Introduction to GIS

Lecture 01: Introduction to GIS and GIS Data Models

Outline today

• Part 1: What is GIS?

• GIS definitions
• GIS components
• GIS history
• Common GIS software

• Part 2: GIS Data Model

• Vector/Raster data model
• Common ESRI GIS filetype
• ArcCatalog

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Definition 1: A GIS is atoolbox

• “A powerful set of tools for storing and retrieving at will, transforming

and displaying spatial data from the real world for a particular set of
purposes. ” (Burrough, 1986)

• “A system for capturing, storing, checking, manipulating, analyzing, and

displaying data which are spatially referenced to theEarth” (Department
of Environment, 1987)

• “An information technology which stores, analyses, and displaysboth

spatial and non‐spatial data” (Parker,1988)

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Definition 2: A GIS is anInformation System
(Database definitions)
• a System ‐ a group of connected entities and activities

• an Information System ‐ a set of procedures, executed on raw data, to

produce information for decisionmaking

• a Geographic Information System ‐ an Information System using

geographically referenced data

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Definition 3: GIS is an approach toscience

• The science behind the technology

• Addresses the fundamental issues arising from use
• is the science needed to keep technology at the cutting edge

• Systematic study of geographic information andgeographic information

system technologies using scientificmethods

• Analogy: GIScience is to GIS as statistics is to statistical software

packages

Reference: Michael F.Goodchild, and the project, NCGIA Core

Curriculum in GIScience. 1997

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GIScience: Contributing Disciplines

• Geography • Statistics
• Cartography • Operations research
• Remote Sensing • Computer Science
• Photogrammetry • Mathematics
• Surveying • Information Science
• Geodesy • Management science

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Scholarly Journals Emphasizing GIS Research

• International Journal of GIScience (formerly Intern’l Journal ofGISystems)

• Cartography and GIScience (formerly American Cartographerand
Cartography and GISystems)
• Computers and Geosciences
• Computers, Environment and Urban Systems
• Photogrammetric Engineering and RemoteSensing
• Transactions in GISystems
• Geographical and Environmental Modeling
• Geographical Analysis
• GeoInformatica
• Annalsof the Association of American Geographers
• Journal of Geographical Systems (successor to GeographicalSystems)

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Components of a GIS

1. Data
2. Hardware (computer system)
3. Software
4. Brainware: People/Procedures/Plan
5. Infrastructure: GIS operation environ mental

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Basic Elements of a GIS:Data

• Non‐Spatial Data
• Attributes or information that describes the spatialentity

• Spatial Data: geographically referenced data

• Latitude and longitude
• X and Ycoordinates
• Street address
• Range and township
• Location shown on amap

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GIS Data: Spatial is Special

• Geographic location is a key feature of 80‐90% of all government data.

(http://www.fgdc.gov/publications/homeland.html )

• Experts estimate that as much as 80% of the cost associated with a GIS
system is related to the development and maintenance of its spatial data

• Federal Agencies alone are spending $2.5 – 3.0 billion annually on

collection and management of geospatial data (National Academyof
Public Administration NAPA ‐ Geographic Information for the 21st
Century, 2003/05/01)

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DataInformation
Data – numbers, text, symbols
• Sea surface temperature,soil
type, population density
Information – differentiated
from data
• implying some degree of
selection, organization, and
preparation for particular
purpose, or
• data given some degreeof
interpretation
Geographic Information
(map, digital form)
• Information about places onEarth’s surface
Geographic versus spatial
Geographic refers to Earth’s surfaceand
near surface
Spatial refers to any space (moregeneral)
• Knowledge about where somethingis
• Knowledge about what is at a given location
• Can be very detailed or verycoarse
• Can be relatively static or changerapidly
• Can be very sparse orvoluminous
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Basic Elements of a GIS:Hardware

• Fast computer with a video card & video memory

• High resolution display
• Networking capabilities
• Optional:
• Digitizing tablet or large formatscanner
• Flat bed scanner
• Large format plotter
• Printer (color or black &white)

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Basic Elements of a GIS:Software

• Data management capabilities

• Analysis tools
• Display tools
• Information dissemination capabilities (import, export and map
creation)
• Data entry features
• Editing capabilities

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Basic Elements of a GIS: aPlan

• The recipe for implementing a GIS at the project or program level

• Clear description of the problem (frame thequestion)
• Understanding of the data needs to solve the problem (collect your
data)
• Understanding of the GIS users and managers, desired outcomes:
efficiency, increased knowledge
• Choose analysis methods
• Process the data
• Present the results

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 A typical GIS process: start to think about your
final project now
1. Understanding basic geographic concepts 4. Database manipulation
• Projections, datums, coordinate systems • Attribute data
• Reading maps • Database management
2. Formulating a game plan • Computer database types
• Planning the process 5. Analysis techniques
3. Acquiring data • Spatial analysis
• Data storage formats • Models andmodeling
• Data sources  Cartographic
• Data challenges  Interpolation
 Dynamic modelling
6. Presenting the results
• Map creation anddesign

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Evolution of GIS: From Stand‐alone to WebServices
Mapping TroupMovements

Manual Map overlays

1870 1950‐1970ies 1980ies 1990ies 2000ies

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GIS Web Service Chain

Portrayal service assembles Reprojection service

orthoimage from severalimagery the image from onecoordinate
services system to another one
Web
Coverage Service
Overlay service overlays the input
image and the vector data and
sends the overlay to theclient
Web Portrayal Reprojection
Coverage Service To Client
Service Service

Overlay
Service
Web
CoverageService Vector Data
Provider Service

Vector data provider service

returns a certain layer at the
extent specified

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Prevailing GIS Software

• ESRI: ArcGIS (desktop and server), ArcView and other products

(http://www.esri.com)

• Quantum GIS, or QGIS, http://qgis.org/en/site/ (latest release:2.18

Las Palmas)

• Intergraph: GeoMedia and MGE (http://www.intergraph.com)

• MapInfo Inc, MapInfo: http://www.mapinfo.com

• Autodesk: Autodesk Map, http://www.autodesk.com

• Baylor Unversity, Texas; University of Hannover, Germany, GRASS

(Geographic Resources Analysis Support System): http://grass.itc.it/(free)
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Prevailing GIS Software (ctd)

• Manifold.net, Manifold System (http://www.manifold.net)

• Clark Labs, IDRSI, http://www.clarklabs.org
• PCI Geomatics, Geomatica, http://www.pcigeomatics.com
• Caliper Corporation, TransCAD, Maptitude, http://www.caliper.com
• Leica, ERDAS http://gis.leica‐geosystems.com/
• ERMapper, ERMapper, http://www.ermapper.com
• SuperMap, SuperMap GIS, http://www.supermap.com(China)
• Free GIS software list:http://www.freegis.org
• Open source GIS: http://www.opensourcegis.org

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Part 2: GIS Data Models

Spatial Information is usually modeled in one of two ways:

Vector Data Model Raster Data Model


Points Forest
Lines
City
River
Areas

Spatial data are represented by Space is divided into a regularly

these three objects. spaced grid; each cell is “coded”
according to what is on the
(We will use thetopological
surface.
vector model often.)
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 GIS Data Model Level
Conceptual Model
(object view or fieldview)

GIS Data Model

Vector or Raster

GIS Data Structure

(Shape, Coverage,
Geodatabase)

GIS FileStructure

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GIS Data Conceptual Model

The strategy chosen depends on whether one takes the field‐view versus
object‐view of reality…

• Field‐view: geographic phenomena that vary continuously throughout

space. Examples: elevation, precipitation, etc.

• Object‐view: an empty space ‘littered’ with discrete objects.Examples:

roads, buildings, utilities, etc.

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 GIS Data Model: Vector vs.Raster

Real World

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
0 R T
1 R T
point line 2 H R
3 R
4 R R
5 R
6 R T T H
7 R T T
polygon 8 R
9 R

Vector Representation Raster Representation

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Data Modeling Processing

After Bernhardsen 1999, p.39

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Multiple Representations

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 Spatial Data
Spatial Data

Raster Data Vector Data Attribute Data Metadata

Non-topological Topological

Simple Higher-level Data

Vector or Raster? TIN

••Type
Type of operations
••Experience
Experience and viewers of GISusers Regions
••Data
Data availability Dynamic Segmentation
••Data
Data quality and storage
From: Intro. to GIS, Chang, 1997

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 Vector Data Model
• point (node):0‐dimension
• single x,y coordinate pair
• zero area 2
y=2
Point: (1,2)
• tree, oil well, label location x=1
1
• line (arc):1‐dimension
• two (or more) connected x,y 1 2
coordinates 2
• road, stream 1 Line: (1,2), (2,1)
• polygon :2‐dimensions
1 2
• four or more ordered and connected
x,y coordinates 2
Polygon: (1,2),
• first and last x,y pairs are thesame (2,1), (1,1) , (1,2)
1
• encloses an area
• census tracts, county, lake 1 2

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Two Common Vector Models

• Spaghetti model (non‐topological) • Topological model

C A

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Spaghetti Vector Model

• Lines and points are entered and may be visible, but the program does
not recognize the relationships betweenlines.
• Each line is represented as a separate feature with a start node and an
end node, possibly vertices inbetween.
• Still exists during data entry andediting
C
• You have to build topologysomehow A

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 Why Topology Matters
• Getting data to lineup,
connect, intersect,
move together
• Important for GIS
operations and analyses
• Coordinate
transformation
• Map projection
• Area calculations
• Queries
• In order to do this we
use topology

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Definition: Topology

• ESRI: The spatial relationships between connecting oradjacent coverage

features (e.g., arcs, nodes, polygons, and points). For example, the
topology of an arc includes its from‐ and to‐ nodes and its left and right
polygons.

• Textbook: (Study of) shape‐invariant spatial properties of line or area

features such as adjacency, contiguity, and connectivity, oftenrecorded
in a set of related tables(Bolstad, p. 32‐33)

• Webster: “(Study of) those properties of geometric forms that remain

invariant under certain transformations, as bending, stretching, etc.”
(Webster’s Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary)

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Topological Vector Data Model

• The connections and relationships between objects are described

independently of their coordinates

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 Topology vs. Coordinate (Continue)

• A topologically accurate
map: relationships between
subway stations are
accurately shown.

• Actual locations and shapes

of the tracks and tunnels
are not accurate.

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How to define GISTopology

• Based on
• Point/Node: Where lines
begin, end, or intersect Point/Node
• Line/Link: Line segments
between two nodes
• Polygon: composed of
alternating links and
nodes Polygon Line/Link
• Unique identifiers are
assigned to each link,
node, and polygon

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Define Topology

• Topology (relations) can be described in 3 tables.

• Polygon Topology Table: Links composing all thepolygons.

• Node Topology Table: List of the links that meet at each node.

• Link (or line segment) Topology Table: List of the beginning and end nodes for
each link; polygons to the right and left to the link. (“From node,” “To node,”
“right poly,” “left poly”

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 A Topology Example

N3 L3 N4 L7 N7 Polygon Topology Table

L4
N5 Polygon Links
L2 C L5 L8 A L1,L2,L3,L4,L5,L6…
N10 N6 B L7,L8,L9,L6,L5,L4
D A B D D L1,L2,L3,L7,L8,L9
L6
N8
N2 L1 N1 L9

Link Topology Table Node Topology Table

Link Start End Left Right Node Links
L1 N1 N2 D A N1 L1,L6,L9
L2 N2 N3 D A N2 L1,L2
L5 N5 N6 B A N3 L2,L3
L9 N8 N1 D B

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Vector Data Creation
• input of the spatialdata
• Digitizing/scan then vectorized
• Build topology
• input of the attributedata
• linking spatial and attribute
data

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Common Vector GIS DataFiles

• Coverage (topological)
• Shape File (non‐topological)
• GeoDatabase (topological)
• MapInfo (topological)
• TIN (topological)
• CAD (non topology)

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Raster Data Model

• The raster model represents reality (and feature geometry)through

uniform, regular cells (pixels)
• Within each cell, the terrain is generalized to an areal unit in which attributes
are constant

Real World
Overlay grid on
the Real World

Raster representation
Cells

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Raster Data Model

• The finer the grid size, the more precise the information about the real
world is

Real World

Coarse detail Finer detail

Cells are usually assigned the value of the object taking up the greatest part of
the cell area – Bolstad has a long discussion.

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Attribute Data and Coor.System

• Each cell is identified by a row and column

number. (x,y) Columns
• Attribute values are stored for each cellbased
on the majority feature (attribute) in the cell,
such as land usetype Rows 1 2 3 4 5 6...
• Location coordinates are calculated by adding 1
or subtracting cell size x rows and columns to 2
the known coordinates of theorigin.. 3
4
• Generally, the midpoint of a cell is considered ...
its location. BUT NOT ALWAYS (e.g.ENVI)

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Resolution

• Ingeneral, resolution can be defined as the

minimum linear dimension of the smallest
unit of geographic space for which dataare
recorded
• In the raster model the smallest units are
generally rectangular (occasionally systems
have used hexagons or triangles) ; these
smallest units are known ascells, pixels
• High resolutionrefers to raster with small
cell dimensions
• high resolution means lots of detail, lots of
cells, large rasters, small cells

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Raster Cell Size

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Resolution and Scale

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Raster as Thematic Layers

• Each layer can be treatedseparate ly

• But they can also be combined in a GIS because all objects are linked toa
coordinate system.
• Spatial operations:
• Overlay
• Map algebra

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Primary Uses for RasterData
• Modelsdescribing continuous attributes of the real world.
• Elevation, soils, temperature, etc.
• Images (satellites, scanned maps, photographs).
• Output (e.G. Printers, plotters, monitors).

Physical Variables Derived Variables, e.g.

Distance from Points

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Vector vs. Raster Data Model
Continuous data (Raster)
Simple data structure
Large data volumes
Easy overlay
Rapid data collection
Poor network analysis
No topology stored (no relationships
shown)
High spatial variability
Suitable for highly variable data
Lower positional accuracy
Determined by cell size
Low geometric accuracy
Better suited for imagery
Discrete (Vector)
Complex data structure
Compact Data File
Overlay is more difficult
Slow data collection
Possibility of Network analysis
Efficient Topology
Low spatial variability
Good for homogeneous data
Potentially excellent positional accuracy
Given by (X,Y) coordinates
High geometric accuracy
Better suited for graphics
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 Data Conversion

• Data can be transformed from one of these data models to the other

Vectorization
•

Rasterization
•

Some information is always lost when converting from one data format to the
other.

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 Rasterization

Vector Format Raster Format

Key points:
•Rasterization loses topological features
•No information aboutrelationships
•Positional accuracy decreases
•Depends on cell size: Positional accuracy ~ ½cellsize

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Vectorization

Raster Format Vector Format

Key points:
•Feature boundaries become jagged in the vectorrepresentation
•Topology is created (relationships)

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Data In ArcCatalog

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Data File Display Differently

Windows Explorer vs. ArcCatalog

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ESRI GIS DataFiles

GeoDatabase

Shapefile Coverage

MXD file
Image
Pay attention to the icon shape and color
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How shapefiles are stored
Shapefiles: simple, non‐topological format, storing the geometriclocation
and attribute information.
• .shp ‐ the file that stores the feature geometry.Required.
• .shx ‐ the file that stores the index of the feature geometry. Required.
• .dbf ‐ the dBASE file that stores the attribute information of features.
Required.
• .sbn and .sbx ‐ the files that store the spatial index of the features.
Optional.
• .fbn and .fbx ‐ the files that store the spatial index of the features for
shapefiles that are read‐only.Optional.
• .ain and .aih ‐ the files that store the attribute index of the active fields in
a table or a theme'sattribute table. Optional.
• .prj ‐ the file that stores the coordinate system information.Optional.
• .xml ‐ metadata for ArcGIS. Optional.
Tech details: http://www.esri.com/library/whitepapers/pdfs/shapefile.pdf

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How coverage files are stored?

Tech details: http://avce00.maptools.org/docs/v7_bin_cover.html

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GeoDatabase

• Database data sets (RDBMS data

sources), rather than file‐based datasets
• Supported by major RDBMS, such as DB2,
SqlServer, Oracle, Microsoft Access
(personal Geodatabase)

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MXD FileFormat

• ArcMap Map Documentfile

• It does not save your GIS data. Map document such as symbology, layer
name saved only.
• Very important for your exercise: Relative Path vs. FullPath

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Relative Path vs. Absolute Path

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Absolute (full) and relative path

• An absolute, or full, path begins with a drive letter followed by a colon,

such as D:. such as:G:\classes\FoundGIS\Data
• A relative path refers to a location that is relative to a current directory.

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Why use relative vs. absolutepath?

• Using absolute pathnames:

• You can move the document or toolbox anywhere on your computer and the
data will be found when you reopen the document or tool.
• On most personal computers, the location of data is usually constant. That is,
you typically don't move your data around much on your personal computer.
In such cases, absolute pathnamesare preferred.
• You can reference data on other diskdrives.
• Using relative pathnames: (recommended in thisclass)
• When moving a map document or toolbox, the referenced data has to move
as well.
• When delivering documents, toolboxes, and data to another user, relative
pathnames should be used. Otherwise, the recipient's computer must have
the same directory structure asyours.

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Do not losethe big picture!

• Part 1: What is GIS?

• GIS definitions
• GIS components
• GIS history
• Common GIS software
• Part 2: GIS Data Model
• Vector and Raster
• Common ESRI GIS filetype
• ArcCatalog

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