GS630

Fundamentals of Computer-Assisted Cartography

Autumn Quarter 2009

8. GIS Fundamentals

Ron Li

The Ohio State University

Bo Wu 2008
 Content
1. GIS Definition and Categories
Geographic Information System
GIS History
2. Data in GIS
Spatial and Attribute
Geo-referencing Data
Raster and Vector
Layers of Data
3. Querying a GIS database
4. Integrating data with GIS
Geographic Information System (GIS) is an information system
able to encode, store, transform, analyze, and display geospatial
information
http://www.asprs.org/society.html

Geographic information system (GIS) is a system for input, storage,

manipulation, and output of geographic information
NCGIA Core Curriculum in Geographic Information Science

Geographic Information System (GIS) is a system of computer

software, hardware and data, and personnel to help manipulate,
analyze and present information that is tied to a spatial location
http://www.gis.com/whatisgis/

Data-centered
 In 1966, the Canada Geographic Information
System (CGIS) was initiated to serve the needs of
the Canada Land Inventory to map current land
uses and the capability of these areas for
agriculture, forestry, wildlife and recreation.

Roger Tomlinson had recognized some years

earlier that the manual map analysis tasks
necessary for such an inventory over such a large
area would be prohibitively expensive and that a
technological solution was necessary. Within this
solution came a number of key developments:
optical scanning of maps, raster to vector
conversion, a spatial database management system
and a seamless coverage spatially partitioned into
Roger Tomlinson ‘tiles’. The system was not fully operational until
1971 but has subsequently grown to become a
the Father of GIS digital archive of some 10,000 maps.

Technological innovations:
üno previous experience in how to structure data internally
üno precedent for GIS operations of overlay, area measurement
üexperimental scanner had to be built for map input
 Geographical Information
Systems (GIS)
• 1. GIS: A type of software
– A computer system that allows us to handle
information about the location of features or
phenomena on the Earth’s surface
– Has all the functionality of a conventional DBMS plus
much of the functionality of a computer mapping
system
– GIS as a DBMS that allows us to explicitly handle the
spatial information
– Common examples:
• ArcView
• ArcGIS
• MapInfo
 Geographical Information
Systems (2)
• 2. GIS: A tool-kit
• Manipulate spatially:
– Calculate distances and adjacencies
– Change projections and scales
– Integrate disparate sources
• Analyse spatially:
– Quantitative analysis
– Exploratory spatial data analysis
– Qualitative analysis
• Visualise data:
– Maps!
– Tables, graphs, etc.
– Animations
– Virtual landscapes
 Geographical Information
Systems (3)
• 3. Approach:
– Explore the database:
• In conventional ways
• AND geographically
– Allows us to think about the implications of location
– Allows us to think holistically
– Should not be restricted by vendor-provided
functionality
– Should be used imaginatively
Ø Professional GIS
The distinctive features of professional GIS include data collection and editing, database
administration, advanced geoprocessing and analysis, and other specialist tools, such as
ESRI ArcInfo, Samllworld GIS
Ø Desktop GIS
Desktop GIS focus on data use, rather than data creation, and provide excellent tools for
making maps, reports, and charts. Well-know examples include ESRI ArcView, Intergraph
GeoMedia, MapInfor professional, Clark Lab's Idrisi
Ø Hand-held GIS
Hand-held GIS are lightweight systems designed for mobile and field use, such as
Autodesk Onsite, ESRI ArcPad, and Smallworld Scout.
Ø Component GIS
Component GIS are tool kits and used by knowledgeable programmers to create focused
applications. Examples include Blue Marble Geographic GeoObjects, and MapInfo MapX.
Ø GIS viewer
GIS viewer are able to display and query popular file formats, such as ESRI ArcExplorer,
Intergraph's GeoMedia, and MapInfo's ProViewer
Ø Internet GIS
Internet GIS focus on display and query applications, as well as maping. Examples include
Autodestk MapGuide, ESRI ArcIMS, Intergraph GeoMedia Web Map, and MapInfo
MapXtreme.

Geographic Information Systems and Science

Longley, Goodchild , et al 2001
A timeline illustrating developments in GIS in relation to background
Year GIS Context
1963 Canada Geographic Information System
1964 Harvard Lab for Computer Graphics & Spatial Analysis
1966 SYMAP WGS-66

1967 US Bureau of Census DIME

1968 Relational database defined
by Codd
1969 ESRI founded; Intergraph founded; Laser-Scan founded
1970 Acronym GIS born at IGU/UNESCO conference
1971 ERT/Lansat 1 launched
1973 UK Ordnance Survey starts digitizing
1974 AutoCarto conference series; Computers & Geosciences UNIX
1975 C++
1978 ERDAS founded
1980 FEMA integrates USGS 1:2m mapping into seamless database
1981 Computers, Environment & Urban Systems; Arc/Info launched
1982 IBM PC 8088 chip

1984 1st Spatial Data Handling Symposium RISC chip, WGS-84

1985 GPS operational
1986 Burrough’s Principles of Geographical Information Systems SPOT 1 launched
for Land Resources Assessment; MapInfo founded
1987 International Journal of Geographical Information Systems; GIS/LIS conference 80386 chip
series
1988 NCGIA; GIS World, UK RRL initiative
1989 UK Association for Geographic Information
1990 WWW
1991 USGS digital topo series complete. 1st International Symposium on Integrating GIS
and Environmental Modelling
1993 GIS research UK conference series Pentium chip
1994 Open GIS Consortium HTML
1995 Java
1996 1stInternational Conference on GeoComputation; Transactions in GIS
1997 IJGIS changes ‘System’ to ‘Science’; last AutoCarto; Geographical and
Environmental Modelling
1998 Journal of Geographical Systems; last GIS/LIS

Jack Dangermond
president and founder, ESRI
One of the biggest shifts in focus came
when we introduced ArcInfo in 1982.
Prior to that time we were basically doing
various GIS projects using our own in-
house software tools.
With the release of a strong product, we
began to leverage all of our project
experience into a product that would help
other organisations do what we did in our
project efforts. This changed everything.
go from a services company to
a product company!
 Geographical Information
Science (GISc)
• Deals with making appropriate or best use of
geographical information
• Closely related to GIS but is not application
specific
• Examples
– Analysis techniques
– Visualisation techniques
– Algorithms for geographical data
 GIS Component
Input Management & Analytical Modules Output

Data Acquisition Data Output

- Geodetic Positioning Management Analytical Modules - Visual
Presentation
- Remote Sensing - Data Storage - Data Conversion
- Analog Map
- Field Sampling - Data Retrieval, Expand - Data Manipulation Output
Analog Data Conversion Edit, and Update - Modeling - Reports
- Scan - Query
- Digitize
 Types of Data
• Two types of data are stored for each item in
the database
– 1. Attribute data:
• Says what a feature is
– Eg. statistics, text, images, sound, etc.
– 2. Spatial data:
• Says where the feature is
• Co-ordinate based
• Vector data – discrete features:
– Points
– Lines
– Polygons (zones or areas)
• Raster data:
– A continuous surface
 Vector Data Model
Points: represent discrete point features

each point location

has a record in the
table

airports are point features

each point is stored as a
coordinate pair
 Vector Data Model
Lines: represent linear features

each road segment

has a record in the
table

roads are linear features

 Vector Data Model
Lines: fundamental spatial data model
node

vertex vertex

vertex vertex
node

• Lines start and end at nodes

• line #1 goes from node #2 to node #1
• Vertices determine shape of line
• Nodes and vertices are stored as coordinate pairs_
 Vector Data Model
Polygons: represent bounded areas

each bounded polygon

has a record in the
table

landforms and water are

polygonal features
 Vector Data Model
Polygons: fundamental spatial data model

• Polygon #2 is bounded by lines 1 & 2

• Line 2 has polygon 1 on left and polygon 2 on right_
 Vector Data Model
Polygons: fundamental spatial data model

• complex data model, especially for larger data sets

• “arc-node topology,” only used for ArcInfo data sets
File Organization and
Data Models
 Vector Data Model
• Major types (formats) of vector data available in
ArcView
– ArcView shapefiles
– ESRI GeoDatabases
– ArcInfo coverages and libraries
– CAD files (AutoCAD DWG, DXF;
Microstation DGN)
– StreetMap files
– Spatial Database Engine (SDE) data
– ASCII point coordinate data
– Linear measure (route) data
 Vector Data Model
• ArcView shapefiles
– Preferred vector format in ArcView
– Display quickly
– Fully editable (coordinate and tabular) in ArcView
– Simple in structure
• Do not use arc-node topology
• “Connected” lines do not necessarily share a common node
• Adjacent polygons do not share common bounding arcs
– Data sets are either point or line or polygon
 Vector Data Model
Shapefile polygon spatial data model

• less complex data model

• polygons do not share bounding lines
 Vector Data Model
• ESRI GeoDatabase
– Based on shapefile data model
– Multiple data sets stored in a relational
database file
– Stored in MS Access database or higher-end
database
– Separate point, line, and polygon data sets
are stored within the same GeoDatabase_
 Vector Data Model
• Characteristics of the vector data model:
– + Features are positioned accurately
– + Shape of features can be represented
correctly
– + Features are represented discretely (no
fuzzy boundaries)
– – Not good for representing spatially
continuous phenomena
– – Potentially complex data structure
(especially for polygons); can lead to long
processing time for analytical operations_
 Raster Data Model
• Raster spatial data
model
– origin is set explicitly
– cell size is always known
– cell references
(row/column locations)
are known
– cell values are referenced
to row/column location
– values represent numerical
phenomena or
index codes for non-
numerical phenomena_
 Raster Data Model
A few different types of raster data

• digital orthophoto

• digital elevation
model (DEM)
 Raster Data Model
• Characteristics of the raster data model:
– Rectangular grid of square cells
– – Shape of discrete polygonal features
generalized by cells
– + Continuous (surface) data represented
easily
– + Simple data structure_
 Raster Data Model
• Raster data are good at representing
continuous phenomena, e.g.,
– Wind speed
– Elevation, slope, aspect
– Chemical concentration
– Likelihood of existence of a certain species
– Electromagnetic reflectance (photographic or
satellite imagery)
 Geo-referencing data
• Capturing data
– Scanning: all of map converted into raster data
– Digitising: individual features selected from map as
points, lines or polygons
• Geo-referencing
– Initial scanning digitising gives co-ordinates in inches
from bottom left corner of digitiser/scanner
– Real-world co-ordinates are found for four registration
points on the captured data
– These are used to convert the entire map onto a real-
world co-ordinate system
Example of geo-referencing
 Layers
• Data on different themes are stored in
separate “layers”
• As each layer is geo-referenced layers
from different sources can easily be
integrated using location
• This can be used to build up complex
models of the real world from widely
disparate sources
Spatial Database
 Querying GIS data
• Attribute query
– Select features using attribute data (e.g. using SQL)
– Results can be mapped or presented in conventional
database form
– Can be used to produce maps of subsets of the data
or choropleth maps
• Spatial query
– Clicking on features on the map to find out their
attribute values
• Used in combination these are a powerful way of
exploring spatial patterns in your data
 Spatial Analysis
Spatial analysis can be used to
Soil Landuse Hydrology Observation
Soil 1 Corn Urban Station 1
derive spatial relationships
Soil 3 Station 2 among data layers
Forest Soybean River
Soil 4
Soil 2 Station3

The basic operation

Spatial Operations
involves:
- Buffer operation
- Overlay operation

Soil type and Landuse along

the river, but within 150m
radius of Station 2
Data Integration: Overlay
Joins two layers to create a new layer
The output layer will contain both the spatial AND attribute data from
both of the input layers
 Discussions
• Advantages of GIS
– Exploring both geographical and thematic components of data in
a holistic way
– Stresses geographical aspects of a research question
– Allows handling and exploration of large volumes of data
– Allows integration of data from widely disparate sources
– Allows analysis of data to explicitly incorporate location
– Allows a wide variety of forms of visualisation
• Limitations of GIS
– Data are expensive
– Learning curve on GIS software can be long
– Shows spatial relationships but does not provide absolute
solutions
– Origins in the Earth sciences and computer science. Solutions
may not be appropriate for humanities research