What is GIS?

- A GIS is “an organized collection of computer hardware, software, geographic

data, and personnel designed to efficiently capture, store, update,
manipulate, analyze, and display all forms of geographically referenced
information.”
provides four sets of capabilities:
▫ data input
▫ data management (data storage and retrieval)
▫ manipulation and analysis
▫ data output
G eographic
I nformation
S ystems /Science/Studies / Services

Definition of “Geographic” - graphy: study of the lands, the features, the

inhabitants, and the phenomena of Earth
geographia meaning “earth description”
Definition of “Information” - Defined as the knowledge that you get about someone or
something : facts or details about a subject
DATA
• facts or information used usually to calculate, analyze, or plan something. Data only
becomes useful, taking on value as information, within this context
Information = Data + Context, Facts with meaning
Where Data = Facts

What is “Geographic Information”?

• Sometimes referred to as Spatial
Information
• Information about places on the
earth’s surface
• Knowledge about “what is where,
when”
• Links place/location, time, and
attributes

What is an “Information System”?

SYSTEM: a group of related parts that
move or work together
INFORMATION SYSTEM: An association of people, machines, data, and procedures
working together to collect, manage, and distribute
information of importance to individuals or organizations

Systems Science
▫ the technology ▫ the concepts and theory
Studies Services
▫ the societal context ▫ location based, Integrated GIS and GPS Technologies
SPATIAL ANALYSIS - purpose is to examine relationships between geographic features
collectively and to use the relationships to describe the real-world phenomena that map
features represent.”
GIS is a tool of the past, and a tool for the present.
-GIS could assist in emergency prevention and response and real time monitoring and
evacuation/rescue operations

Why is GIS Important?

• Almost everything that happens, happens somewhere. Knowing where something
happens is critically important.
• 80% of local government activities estimated to be geographically based
• a significant portion of national government has a geographical component
• businesses use GIS for a very wide array of applications
• Military and defense
• scientific research employs GIS
• Illustrate patterns and trends that tabular data alone cannot show.
1ST Gen GIS – Paper or Analogue Maps
2nd Gen GIS – Digital Maps and Databases
3rd Gen GIS - Map Sharing thru Web, Collab Mapping and Remote Sensing/GPS
4TH Gen GIS – Desktop GIS, Mobile GIS

Geographic Information Technologies (3S)

a. Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS)/Global Positioning Systems (GPS)
b. Remote Sensing (RS) & Photogrammetry
c. Geographic Information Systems (GIS)

Spatial Data
A geographical entity is defined in terms of:
• Location (spatial reference)
• Dimensions
• Attribute
• Time
GEOSPATIAL DATA MODELS
The real world can only be depicted in a GIS through the use of models that define
phenomena in a manner that computer systems can interpret, to be able to perform
meaningful analysis.

CONCEPTUAL MODELS
Field-based – attributes can be
thought of as varying
continuously from place to
place (e.g. precipitation). Can
be 2-D or 3-D (e.g. air
pollution).
Object-based – features can be
thought of as discrete
entities or objects. Can be
large or small, physical or
counties, and con contain
other objects.
 LOGICAL MODEL
The two main types of GIS data models are:
Raster. Study area is divided into regular cells (usually rectangular). Often used to
model field data
Vector. Geometric primitives (i.e. points, lines, polygons) are used to represent objects.

Raster Vector
Grid and cells A series of x,y coordinates
For continuous data such as For discrete data represented as
elevation, slope, surfaces points, lines, polygons
Satellite Images Land survey points
Scanned aerial Photos GPS Observation data
Digital Aerial Photos Land parcels and road network

A. Vector Data Model

• Geographic entities encoded using the vector data model are called features.
• Treats geographic space as populated by discrete objects, which have identifiable
• boundaries or spatial extent
• Each object in the real-world is represented as either point, line, or polygon features.
• Useful for representing discrete objects such as roads, buildings, rivers, boundaries,
etc.
• Stores in a flat-file format or DBMS
Types of Vector Data Model
1. Simple Data Model / Spaghetti data model – point, line or polygon, may overlap, no
relationships
2. Topological Data Model / Intelligent Data Structure - connections between objects
are described independent of their coordinates, relationships between geographic
features are easily derived when using them.
Topology - The Science of mathematics of relationships used to validate the
geometry of vector entities, and for operations such as network tracing and tests of
polygon adjacency. The study of geometric properties that do not change when the
forms are bent, stretched or undergo similar geometric transformations.

ELEMENTS OF TOPOLOGICAL RELATIONSHIP:

Connectivity - Information about linkages among spatial objects. Keep track of which
links are connected at a node.
Adjacency - Information about neighborhood among spatial objects. A link can
determine the polygon to its left and its right
Containment - Information about inclusion of one spatial within another spatial object.
What nodes and links and other polygons are within a polygon?
Intersect – identifies features that ‘touch’
Distance – identifies features that are ‘within a set distance’ of a feature (proximity)

USES OF TOPOLOGY IN GIS:

- To support spatial analysis
- For database development
GIS uses topological relationships to perform spatial searches efficiently.
Attribute table
• row is equivalent to one entity, each row relates to a single object and a spatial data
model
• a column is equivalent to one attribute, or descriptor, of that entity, each object can
have multiple attributes that describe it

B. Raster Data Model

• Treats geographic space as populated by one or more spatial phenomena, which vary
continuously over space and having no obvious boundaries.
• Uses an array of rectangular cells/pixels/grids to represent real-world objects.
• Each cell is defined by a coordinate location and an attribute that identifies the feature.
- Similar features are assigned equal attribute values.
• Cell’s linear dimensions defines the spatial resolution
• Best used to represent geographic features that are continuous over a large area eg
(Elev, air temp, Land Ownership, Ice Thickness, Timber Volume, Popn density)

Raster Advantages
- Simple data structure
- Simple overlay operations
- High spatial variability is efficiently represented
- Satellite & other formats already in this format
Vector Advantages
- Vector representation is more compact
- Provides efficient encoding of topology, i.e. better for network operations
- Better suited to produce maps with crisp line-work

Raster Disadvantages
- Raster data are less compact
- Topological relationships difficult to represent
- Poorer graphical output (step-like effect / blocky appearance)
Vector Disadvantages
- More complex structure than a simple raster
- Overlay operations are more difficult to implement
- Handling image data is not possible
- Representing high spatial variability is inefficient
GIS Data Sources
A wide variety of data sources exist for both
spatial and attribute data, most common
general sources are:
• hard copy maps
• aerial photographs
• remotely-sensed imagery
• point data samples from surveys
• existing digital data files
GIS Data Collection
Primary Data Capture*
• In-house creation of data (any survey, photogrammetry, image analysis)
• Typically the most expensive part (~80% of project cost)
Secondary Data Capture*
• From maps, reports, previous projects
• DEMS from topographic map contours, scanned paper maps

• Two types of data are input into a GIS, spatial and attribute. The data input process
is the operation of encoding both types of data into the GIS database formats.

PRIMARY DATA CAPTURE

Raster Data Acquisition
• Scanning – Raster is required, Accuracy depends on the scanner quality (resolution),
quality of the image processing software used to process the scanned data, and
quality/complexity of source document
• Photogrammetry – Google Earth/Maps
• Remote sensing
Vector Data Acquisition
• Manual digitizing
Digitizing is the process where features on a map or image are converted into
digital format for use by a GIS. One of the main sources of positional errors.
Accuracy depends on scale/resolution of source map and quality of equipment
and software used. Digitizing converts the features on the map into three basic
data types:
o Points
o Lines
o Polygons
• Computer-assisted digitizing
Problems or Errors in Digitizing
o Paper maps can stretch/ shrink. Lose accuracy.
o Paper maps meant to display information, not record locational (x,y)
information.
o Discrepancies across map sheets to digitize. (ie roads do not match when 2
maps digitized.)
o - User error such as overshoots, undershoots, or spikes
• Field surveying, • GPS surveying
Attribute Data Acquisition
• Keyboard entry - May involve numeric, alphanumeric, or logical data, Manageable
for a small amount of data

SECONDARY DATA CAPTURE

• Large amount of data is now available
• Always check for existing data before creating it
• Several groups of data exist
o Free data from the government
o Government data available for a fee
o Internet map servers
o Commercial data
o Data from other GIS users
COORDINATE SYSTEM

Geographic/global coordinate system - Latitude/Longitude

Cartesian/planar coordinate system - Northing/Easting/Elevation

latitude (φ): angular distance from equator; along Y axis

longitude (λ): angular distance from standard meridian; along X axis

MAP PROJECTIONS - a systematic transformation of the latitudes and longitudes of

locations on the surface of a sphere or an ellipsoid into locations on a plane. Necessary for
creating maps; maps are models and are generalized representations of reality. All map
projections distort the surface, each projection distorts differently.
- A systematic projection of all or part of the surface of a round body, especially Earth,
on a plane (Snyder, 1987)
- Function is to define how positions on the Earth’s curved surface are transformed
into a flat map surface
- Geographic coordinates (Φ,λ) to Cartesian coordinates (x,y).
- Required because of the need to produce a map of the Earth on a flat, 2-dimensional
surface

PROPERTIES OF MAP PROJECTIONS

1. Conformal/Orthomorphic – shapes of small features on the Earth are preserved; scale and
direction of Earth and map are equal for small areas. Useful for navigation and topographic
mapping
2. Equal Area/Equivalent/Authalic – areas on the map are always proportional to areas on
the Earth’s surface. Useful for area computation applications
3. Equidistant – preserves distances between points; constant scale
4. Azimuthal – true directions are preserved; direction measurements on the map are the same
as those made on the ground
UNIVERSAL TRAVERSE MERCATOR - Philippines is at Zone 51 North
- One of the most commonly used map projections in GIS
- Based on the Mercator projection but the cylinder is transverse rather than normal
- A secant projection: Two standard meridians
- Scale at each zone’s central meridian is 0.99996 and at most 1.0004 at the edge of the
zone
- Parallels and meridians are curved, except for the central meridians and equator
- Conformal projection (shapes are preserved)
- Earth is divided into 60 zones, each 6° wide
- Problematic for areas at high latitudes and places that are located in two zones
- Commonly used for military applications and for mapping at a global or national coverage

TYPES OF MAPS
General-purpose or Reference maps - Not designed for any specific Application, Supply
the locational information of the spatial database for GIS. (Topo map)
Special purpose or Thematic maps - Designed to depict a particular type of feature or
Measurement, Depict geographic phenomena and processes for GIS (population
distribution maps, rainfall maps, soil maps, land cover maps)

GEOREFERENCING
- To establish a relationship between page coordinates on a planar map and known
real world coordinates. (ESRI PRESS 2003)
- Rectifying or registering an image to the correct geographic location
- Sometimes called “rubber sheeting”
- process of establishing location to spatial information or data with no known
reference

RESIDUALS - The residuals are the distances between the input and retransformed
coordinates in one direction. They are shown for each GCP in the "X Residual" and "Y
Residual" columns of the GCP Tool.
X Residual is the distance between the source X coordinate and the retransformed X coordinate.
Y Residual is the distance between the source Y coordinate and the retransformed Y coordinate.

➢ A spatial reference system (SRS) or coordinate reference system (CRS) is a coordinate-

based local, regional or global system used to locate geographical entities.
➢ A spatial reference system defines a specific map projection, as well as transformations
between different spatial reference systems.
➢ EPSG codes are defined by the International Association of Oil and Gas Producers. It
is specified in ISO 19111:2007 Geographic information—Spatial referencing by
coordinates, prepared by ISO/TC 211, also published as OGC Abstract Specification,
Topic 2: Spatial referencing by coordinate.
Database - an integrated set of data (attributes) on a particular subject, collection of
interrelated tables in a digital format with controlled redundancy to optimally serve one or
more applications
Database Management System (DBMS) – A software application designed to organize the
efficient and effective storage, manipulation and access to data within an integrated database

Advantages of Databases over File-based Datasets

•Avoids redundancy and duplication
•Reduces data maintenance costs
•Faster for large datasets
•Applications are separated from the data
•Support multiple concurrent applications
•Better data sharing
•Security and standards can be defined and enforced
Disadvantages of Databases over File-based Datasets
•Expense
•Complexity
•Performance – especially complex data types
•Integration with other systems can be difficult
at times

Database models - A variety of different data models exist for the storage and management
of attribute data, most commonly:
•Tabular (Flat file) - Contains all the data in a large table / spreadsheet
•Hierarchical - Organizes data at different levels and uses one-to-many association between
levels.
•Network - Builds connection across tables
•Relational - A collection of tables or relations that can be connected to each other by keys.
Primary key: one or more attributes whose values can uniquely identify a record in a table.
Foreign key: counterpart in another table for the purpose of linkage.

“Geo”-database
•a.k.a spatial database
•database containing geographic data of a particular subject for a particular area
•optimized for storing and querying data that represents objects defined in a geometric space
•allow the representation of simple geometric objects such as points, lines and polygons, and
even complex structures such as 3D objects, topological coverages, linear networks, and TINs

Attribute Data in GIS

Raster data
•Each cell can “own” only a single value
•Multi-attribute data will be represented by several raster maps
•Each raster map will have an individual attribute table
Vector data
•Multiple attributes may be contained in a single table, if mapping units remain the same.
•However, table may become too large and unwieldy, and difficult to update as a result.
•Can be addressed by performing Joins/Relates
Attribute data types
The data type of the attribute needs to be specified for efficient use of memory and
determination of operation applicability
There are 4 typical Attribute data types:
•Integer
•Float/real
•Text/string
•Date

Two Types of Query for GIS

1. Aspatial Query (Attribute Query) - Questions about the attributes of features
2. Spatial Query - Requires information about the location of a feature

Characteristics of Spatial Data

• Objects with similar attributes usually are located nearby spatially
– Everything is related to everything else but nearby things are more related than
distant things – First Law of Geography
– This is called spatial autocorrelation. Data values are not independent
• Most geographic locations are unique (spatial heterogeneity)
– Therefore, global parameters do not always accurately describe local values

What is Analysis?
Analysis involves gaining an understanding of the patterns, and associated cause and effect
processes, underlying the features.
Spatial Analysis
• Besides the visual perception of the spatial distribution of the phenomenon, it is very useful
to translate the existing patterns into objective and measurable considerations
(interpretation)

Spatial Analysis: Successive Levels of Sophistication

1. Spatial data manipulation: classic GIS capabilities
– Spatial queries & measurement, buffering, map layer overlay
2. Spatial data analysis: descriptive and exploratory
– Visualization through data manipulation and mapping
• John Snow’s maps of cholera in 1850s London
3. Spatial statistical analysis: hypothesis testing
– Are data “to be expected” or are they “unexpected” relative to some statistical model,
usually of a random
process
4. Spatial modeling: prediction
– Constructing models (of processes) to predict spatial outcomes (patterns)
– What if analyses

GIS for Spatial Analysis and Modeling:

• Current leading commercial GIS software offers decent analysis and modeling
capabilities in areas such as:
– Vector overlay
– Raster analysis
– Cartographic modeling
– Geostatistical estimation
– Network analysis
– Visualization of 2D and 2.5D data
– 3D data
Basic Geospatial Analysis Techniques
Table Operations
– Join
– Field calculation
Selection/ Querying
– Attribute Query
– Spatial Query
Spatial Join - transferring attributes from one layer to another based on their spatial
relationship.

VECTOR OPERATIONS
1. Proximity Analysis (Buffering) - Creation of a zone of interest around an entity
Buffers - typically used to identify areas or objects ‘inside’ or ‘outside’ the
Threshold distance
2. Dissolve - Combines similar features within a data layer based on an attribute
3. Overlay Analysis – Coincidence, Intersecting lines are split and a node placed at the
intersection point
Types:
• Point-in-polygon
• Line-in-polygon
• Polygon-on-polygon
• Union - Boolean operator OR, Output layer contains polygons from both
input layers
• Clip/Cookie-cutting - Boolean operator NOT, polygon layer is used to cut
out the portion of another polygon layer that falls within the 1st polygon
• Intersect - Boolean operator AND, Output is the polygon of intersection of
two polygon layers
• Symmetrical Difference / Difference

RASTER OPERATIONS
1. Clipping
2. Interpolation
3. Euclidean Distance Tool
4. Surface Analysis
a. Slope d. Relief
b. Aspect e. Hillshade
c. Ruggedness Index
5. Neighborhood Statistics
6. Zonal Statistics
7. Mathematical Operations

ANALYTICAL OPERATIONS (RASTER)

Intravariable - performed on a single data set (e.g., reclassification, buffering, slope)
Intervariable - performed on two or more data sets (e.g., overlay)

Functions are also classified by the spatial scope of processing: local, focal, zonal, or global
• local (per cell/location/object)
• focal (per neighborhood)
• zonal (per zone of same value [attribute])
• global (per grid)