GIS Basics Welcome to "GIS Basics", a new module designed for those wanting to understand just what GIS

is, how it works, and what you can do with it. "GIS Basics" is for those unfamiliar with GIS who are looking to be introduced to the this increasingly popular and applicable technology. This tutorial features the following sections; What is GIS? - A basic overview of the primary components of a GIS. How it Works - A glimpse at what makes GIS works. GIS Data Types - Differences between raster and vector data. What is Not a GIS- Concepts often confused with GIS. Uses of GIS - An overview of how various industries use GIS. The Components of GIS A Geographic Information System is a system of computer software, hardware and data, and the personnel that make it possible to enter, manipulate, analyze, and present information that is tied to a location on the earths surface. The components of a GIS fall into three main categories. Computer Hardware and Software Spatial Data from the Real World Trained Personnel Hardware/Software: Hardware is the computer on which a GIS operates. The software runs on a wide range of hardware types, from centralized computer servers to desktop computers used in stand-alone or networked configurations. GIS software provides functions and tools needed to input and store geographic information. It also provides query tools, performs analysis, and displays geographic information in the form of maps or reports. All GIS software packages rely on an underlying database management system (DBMS) for storage and management of the geographic and attribute data. The GIS communicates with the DBMS to perform queries specified by the user. Data: Data is one of the most important, and often most expensive, components of a GIS. Geographic data, which is comprised of geographic features and their corresponding attribute information, is entered into a GIS using a technique called digitizing. This process involves digitally encoding geographic features, such as buildings, roads or county boundaries. Digitizing is done by tracing the location, path or boundary of geographic features either on a computer screen using a

scanned map in the background, or a paper map that is attached to a digitizing tablet. The digitizing process can be very tedious and time consuming, especially when capturing large datasets such as soil polygons, streams or topographic contours. Fortunately, much of the data GIS users need has been created by government agencies or commercial operations, and is available for free or for purchase from the data provider or from a spatial data clearinghouse, such as PASDA. People: The real power of a GIS comes from the people who use them. Over the past decade, computers have become much easier for people to use and more affordable for companies, schools and organizations to purchase. Given this fact, the number of GIS users has increased rapidly, and no longer includes only GIS specialists. Today GIS is being used by people, in many different fields, as a tool that enables them to perform their jobs more effectively. Police use GIS to solve crimes, Emergency 911 operators use GIS to send emergency personnel to a person in distress, biologists use GIS to protect plant and animal species, teachers use GIS to teach lessons in geography, history or engineering. The list of GIS users in the 21st century goes on and on. Whatever the application, the user is the key to a successful GIS. How GIS Works - Visualizing Your Data GIS databases are often large and complex collections of geographic features, and their corresponding attribute data. For example, the table below contains countylevel population statistics for the United States. This particular database contains over 3,000 records (one for each county) and numerous columns of attributes, which include population, income, crime, etc.

Like, standard database management systems, a GIS provides tools that enable a user to query, manipulate and summarize large quantities of data. Additionally, a GIS enables you to link the tabular attribute data with the mapped features so that you can visualize patterns in the data across space. The graphic below shows all counties that have more than 1000 farms. The mapping capabilities of a GIS make it easier to see patterns in the data.

It is not just the visualization of a database that makes a GIS so powerful but its ability to combine multiple thematic layers for the purpose of answering complex questions. Examples of thematic layers are roads, rivers or buildings to name a few. The ability to combine these layers in a GIS allows us to answer questions like: "Where are all of the rivers that are within 25 meters of a road?". We will show an example of this in the next section. How GIS Works - Combining Data One of the greatest advantages of using GIS is its capacity to combine layers of data into a single map. The following graphics illustrate how multiple individual layers (or themes) can be combined for the purpose of performing complex queries. Theme 1: Surface water intake These points represent surface water supply locations throughout Pennsylvania.

Theme 2: Rivers These lines represent Pennsylvania rivers.

Theme 3: Counties Pennsylvania county boundaries are represented by green polygons.

Theme 4:Surface water intakes, Rivers and County boundaries The surface water intakes and rivers have been overlaid with the county boundaries to produce a single digital map that can be printed or used as input for

both attribute and spatial queries. Layering data like this in a GIS allows users to analyze features in one theme, relative to features in another theme.

The following example provides an illustration of a geographic query that involves multiple thematic layers. How GIS Works - The Query A query is the same thing as a search. When you do a query, you are asking a database to find all of the data that is related to the terms, phrases, or features that you choose. This is similar to how an internet search engine finds specific web pages when you type in the phrase "mountain bikes", or a computerized library system finds specific books, magazines, or authors related to "bluejays". With GIS, you query the system by asking a question, or series of questions, to the database system. It then displays the data that relates to your query as a new theme. Below is an example of what a query looks like. In this case, the question that the user wants to answer is; Which Surface Water Intakes are within .5 miles of a river? As we saw earlier, we have the Surface Water Supplies, Rivers, and County Boundaries all combined into one digital map using GIS software.

The next step is using the Query tool to choose the specific data features you want. This process asks the database specifically what to look for. In this case we are asking the GIS to select the Surface Water Intake features that are within a .5 mile distance of a river.

The GIS then displays the data which matches your query, or your search criteria. In this case, the features highlighted in yellow are all the points that are within .5 miles of a river.

Check the query by zooming into the view, and measure any of the surface water intake points that are highlighted in yellow. One of the points measured .33 miles of a river, so the query has been successful.

GIS Data Types - Rasters & Vector There are two types of data used by most geographic information systems: Raster and Vector. In a GIS, raster data is a cell-based representation of map features. Satellite images, aerial photography and scannned images are all stored in raster format.

This is a Digitial Raster Graphic (DRG) of York Pennsylvania NE. A Digital Raster Graphic (DRG) is a raster image of a scanned USGS topographic or planimetric map that is georeferenced to a real-world coordinate system. A DRG is useful as a source or background layer in a GIS as a means to perform quality assurance on other GIS layers, and as a source for digitizing and and revising vector data. DRGs can also be merged with other digital data, for example, DEMs or DOQs to produce a composite image.

This is Digital Ortho Quarter Quaddrangle (DOQQ) of York Pennslyvania. Orthophotos combine the image characteristics of a photograph with the geometric qualities of a map. DOQQ's serve a variety of purposes, from interim maps to field references for earth science investigations and analysis. Like the DRG, the DOQQ is useful as a layer of a geographic information system and as a tool for digitizing and revising new and existing vector data.

This raster is an orthoimage from the PAMAP program. An orthoimage is remotely sensed image data that has been positionally corrected for camera lens distortion, vertical displacement and variations in aircraft altitude and orientation. Orthoimagery combines the image characteristics of a photograph with the geometric qualities of a map. The PAMAP 2005 natural color orthoimages were produced at 1-foot pixel resolution. Each orthoimage provides imagery for a 10,000 x 10,000 ft. block on the ground. The projected coordinate system is Pennsylvania State Plane North with a NAD83 datum. There is no image overlap been adjacent files. The orthoimage filenames were derived from the northwest corner of each ortho tile using the first four digits of the northing and easting coordinates referenced to the Pennsylvania State Plane coordinate system, followed by the State designator "PA," and the State Plane zone designator "N." This dataset consists of 10000 x 10000 ft. uncompressed natural color (24-bit) GeoTIFF files at a pixel resolution of 1 foot. The imagery was captured at a negative scale of 1:19200 for the purpose of producing orthophotos Access to the georeferenced Pennsylvania data will be provided to all PA state government agencies; regional, county and local governments within the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania including council of governments; K-12 public schools, state colleges and universities within Pennsylvania. The nongeoreferenced JPEG imagery is accessible to anyone for viewing and downloading through PASDA. GIS Data Types - More Raster Examples Satellite images and aerial photos are also examples of raster data layers that can be used within a GIS. Each cell, or "pixel", in the raster has a single value, which which corresponds to a feature in the real world. Groups of cells with the same value would define the point, path or area of a feature. Raster datasets are mainly used to describe continuous features, which don't have discrete boundaries, such as soils, landuse or elevation. Below is a raster example of the National Land Cover Data Set. This raster was acquired by the Multi-resolution land characterization (MRLC) consortium.

National Land Cover Dataset Developed from LandSat Thematic Mapper Satellite Imagery and produced as a cooperative project between the USGS and

the US EPA The graphic below shows an area of the National Land Cover Dataset, zoomed to the extent around Harrisburg, PA. In this landuse raster, cells with a value of 1 represent "water" and are symbolized in blue. The most dominant water feature on the map is the Susquehanna River. Cells that are dark red and have a value of three, represents "high development". You can see that the dark red areas on the map include Harrisburg, Camp Hill, and Mechanicsburg.

Raster data is organized into a structure composed of rows, and columns of rectangular cells. Each cell represents a specific area on the earth's surface. All cells within a raster are the same size, but cell size between raster datasets does vary. The size of each cell defines the resolution or amount of detail contained in the data. Generally, raster datatsets with small cells contain more information than those with larger cells. Your application should dictate the resolution of the data that you use. High resolution data provide a great deal of information, but are large in size, making them cumbersome to work with. There is also a greater cost associated with purchasing high resolution data, as the costs for collecting these data are generally much higher than for acquiring low resolution data. This is an example of a Digital Elevation Model (DEM). The U.S. Geological Survey has developed a National Elevation Dataset (NED). The NED is a seamless mosaic of best-available elevation data. Geospatial elevation data are used by the scientific and resource management communities for global change research, hydrologic modeling, resource monitoring, mapping, and visualization applications. This particular DEM has a resolution of 30 meters, which means that the elevation is assumed to be constant within each 30 x 30 meter cell. For many applications, this resolution, or amount of detail, would be sufficient. However, you can imagine how this data might not be useful for a road construction project that requires elevational data that are accurate to within one or two feet.

GIS Data Types - Vectors

Vectors can be classified into three primary feature types: points, lines and polygons. Vector data is entered into a GIS by digitizing these features from a base map. All vector data is stored as an x,y coordinate, or a series of x,y coordinates. The image below contains all the cities in Pennsylvania. These cities are represented as points.

Locations on the earth surface are defined in terms of latitude and longitude. Data stored in a GIS are typically "projected" from a 3-dimensional sphere to a 2dimensional (x, y) coordinate system. The graphic below shows a grid that represents a particular x, y coordinate system, such as Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM). If we were zoom in to Philadelphia, you would be able to see that this feature has an single location along the x and y axis. Other examples of point features could be wells, fire hydrants, or airport locations.

The image below shows the two major rivers that flow through Pennsylvania. The Ohio and the Susquehanna rivers are represented as lines and are made up of a series of x,y coordinates.

The line feature like the Susquehanna River, has a starting and ending point as indicated in red, and has a series of points between that form a line. In addition to location information a line feature has a length. Other examples of line features could be roads, pipelines, or railroads.

The image below contains all the counties in Pennsylvania and each county would be a polygon feature.

The polygon feature is also a series of x,y coordinates but it has the same beginning and ending point which closes the feature. This multi-sided figure represents an area on a map. In addition to location , polygons have attribute information such as its area or perimeter length. Example of polygons could be political boundaries, lakes or land parcels.

NOT GIS So far in GIS Basics, you've learned a little about just what GIS is, what goes into it, and how it works. In this section it is important to explain what is not a GIS. There are three things that are associated and very related to GIS, but are, NOT, by themselves a GIS. Below are the three things most commonly confused with GIS. While all three of them are strongly related to GIS, each of them is a separate and distinct spatial tool of its own. GPS A Global Positioning System (GPS) is a tool used to collect data for a GIS. Many people get the terms GIS and GPS confused with each other.

GPS stands for Global Positioning System, which is a system of satellites, ground stations, and receivers that allow you to find your exact location on Earth. By collecting location points you can begin compile datasets that can be used to map whatever data you are collecting. The U.S. Department of Defense was one of the first to use GPS technology as a navigation system. Not long after, biologist's, foresters, and transportation departments to name a few, caught on to this revolutionary way of precisley collecting data. How GPS's and GIS relate to one another: The way a GPS works is, by connecting to three or more 24 GPS satellites that orbit 11,000 nautical miles above the earth, and are monitored by ground stations located throughout the world. GPS systems generate geographic reference points in the form of latitude, longitude, and elevation coordinates. Once the data is collected it can be put into a GIS and displayed digitally as it is in the real world. The technology has advanced greatly over the past ten years. Today boats and many car manufacturer's have GPS units mounted so they can track where they are at all times. The increased availability and affordability of handheld GPS units, makes it useful for the average person to use for activities such as backpacking, hunting, and skiing, to name a few. Maps We're all familiar with maps. They help us locate things, help us get from place to place, and give us a sense of what places are like. They help us see and learn about where we're at, where we've been, where we'd like to go. Maps also provide us with glimpses into the past, of the places and journeys that people before us experienced. They are a form of visual communication, a way of showing, displaying, or representing the spatial relationships between different places and their features. Like other forms of communication, maps vary greatly in their purpose and style, from a rough diagram you may draw on a napkin for a friend to get to your house, or to a complex city map. How Maps and GIS Relate to Each Other: Maps alone, regardless of whether they are finished paper versions or in digital format are not necessarily a GIS. Though they all have geographic data, which is a big part of GIS, they may not have the geographic information behind them. This is simply a map of Pennsylvania's county boundaries. There is not any other information other than what you see.

When a map is put into a GIS and linked to other data sources, you not only get the map of Pennsylvania's County Boundaries but you get the information or attributes of the counties. Clearfiled County is selected in the example to the left.

When the data is in a GIS, information about the Clearfiled such as the population, number of households, the number of males and females is easy to access.

Software Package Buying GIS software and loading it on a computer does not mean that you instantly have a GIS. GIS's also require data, people, and manipulation. The trained user is able to make a GIS powerful by asking questions, linking to complex databases, and layering data in a intelligent manner. As mentioned before, complex questions and problems can be answered when using a GIS. What can GIS be Used For? GIS can be used to:

Explain events Planning Strategies Integrate Information Solve complicated problems

Predict outcomes Create smart maps Visualize scenarios Present powerful ideas

Who Uses GIS?

Police and Law Enforcement Agencies Planning Strategies Foresters Industry Environmental Engineers Real Estate Professionals Telecommunications Professionals

Emergency Response Organizations Local and Federal Government Health Transportation Geographers Market Developers

DAFTAR PUSTAKA Anonim.2012.http://www.pasda.psu.edu/tutorials/.asp. Tutorial GIS Basics. diakses pada hari kamis.tanggal 14 Maret 2013.pukul 16.07 WITA Anonim.2012.http://www.pasda.psu.edu/tutorials/gisbasics/components.asp.Kom ponen.diakses pada hari kamis.tanggal 14 Maret 2013.pukul 16.00 WITA Anonim.2012.http://www.pasda.psu.edu/tutorials/gisbasics/uses.asp.Kegunaan. diakses pada hari kamis.tanggal 14 Maret 2013.pukul 15.55 WITA Anonim.2012.http://www.pasda.psu.edu/tutorials/gisbasics/start.asp.Mulai. diakses pada hari kamis.tanggal 14 Maret 2013.pukul 15.52 WITA