to emphasize spatial themes, entities, and relationships;
o Operate upon these representations to produce more measurements
and to discover new relationships by integrating disparate sources; and
o Transform these representations to conform to other entities and
relationships.

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 The sources of spatial data could be maps, field surveys, censuses , aerial
photographs and satellite imagery.
 The ability of GIS to combine spatial data from different sources and non-
spatial data (attribute data) distinguishes it from other data processing
softwares.
 The data sets vary in format, accuracy, level of detail, reference etc.
 If you use a computer or a cell phone, you have probably already used a GIS
in some form without even realising it. Maybe it was a map on a web site,
Google Earth, an information booth or your cell phone telling you where you
are.
 General thinking of a GIS
o Maps, Photos taken from aircrafts, Satellite images, ETC
o Generally where, what is there, why? Etc
o How can these be represented digitally in the form of zeros and ones?
o If we can express the contents of a map or image in digital form, the
power of the computer open an enormous range of possibilities for
communication, analysis, modeling, and accurate decision making.
 Simply: In GIS, geographic data are transformed into geographic information
 Geographic data begins as a raw positional feature data holding attributes
 These data are the overlaid with complementary and/or contrasting data sets,
which form coincident relationships
 Data and relationships are analyzed, geoprocessed, and presented as
geographic information products
 Geography as with for other subjects, stipulates the use of ICT to gain access
to additional information sources and to assist in handling, presenting and
analyzing spatial information.
 Data representing the real world can be stored and processed so that they can
be presented later in simplified forms to suit specific needs.

 A GIS consists of:

o Digital Data – the geographical information that you will view and
analyse using computer hardware and software.
o Computer Hardware – computers used for storing data, displaying
graphics and processing data.
o Computer Software – computer programs that run on the computer
hardware and allow you to work with digital data. A software program
that forms part of the GIS is called a GIS Application.
 A GIS application to deal with spatial information on a computer. With a
GIS application you can open digital maps on your computer, create new
spatial information to add to a map, create printed maps customised to your
needs and perform spatial analysis.
 GIS environments centralize both data collection and information management
to save time, minimize technical effort, and automate known repetitive
administrative tasks.
 GIS is often represented by a geographic data model which is an industry or
discipline-specific template for geographic data.
 This model offers the user flexibility in the design of the file management and
database hierarchy.
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  Geodatabase: collection of geographic data sets, real-world object definitions,
and relationships

Other related Geographic Information Technologies

 Global Positioning Systems (GPS)
o a system of earth-orbiting satellites which can provide precise location
on the earth’s surface (in latitude/longitude coordinates or equivalent.)
 Remote Sensing (RS)
o use of satellites or aircraft to capture information about the earth’s
surface
o Digital ortho images a key product (map accurate digital photos)
 Geographic Information Systems (GIS)
o Software systems with capability for input, storage,
manipulation/analysis and output/display of geographic (spatial)
information
NB: GPS and RS are sources of input data for a GIS. A GIS provides for storing and
manipulating GPS and RS data.

Related Discplines
 Cartography and Computer Assisted drafting: computers offer the same
advantages to cartographers that word-processing software offers writers.
Automated techniques are now the rule rather than exception in cartographic
production.
 Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing : Aerial photogrammetry, a well –
established technique for cartographic production and geographic analysis, is
now complimented by the use of 'remotely sensed' information gathered by
satellites in outer space. ICT have made both readily available and far easier
to use.
 Spatial Statistics: Statistical analysis and modeling of spatial patterns and
processes have long relied on computer technology. Advances in information
technology have made these techniques more widely accessible and have
allowed models to expand in complexity and scale to provide more accurate
depictions of real-world processes
 Geographic Information Systems : these systems allow geographers to
collate and analyze information far more readily that is possible with traditional
research techniques.

Why study GIS? – GIS Application

• Most of local government activities estimated to be geographically based
– plats, zoning, public works (streets, water supply, sewers), garbage
collection, land ownership and valuation, public safety (fire and police)
• a significant portion of state government has a geographical component
– natural resource management
– highways and transportation
• businesses use GIS for a very wide array of applications
– retail site selection & customer analysis
– logistics: vehicle tracking & routing
– natural resource exploration (petroleum, etc.)
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 – precision agriculture
– civil engineering and construction
• Military and defense
– Battlefield management
– Satellite imagery interpretation
– land form visualisation
– visibility analysis
• scientific research employs GIS
– geography, geology, botany
– anthropology, sociology, economics, political science
– Epidemiology, criminology
• environment
– management of natural resources
• land, forest, marine, etc.
– monitoring/control of environmental pollution
– environment impact study
• infrastructure
– transport and irrigation management and maintenance
– utility management and maintenance
• electric, water, gas, telephone, etc.
• socio-economy
– town and country planning
– monitoring of population migration
– disperse of resources/services
• clinics, schools, etc

Benefits of GIS
• improves/enhances the effects of physical/environmental growth
• better management of resources
• adding new value-added services
• perform analysis on spatial and non spatial components
• fast recall of data
• ability for complex analysis
• recalling of non spatial data through object location
• display of information in a different light/view
• multiple scenario in planning can be performed easily
• geospatial data maintained in a standard format
• easy to revise and update
• possible to share and excahange data
• time and cost saved
• lead to better decision making

What GIS Applications do

• manage, analyze, communicate
• make possible the automation of activities involving geographic data
– map production
– calculation of areas, distances, route lengths
– measurement of slope, aspect, viewshed
– logistics: route planning, vehicle tracking, traffic management
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• allow for the integration of data hitherto confined to independent domains
(e.g property maps and air photos).
• by tieing data to maps, permits the succinct communication of complex
spatial patterns (e.g environmental sensitivity).
• provides answers to spatial queries (how many elderly in Richardson live
further than 10 minutes at rush hour from ambulance service?)
• perform complex spatial modelling (what if scenarios for transportation
planning, disaster planning, resource management, utility design)

The Fundamental Flow of Information in GIS

 Geographic data originate from actual locations and physical
characteristics of features on or near the Earth. These raw data are basic
geographic information needed for attribution, datasets modeling, and
analysis.
 However other raw data can be found in other sources
 Transforming data in a GIS can be summarized through three distinct
procedures which follow:
1. A GIS leverages flexibility of geographic data
 Raw data are static and offer only limited amount of flexibility on real-
world applications.
 When raw data are transformed to geographic data through GIS, the
capability enhanced data use and analysis significantly increases.
 Overlaying two geographic data sources provides sufficient new
information, better analytical means, and additional flexibility to help
someone visualize real world and help them make an informed
decision.
2. GIS performs functions and analysis within a single environment
 Data functions are the literal “doers” of a GIS solution and are known as
geoprecessing or spatial analysis.
 These operations include the generation of features, buffers, view
sheds, and cross sections
 Also calculations of centroids, slopes, statistics, and suitability and
manipulation of feature attributes, smoothing lines, feature
transformations and clippings are done
3. GIS serves as a software application and creates useful information products
 GIS environment serve as a spatially enabled enterprise data
management systems and data repositories.
 These systems are software applications that protect the value and
usefulness of the information
 The end result is an information product that enables the user better
manage whatever project.

GIS as an Integrating Technology

o Geography
o Cartography - The making of maps and charts
o Photogrammetry -
o Remote sensing -
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 o Surveying - The practice of measuring angles and distances on the
ground so that they can be accurately plotted on a map
o Geodesy - The branch of geology that studies the shape of the earth
and the determination of the exact position of geographical points.
o Civil Engineering
o Statistics - A branch of applied mathematics concerned with the
collection and interpretation of quantitative data and the use of
probability theory to estimate population parameters
o Computer science
o Operations research - Research designed to determine most efficient
way to do something
o Artificial Intelligence
o Demography - The branch of sociology that studies the characteristics
of human populations
o Many other branches of social and natural sciences

Some examples of GIS Application Software

 ArcGIS(its predecessors ArcView and ArcInfo)
 GeoMedia
 MapInfo
 Idrisi
 Manifold
 Quantum GIS (opensource), etc

GIS Data Model

 The data used in a GIS normally has a geographical aspect to it. Take a look
at the following example

 The longitude and latitude columns hold geographical data. The disease and
date columns hold non-geographical data. A common feature of GIS is that
they allow you to associate information (non-geographical data) with places
(geographical data).
 There are many different ways in which data can be locationally referenced.
The following types of data are handled by a GIS:
o Point: Addresses, elevation spot heights, locations of malls, banks,
cities, volcanoes, etc.
o Line: Contours, geological faults, streets, highways, rivers, etc.
o Areas: Forests, climatic zones, lakes, soil types, land use, nations,
counties, etc.

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 o Networks: Streets, highways, rivers (which are directed networks, an
extra complication!)
o Tessellations: Census districts, postal codes, electoral boundaries. (A
tessellation completely divides a region into non-overlapping areas.)
o Overlapping regions: Newspaper circulation areas, telephone
exchanges.

Layers in Geographical data

 Data that describe similar themes are stored separately. For example, a standard
topographic map sheet shows contours, road networks, stream networks, power
lines, forested areas, buildings, and spot heights, among other things.
 The descriptions for each is stored in different files, and these are referred to as
layers.
 The GIS must be able to store all the data for the geographical entities, along with
whatever non-spatial attributes that are attached to them, in a way that can
minimize disk file size and retrieval time. Methods fall into three basic data
models, or structures, described below.
 Raster model
 Vector model
 Object oriented model

Vector data model

 Vector data provide a way to represent real world features within the GIS
environment. A feature is anything you can see on the landscape,eg school,
river, forrest etc.
• Is stored as a series of X,Y coordinate pairs inside the computer's memory.
Vector data is used to represent points (eg towns), lines(eg rivers) and areas
or polygons(eg municipal boundaries).
o Point - consists of only a single vertex.
o Polyline - consists of two or more vertices and the first and last vertex
are not equal
o Polygon - Where four or more vertices are present, and the last vertex
is equal to the first.
o Each vector feature has attribute data that describes it.
• NB: what we describe as a point in GIS is a matter of opinion, and often
dependent on scale. For example, If you have a small scale map it may make
sense to represent a city using a point feature. However as you zoom in to the
map, moving towards a larger scale, it makes more sense to show the city
limits as a polygon. However. Other features like a telephone pole cannot be
respresented as a polygon.
• The illustration below shows different types of vector data being viewed in a
GIS application.

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Vector data in layers
 Most GIS applications group vector features into layers. Each layer
represents a common feature.

 Features in a layer have the the same geometry type (e.g. they will all be
points) and the same kinds of attributes (e.g. information about what species a
tree is for a trees layer). For example if you have recorded the positions of all
the footpaths in your school, they will usually be stored together on the
computer hard disk and shown in the GIS as a single layer. This is convenient
because it allows you to hide or show all of the features for that layer in your
GIS application with a single mouse click.

What can we do with vector data in a GIS?:

 At the simplest level we can use vector data in a GIS Application in much the
same way you would use a normal topographic map.
 The real power of GIS starts to show itself when you start to ask questions like
'which houses are within the 100 year flood level of a river?'; 'where is the best
place to put a hospital so that it is easily accessible to as many people as
possible?'; 'which learners live in a particular suburb?'. A GIS is a great tool for
answering these types of questions with the help of vector data. Generally we
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 refer to the process of answering these types of questions as spatial
analysis.

Common problems with vector data:

 Some issues can arise with vectors captured at different scales.
 Vector data also needs a lot of work and maintenance to ensure that it is
accurate and reliable. Inaccurate vector data can occur
o when the instruments used to capture the data are not properly set up,
o when the people capturing the data aren't being careful,
o when time or money don't allow for enough detail in the collection
process, and so on.
 If you have poor quality vector data, you can often detect this when viewing
the data in a GIS. For example
o Slivers can occur when the edges of two polygon areas don't meet
properly.
o Overshoots can occur when a line feature such as a road does not
meet another road exactly at an intersection (illustration below – 2)
o Undershoots can occur when a line feature (e.g. a river) does not
exactly meet another feature to which it should be connected
(illustration below – 1)

Advantages
 Much greater precision in the definition of objects is possible by defining the
geometric extent of the regions in which they occur. This means that one can
draw far better maps with vector data than with raster data.
 Much less space (volume) is required to store all the information, since empty
space on the map can be ignored.
 It gives a full topology
 Fast retrieval
 Fast conversion

Disadvantages
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  Topology between the geometric objects must be explicitly defined, though it
can be done quite efficiently. The file structures required are more complex
than the raster data files, and layer overlay operations can be very complex to
perform.
 Spatial variability can be represented, using a Triangulated Irregular Network,
but it is still not as effective as the use of regularly gridded data, and
mathematical operations, such as derivatives, on layers or between two or
more layers are all but impossible to perform.
 Difficult in overlay
 Difficult in updating
 Expensive data capture

Uses
 Very widely used in such fields as computer cartography, analysis of networks,
municipal databases that contain descriptions of building footprints, streets,
etc.
 Common GIS packages that are vector-oriented include ARC/GIS and
MapInfo.

Summary of the GIS Vector Data concept

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Attribute Data
 A feature has a geometry (which determines if it is a point, polyline or
polygon) and attributes (which describe the feature).

 Maps come to life when colour and different symbols are used to help you to
tell one type of feature from the next. On the map on the left, you cannot tell
the difference between rivers, roads and contours. However, the map on the
right it is much easier to see the different features (figure below)

 House Example - house feature is a polygon (based on the floor plan of the
house), the attributes are roof colour, whether there is a balcony, and the year
the house was built. Note that attributes don't have to be visible things – they
can describe things we know about the feature such as the year it was built.
 In a GIS Application, we can represent this feature type in a houses polygon
layer, and the attributes in an attribute table.
 The GIS application links the attribute records with the feature geometry so
that you can find records in the table by selecting features on the map, and
find features on the map by selecting features in the table.

Raster data model

• Rasters are made up of a matrix of pixels (also called cells), each containing a
value that represents the conditions for the area covered by that cell. Data is
stored as a grid of values.

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• There are many satellites circling the earth and the photographs they take are
a kind of raster data that can be viewed in a GIS.
 One important difference between raster and vector data is that if you zoom in
too much on a raster image, it will start to appear 'blocky' (see illustration
below). In fact these blocks are the individual cells of the data grid that makes
up the raster image.

 Raster data is used in a GIS application when we want to display information

that is continuous across an area and cannot easily be divided into vector
features.
 Other features on a landscape can be more difficult to represent using vector
features. For example the grasslands have many variations in colour and
density of cover. It would be easy enough to make a single polygon around
each grassland area, but a lot of the information about the grassland would be
lost in the process of simplifying the features to a single polygon.
 Vectors aren't very good at representing features that are not homogeneous
(entirely the same) all over.

Advantages
 Layer overlays are really simple, since all layers are defined with the same
grid over the region.

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  Topology is implicitly defined, since the location of each cell relative to all the
others can be easily found.
 Easy to overlay and model
 Suitable for 3D display
 Intrgration of Image data
 Automated data capture

Disadvantages
 Large data volume
 If you want to increase the resolution (that is, decrease the cell size) by a
factor of two, the data set size will quadruple! In order to reduce this problem,
various compression techniques, such as quadtrees and run-length encoding,
are employed.
 Resolution is also problematic because the discretization process has an
effect analogous to rounding of numbers, but in a spatial sense -- that is, what
you see in the raster image is usually larger or smaller than the real-world
equivalent. Objects smaller than one cell may not appear at all!
 Low precision
 Difficult in network analysis
 Slow conversion

Uses
 All satellite and aerial photograph data come in raster form. Each pixel
represents the amount of light received by the sensor at a particular
wavelength at the location.
 All satellites collect data from more than one wavelength, so a particular
satellite pass will create an instant multilayer raster map of an area, as well as
business for the data storage industry.
 Common GIS packages using the raster model are GRASS and IDRISI.
 Raster data are best used for representing variables that vary continuously in
space, such as elevations.

Uses of raster data

 Raster data is mostly used as a backdrop behind vector layers in order to
provide more meaning to the vector information.
 Raster data is good for images that depict the real world surface (e.g. satellite
images and aerial photographs).
 They are also good for representing more abstract ideas. For example, rasters
can be used to show rainfall trends over an area, or to depict the fire risk on a
landscape. In these kinds of applications, each cell in the raster represents a
different value. e.g. risk of fire on a scale of one to ten.

Georeferencing
 Georeferencing is the process of defining exactly where on the earth's surface
an image or raster dataset was created.
 This positional information is stored with the digital version of the aerial photo.
 When the GIS application opens the photo, it uses the positional information to
ensure that the photo appears in the correct place on the map.
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  Normally this positional information consists of a coordinate for the top left
pixel in the image, the size of each pixel in the X direction, the size of each
pixel in the Y direction, and the amount (if any) by which the image is rotated.
 With these few pieces of information, the GIS application can ensure that
raster data are displayed in the correct place.
 The georeferencing information for a raster is often provided in a small text file
accompanying the raster.

Concepts of Georeferencing
 The need integrate and combine data sets acquired using different
techniques, having different references necessitates referencig to one system
to enable effective manipulationof such data
 Georeferencing involves definitions, physical/geometric constructs. And the
tools required to describe the geometry and motions of objects near or on the
earth,s surface.
 The map legend in most cases contain the following information:
o Name of the local vertical datum e.g Tide Gauge Mombasa
o Name of local horizontal datum e.g Potsdam
o Name of the reference ellipsoid and fundamental point e.g Bassel
ellipsoid
o Types of co-ordinates associated with map grid lines e.g geographic co-
ordinates, plane co-ordinates.
o Map projection e.g Universal Tranverse Mercator
o Map Scale e.g 1:25,000
o Transformation parameters e.g from global datum to a horizontal local
datum

Sources of raster data

 Two of the most common ways are aerial photography and satellite imagery.
 In aerial photography, an aeroplane flies over an area with a camera mounted
underneath it. The photographs are then imported into a computer and
georeferenced.
 Satellite imagery is created when satellites orbiting the earth point special
digital cameras towards the earth and then take an image of the area on earth
they are passing over. Once the image has been taken it is sent back to earth
using radio signals to special receiving stations.
 The process of capturing raster data from an aeroplane or satellite is called
remote sensing.
 In other cases, raster data can be computed.
o For example an insurance company may take police crime incident
reports and create a country wide raster map showing how high the
incidence of crime is likely to be in each area.
o Meteorologists (people who study weather patterns) might generate a
province level raster showing average temperature, rainfall and wind
direction using data collected from weather stations.
o In these cases, they will often use raster analysis techniques such as
interpolation

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  Sometimes raster data are created from vector data because the data owners
want to share the data in an easy to use format. For example, a company with
road, rail, cadastral and other vector datasets may choose to generate a raster
version of these datasets so that employees can view these datasets in a web
browser. This is normally only useful if the attributes, that users need to be
aware of, can be represented on the map with labels or symbology.

Spatial resolution
 The size of pixels in a raster determines its spatial resolution.
 Spatial resolution becomes apparent when you look at an image at a small
scale and then zoom in to a large scale (it appears ‘blocky’).
 Several factors determine the spatial resolution of an image.
o For remote sensing data, spatial resolution is usually determined by the
capabilities of the sensor used to take an image. For example SPOT5
satellites can take images where each pixel is 10m x 10m. Other
satellites, for example MODIS take images only at 500m x 500m per
pixel. In aerial photography, pixel sizes of 50cm x 50cm are not
uncommon.
o Images with a pixel size covering a small area are called 'high
resolution' images because it is possible to make out a high degree of
detail in the image. Images with a pixel size covering a large area are
called 'low resolution' images because the amount of detail the
images show is low.
o In raster data that is computed by spatial analysis, the spatial density of
information used to create the raster will usually determine the spatial
resolution. For example if you want to create a high resolution average
rainfall map, you would ideally need many weather stations in close
proximity to each other.

Spectral Resolution
o When a colour photograph is taken with a digital camera (or cellphone
camera), the camera uses electronic sensors to detect red, green and blue
light. When the picture is displayed on a screen or printed out, the red, green
and blue (RGB) information is combined to show the image. This RGB
information (digital format) is stored in separate colour bands. RGB is the
visible spectrum.
 Raster images can contain one or more bands, each covering the same
spatial area, but containing different information.

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  When raster data contains bands from different parts of the electromagnetic
spectrum (including the non-visble parts of the spectrum), they are called
multi-spectral images.
 Other forms of data acquisition platforms include:
o Multi-stage – use of multiple platforms and multiple attitudes. Include
space borne sensors (geostationary orbit -36,000km , and near polar
orbit-600 to 1000km)
o Multi-temporal – use of differnt dates and times. These are airborne
high attitude (3 to 10km)
o Multi-sensors – use of different sensors (airborne low attitude – 300m
to 3km)
o Multi-spectral – use of different spetral bands. Use of airborne sensors
(ultra light airplane – 100 to 300m) and ground observations (close
range remote sensing - 1 to 5m and sensing in situ)
 In GIS recording the non-visible parts of the spectrum can be very useful. For
example, measuring infra-red light can be useful in identifying water bodies.
 Each band in the image is like a separate layer. The GIS will combine three of
the bands and show them as red, green and blue so that the human eye can
see them. The number of bands in a raster image is referred to as its spectral
resolution.
 Images with a single band are called grayscale images. With grayscale
images, you can apply false colouring to make the differences in values in the
pixels more obvious. Images with false colouring applied are often referred to
as pseudocolour images.
 Raster images can consume a large amount of storage space.

Diagram to compare vector data with raster data

 Real world

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  Raster and vector representation

Object-oriented Models
 Also called semantic models, object-oriented models organize geographic
objects into different classes, on both a general level and to more specific
levels.
 The more specific classes inherit certain properties from their "parent" class.
For example, a class called "wetland" could be a parent class of "bog",
"marsh", "swamp", and "lake". Each of the subclasses would inherit properties
such as area, perimeter, and streams that drain into it, from the parent class.

Advantages
 All data pertaining to each object are encapsulated within the definition of the
object, which protect them better from external tampering.
 Objects are a more natural way of looking at spatial data and are easier to
conceptualize.

Disadvantages
 They are quite complicated to set up, and the theory behind them is rather
difficult for the novice to get a grip on.

Topology
 It expresses the spatial relationships between connecting or adjacent vector
features (points, polylines and polygons) in a GIS.
 Topological or topology-based data are useful for detecting and correcting
digitising errors (e.g. two lines in a roads vector layer that do not meet
perfectly at an intersection).
 Topology is necessary for carrying out some types of spatial
analysis, such as network analysis.

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Topology Errors
 Include error like slivers, overshoots and undershoots.
 Topological errors break the relationship between features.
 These errors need to be fixed in order to be able to analyse vector data with
procedures like network analysis (e.g. finding the best route across a road
network) or measurement (e.g. finding out the length of a river).
 With topology errors, even when accurate measurement tools are used, the
results you will be incorrect.
 Topology can be used to detect and correct digitizing errors.
 GIS application provide topological tools such as tools for topological editing,
prevention of overlaps etc

Analysis of Gegraphic Data

 Spatial analysis is the process of manipulating spatial information to extract

new information and meaning from the original data.
 Usually spatial analysis is carried out with a Geographic Information System
(GIS), which provides spatial analysis tools for calculating feature statistics
(e.g. how many vertices make up this polyline?) and carrying out
geoprocessing activities such as data interpolation.
 In hydrology, users will likely emphasize the importance of terrain analysis and
hydrological modelling (modelling the movement of water over and in the
earth). In wildlife management, users are interested in analytical functions
dealing with wildlife point locations and their relationship to the environment.
 Common spatial analysis tools for GIS data include
o Buffering
o Spatial Overlay
o Interpolation

Buffering
 Buffering usually creates two areas: one area that is within a specified
distance to selected real world features and the other area that is beyond.
The area that is within the specified distance is called the buffer zone.
 A buffer zone is any area that serves the purpose of keeping real world
features distant from one another. Buffer zones are often set up to protect the
environment, protect residential and commercial zones from industrial
accidents or natural disasters, or to prevent violence.
 Common buffer zones may be greenbelts between residential and
 commercial areas, border zones between countries, noise protection zones
around airports, or pollution protection zones along rivers.
 In GIS, buffer zones are always represented as vector polygons enclosing
other polygon, line or point features

Variations in buffering:
 The buffer distance or buffer size can vary according to numerical values
provided in the vector layer attribute table for each feature.
 The numerical values have to be defined in map units according to the
Coordinate Reference System (CRS) used with the data. For example, the
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 width of a buffer zone along the banks of a river can vary depending on the
intensity of the adjacent land use. For intensive cultivation the buffer distance
may be bigger than for organic farming.
 Buffers around polyline features, such as rivers or roads, do not have to be on
both sides of the lines.

Multiple buffer zones

 A feature can also have more than one buffer zone. For example, A nuclear
power plant may be buffered with distances of 10, 15, 25 and 30 km, thus
forming multiple rings around the plant as part of an evacuation plan.

Buffering with intact or dissolved boundaries

 Buffer zones often have dissolved boundaries so that there are no overlapping
areas between the buffer zones.
 In some cases though, it may also be useful for boundaries of buffer zones to
remain intact, so that each buffer zone is a separate polygon and you can
identify the overlapping areas (see Illustration below).

Buffer zones with dissolved (left) and with intact boundaries (right) showing
areas.

Buffering outward and inward

 Buffer zones around polygon features are usually extended outward from a
polygon boundary
 But it is also possible to create a buffer zone inward from a polygon boundary.
Say, for example, when planning a new road around a game park that should
be, say, at least 200 meters inward from the boundary.

Spatial Overlay
 Is a process that allows you to identify the relationships between two polygon
features that share all or part of the same area.
 The output vector layer is a combination of the input features (rectangle and
circle) information (see Illustration below).

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 Spatial overlay with two input vector layers (a_input = rectangle, b_input = circle).
The resulting vector layer is displayed green.

 Typical spatial overlay examples are:

o Intersection: The output layer contains all areas where both layers
overlap (intersect).
o Union: the output layer contains all areas of the two input layers
combined.
o Symmetrical difference: The output layer contains all areas of the
input layers except those areas where the two layers overlap
(intersect).
o Difference: The output layer contains all areas of the first input layer
that do not overlap (intersect) with the second input layer.

Spatial interpolation
 Is the process of using points with known values to estimate values at other
unknown points.
 For example, to make a precipitation (rainfall) map for your country, you will
not find enough evenly spread weather stations to cover the entire region.
Spatial interpolation can estimate the temperatures at locations without
recorded data by using known temperature readings at nearby weather
stations.
 The following illustration shows a temperature map interpolated from South
African weather stations:

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  This type of interpolated surface is often called a statistical surface
 Other types of data that can be computed using interpolation include elevation
data, precipitation, snow accumulation, water table and population density.
 There are many interpolation methods. Some two widely used interpolation
methods are Inverse Distance Weighting (IDW) and Triangulated Irregular
Networks (TIN).

Inverse Distance Weighted (IDW)

 The sample points are weighted during interpolation such that the influence of
one point relative to another declines with distance from the unknown point
you want to create (see Illustration below).

Inverse Distance Weighted interpolation based on weighted sample point distance

(left). Interpolated IDW surface from elevation vector points (right).

 Weighting is assigned to sample points through the use of a weighting

coefficient. This coefficient controls how the weighting influence will drop off as
the distance from new point increases.

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  The greater the weighting coefficient, the less the effect points will have if they
are far from the unknown point. As the coefficient increases, the value of the
unknown point approaches the value of the nearest observational point.
 Some disadvantages of IDW interpolation method include:
o The quality of the interpolation result can decrease, if the distribution of
sample data points is uneven.
o Maximum and minimum values in the interpolated surface can only
occur at sample data points. This often results in small peaks and pits
around the sample data points(Illustration above).

Triangulated Irregular Network (TIN)

 TIN interpolation has a common algorithm called Delaunay triangulation.
 Delaunay triangulation tries to create a surface formed by triangles of nearest
neighbour points.
o Circumcircles around selected sample points are created
o Their intersections are connected to a network of non- overlapping and
as compact as possible triangles (see Illustration below)

Delaunay triangulation with circumcircles around the red sample data. The resulting
interpolated TIN surface created from elevation vector points is shown on the right.

 Disadvantages of the TIN interpolation:

o The surfaces are not smooth and may give a jagged appearance. This
is caused by discontinuous slopes at the triangle edges and sample
data points.
o Triangulation is generally not suitable for extrapolation beyond the area
with collected sample data points.

There is no single interpolation method that can be applied to all situations. Selection
of a particular interpolation method should depend upon the sample data, the type of
surfaces to be generated and tolerance of estimation errors.

GIS Data Acquisition

 Major Data sources for GIS
o Analog maps, satellite images, aerial phographs, databases, reports.
 Geospatial data acquisition can be done in two ways:

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 o Direct data acquistion – use of survey techniques and remotely sensed
data
o Indirect data acquistion – previous data collected can be used and
colud be in form of paper maps or available digital data.
 Some advances in Primary data acquistion (direct)
o Electronic Plane Surveying Systems
o Mobile Mapping Systems
o Airborne Laser Scanner Systems
o Airborne three Line Scanners
 Data Acquisition methods

Data Source Method Equipment Accuracy Cost

Analog Map Manual Digitizing Digitizer ± 0.1 mm low
(on a map)
Semi-automatic Scanner ± 0.1 mm high
Scanning (on a map)
Aerial Analytical Analog Stereo ± 10cm high
Photographs Photogrammetry Plotter
Digital Digital Photo ± 10cm very high
Photogrammetry Workstation
Satellite Visual Image Viewer ± 1m – 50m low
Images Interpretation
Digital Image Image ± 1m – 30m high
Processing Processing
Systems
Ground Field Total station ± 1cm very high
Survey Measurement GPS
Reports Keyboard entry Keyboard, low
computer

Converting Analog Data to Digital

 This is an indirect way of data acquisition done in various ways:
o Manual digitizing
o Semi-automatic
o Automatic

Manual digitizing
 The human operator folows features using a mouse device to tracing points
that constitute point features, line features or area features, by storing co-
ordinate locations relative to some pre-defined control points.
 These control points orient the digitizing feature.
 There are two ways of manual digitzing namely:
o On-tablet digitizing – placing the manuscript on special tablet and using
a tablet mouse follow the feature of interest and recording their
positions
o On-Screen digitizing – using a scanned map or image and displaying it
on the screen and using a normal mouse, the features of interest are
picked and their locations recorded
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  There are two modes of point recording
o Point mode – computer records point locations when operator promts it.
o Screen mode – continously records point locations as they are being
picked.
 Typical digitizing Errors
o Undershoots (gaps)
o Overshoots
o Spikes
o Duplicates (duplicate lines)
o Disconnections
o Tracing errors

Semi_Automatic Data Capture

 Both semi-automatic and automatic data capture depends on the level of
human intervention required
 Semi-automatic would involve where operator gives instructions, may be, at
the beginning and the rest is done by the system.
 In automatic, there is no human intervention

Type Resolution Accuracy

Mechanical Scanner High (25-100 µm) High
CCD Camera Medium (500x500 – Medium
4000x4000)
CCD Scanner Very High (300 – 2400 Very High
dpi)
CCD – Charged Coupled Devices

Data Editing
 Preprocessing done before data is used in order to remove errors or blunders
 For images, this may involve enhancement, post clarification analysis etc.
 For vector data, it involves editing of overshoots, undershoots, duplicate lines,
atribute data etc.
 The target areas of data corrections are basically geometric, topological and
semantic.

Remote Sensing
 Acquiring information about the earth’s surface without being in contact with it.
 Done by sensing and recording reflected or emitted energy and processing,
analysing, and applying that information
 Remote sensing Process
o Energy source (sun) – to provide electromagnetic energy to the target
of interest.
o Radiation and the atmosphere – energy travels from source to target
through the atmosphere (some interaction takes place)
o Interaction with target – Interaction takes place between target and
the radiation and depends on properties of both.

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 o Recording of energy by Sensor – Emited energy by the target is
recorded by the sensor (on satellite or airplane)
o Transmission, Reception and Processing – energy recorded bys
ensor transmitted (in electronic form) to a receiving and processing
station where data is processed to an image (hardcopy or digital)
o Application – information extracted from the imagery is applied in
order to understand the target, reveal seme information, or assist in
solving some particular problem.
 Different types of remote sensing exist:
o Visible and reflective Infra Red RS
o Thermal RS
o Microwave RS
 They depend on the electromagnetic radiation
 Various optical satellite sensors include: Landsat (channel 7), SPOT(4), RS-
1C/1D(4), NOAA AVHRR(6), MODIS(36)

Energy interactions in the Atmosphere

 Particles and gases in the atmosphere can affect the incoming light and
radiation
 Two common occurences are
o Scattering – occurs when particles or large gas molecules in the
atmosphere interact with and causes the electromagnetic radiation to
be redirected from its original path. Types of scattering include:
 Rayleigh scattering – occurs when particles are very small
compared to the wavelength of radiation. Occurs in upper
atmosphere
 Mie scattering - occurs when particles are just about the same
size as the wavelength of radiation. Occurs in lower protions of
the atmosphere.
 Non-selective scattering - occurs when particles are much
larger than the wavelength of radiation. All wavelengths are
scattered just about equally by this phenomemon.
o Absorption – causes molecules in the atmosphere to absorp energy at
various wavelengths. Ozone, carbon dioxide and water vapour are the
three main atmospheric constituents which absorp radiation.
 Atmospheric windows – areas of the spectrum which are not
severely influenced by atmospheric absorption , and thus are
useful to remote sensors.

Spectural Reflectance
 Given a certain surface composed of certain material, the enrgy reaching this
surface is called irradiation whereas the energy reflected by the surface is
called radiance. Both are expressed in W/m2.

Preprocessing of RS Data
 Sometimes called image restoration and rectification
 Intended to correct for sensor- and platform-specific radiometric and geometric
distortions of data
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  Radiometric corrections:
o Due to variations in scene illumination and viewing geometry,
atmospheric conditions, and sensor noise and response
o Will vary depending on specific sensor and platfrom used to acquire tha
data and the conditions during data acquisition
 Geometric corrections:
o Due to several factors including: the perspective of the sensor optics,
the motion of the scanning system, the motion of the platform, the
plaform altitude, attitude, and velocity; the terrain relief; and the
curvature and rotaion of the earth.

Image enhancement
 Is conversion of the image quality to a better and more understandable level
for feature extraction or image interpretation.
 Involves
o Contrast manipulation
o Spatial feature manipluation –they sharpen the appearance of fine
detail in an image
o Multi-image manipulation – objective is to reduce the dimesionality of
the bands thus maximizing the amount of information from the orginal
data into the least number of new components

Relational databases, spatial data infrastructure and management

 A general database stores ordinary data. A goegraphical ddatabase stores
geographical data for a particular area and subject.
 Although a general database can hold large amounts of data, it has a simple
and regular structure.
 Some common functions of general database
o Creating records of various data types
o Operations such as sort, delete, edit, select
o Data manipulation such as analysis,uotputing, reformatting
o Querying – retrieving some specific data
o API – Application programming interface
o Documentation – metadata
 Functions of a spatial database (advs to storing geographical data)
o High performance by management system with database language
o Consistency with little or no redundancy
o Maintenance of data quality including update
o Self descriptive with metadata
o Security including access control
o Reduction in maintenance costdue to better organization and reduction
in data duplication
o Data independence – multiple applications can use the same data and
evolve separately over time
o Data sharing – corporate view of data provided to all managers
 Disadvantages
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 o Cost the the acquiring and maintaing the DBMS
o DBMS adds complexity to the problem of managing data
o Not often good for single-user performance
 Capabilities of DBMS
o Can represent real world objects as data model
o Load capability – tools available to load data into the database
o Indexes – used to speed up searching
o Security – Controled access of data
o Controlled update – Updates affecting more than one part of the
database are coordinated
o Backup and recovery – protect data from system failure and incorrect
data.
o Database admnistration tools – to set up structure of the database
(schema), create and maintain indexes, tunig to improve performance,
backing up and recovery, and allocating user rights
o Applications – standard general purpose tools for creating, using and
maintaing database e.g for desiging databases like CASE tools for
bulidig user interfaces and presentations
o Application Programming Interfaces – enable customization for special
applications

Database Models
 Hierarchical
o Data organized in a tree structure
o The links between records use Parent-Child relationship
o Only supports 1:m mappings
 Network
o Any record can link to any other
o Child can have more than one parent
o Suports m:n mappings
 The ones available for GIS are Relational, Object Oriented and Object-
Relational models
 Relational model
o Data organised in tables (rows-records and columns – data fields)
o The tables are related using links called relationships
o Relational database require to be normalized in order to reduce
redundancies
 Object oriented model
o OO model initially designed to address some of the weaknesses of
relational DBMS
 Inability to store complete objects
 Were never designed with rich data types such as geographic
objects, sound, video
 Poor performance for many types of geographcal query
 Was difficult to extend RDBMS to support geograhic data types
and pocessing functions

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o An object is self-contained package of information describing the
characteristics and capabilities of thae entity under study
o An interaction between two objects is called a relationship
o In a geographic object data model, real world is modeled as a collection
of objects and their relationships
o A class is a collection of objects of the same type. Important in the
implementaion point of view (template for objects)
o Object data models are good for modelling geographic systems
because they support:
 Encapsulation – each object packages together a description of
its state (properties) and behaviour (methods or oprtaions
performed on the object)
 Inheritance – ability to reuse some or all of the characteristics of
an object in another.
 Polymorphism – Each object has its specific implementation for
operations like draw, create, delete
o OODBMS stores data persistently (semi-permanently on disk and other
media) and provide object oriented query tools
o Examples of commercial OODBMS developed
 Gemstone/S object server from Gemstone Systems Inc.
 ObjectivityDB from Objectivity Inc
 ObjectStore from Progress Software
 Versant from Versant Object Technology Cor.
o OODBMS has not proved to be commercially sucessful because of the
massively installed RDBMSs. Furthermore, most important ODBMS
capabilities have been added to the standard RDBMS to create hybrid
object-relational DBMS.
o Example of OODBMS

 Advantages of OODBMS
o Not necessary to know the inner workings af an object
o Allows complex representation of the real world
o Supports generalization, aggregation and association
o Maintains the history in the database
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 o Integrates with simulation modelling techniques
o Multiple simulataneous updating
o Intutive feel of objects
o Suits complex data relationships
o Fewer bugs and lower maintenance costs with GIS
o Ensures high level of data integrity
 Disadvantages
o Complex models more difficult ro design
o Import and exchange with other types is difficult
o Some applications amy not access an object oriented model
o Slow to execute
o Difficult description of the natural world
o Special languages are required for OODBMS
 Object-Relational model
o It is extended by software that incorporates object oriented behaviour
but the data is not encapsulated
o Database information is still in tables but some columns may contain
richer data types called abstract data types
o Can be thought of as an RDBMS engine with a framework for handling
objects, and these can be managed and stored together as an
integrated whole
o Examples of RDBMS include:
 IBM DB2
 Informaix Dynamic Server
 Microsoft SQL Server
 Oracle
o Advantages
 Fast execution
 Uniform repository of geographic data
 More accurate data entry and editing
 High data integrity
 Enable to work with more intuitive data objects
 Simultaneous data editing
 Less need for programming applications to model complex
realtionships
o Disadvantages
 Compromise between object-oriented and relational database
models
 No data encapsulation
 Limited support for object relationships
 Difficult to model complex relationships

 Ideal Geographic ORDBMS

One that is extended to support object type and functions through addition of the
following:
o Query parser – engine to interpret SQl queries extended to deal with
geographic types and functions

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 o Query language – a language to handle geographic types (e.g points,
lines and poplygons) and functions (e.g select that touch with each
other)
o Indexing services – the standard uni-dimensional DBMS is extended to
support multi-dimensional (x,y,z coordinate) geographic data

o Storage management – the large volume of geograhical records with

different sizes (especially geometric and topological relationships) is
accomodated through specialzed storage structures

o Transaction services – Standard DBMS are designed to handle short

transactions which can be extende to deal with long transactiosn
common in GIS applications

o Replication – Services for replicating databases are extended to deal

with geographical types and problems of reconciling changes made by
distributed users.

Storing data in a DBMS table

 Lowest level of user interaction with geographic database is an object class
(also called a layer or feature class)
 An object class is an organised collection of data on a particular theme (e.g all
pipes in water network, all soil polygons in a river basin etc)
 Object classes are stored in standard database tables.
 Each object class is stored as a single database table

Jukebox
 Integration of CD-R and CD-W technologies to allow data access to and from
the banks of media using multiple drives within the same physical unit
(jukebox)

Geographical Information Infrastructure (GII)

 Also known as Spatial Data Infrastructure
 Aim is to design an infrastructure that would enable discovery of sources of
geographical information
 It is a collection of instutional, economic and technical tools arranged in a way
that improves the timely accesibility of the required information
 A spatial data clearing house is a distributed network of spatial data
producers, managers and users that are linked together electronically having a
system of software and institutions that facilitate discovery, evaluation and
downloading of digital spatial data and provides means of inventory and data
sharing
 A clearing house allow data providers to register their geographical data sets,
the quality of the data and also the institutions for accesing the data i.e
metadata
 Metadata answers who, what when, where, why and how questions about all
the facets of the data made available.

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 ODBC (Open Database Connectivity) – interface that allows appplications to
access data from DBMS
o It defines low-level set of calls which allow client applications and server
applications to exchange instructions and share data without need to
know anything about each other.
o ODBC defines the following:
 A library of ODBC calls that allow applications to connect to
DBMS, execute SQL statements, and retrieve results
 Standard to connect and log on to a DBMS
 Standard representation of data types
 Data Integrity – Information from GIS is meant to support and reduce
uncertainty in decision making.
o No organization can be sufficient in geo-spatial data, thus sharing is
inevitable.
o Hence, information about the data being shared should be provided in
addition to location and format so that the user knows the usability of
the data
 Data Quality – this is the ability to fulfill a given and impled requirement, fitness
for use. Within the framework of Geo-spatial data,causes of error result from:
o Attribute errors i.e classification and labelling
o Positional errors in terms of loacton and height
o Lineage i.e history of data
o Temporal accuracy
o Competeness
o Logical consistency
 Error management – different type of errors use to be dealt with by different
groups
o Positional and height errors – surveyors and photogrammetrists
o Geometric and semantic errors – cartographers
o Equipments introduce error during observation
 Human errors during observation and booking
 Instrumental erros due to imperfect adjustment of the equipment
 Error as a result of natural variations in phenomena unedr
observation
o Error propagation treatment in geo-spatial data
 Testing accuracy of each state by measument against the real
world
 Modelling error propagation either analytically or by simulation
techniques

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