Geographic information systems (GIS) (also known as metadata and design of GIS.
tadata and design of GIS.
Geospatial information systems) are Computer Software and hardware
systems that enable users to capture, store, analyze and manage spatially
referenced data. GISs have transformed the way spatial (geographic)
data, relationships and patterns in the world are able to be interactively
queried, processed, analyzed, mapped, modeled, visualized, and
displayed for an increasingly large range of users, for a multitude of
purposes. In a general sense, the term describes any information system
that integrates stores, edits, analyzes, shares, and displays geographic
information. GIS applications are tools that allow users to create
interactive queries (user-created searches), analyze spatial information,
edit data in maps, and present the results of all these operations.
Geographic information science is the science underlying geographic
concepts, applications, and systems.
Application:
Mineral Mapping Satellite Imagery and aerial photography have
proven to be important tools in support of mineral exploration projects.
They can be used in a variety of ways. Firstly they provide geologists
and field crews the location of tracks, roads, fences and inhabited areas.
Pipeline Corridor Mapping Improve Safety and Security for Pipeline
and Transmission Surveys: Satellite imagery and GIS data have
significant potential to reduce a number of safety and security issues for
pipeline corridor planning as well as supply managers with solutions
through spatial representation of data for land, lease management,
exploration, production, transmissions, environmental, financial and
facilities management.
Defense and Security
Satellite imagery and GIS maximizes security programs which can
enable local governments to better assess and understand how to
develop programs to save lives, protect property and enhance the future
economic stability of their communities. The current threats to a country
range from incidents of terrorism and information attacks on critical
infrastructure to the potential use of weapons of mass destruction and
the spread of infectious diseases. Each one of these threats could cause
massive casualties and disruption to a country.
Airport Mapping Database Satellite Imaging Corporation (SIC)
provides 3D airport mapping using high resolution stereo satellite
imagery to support airport pre-planning and design, airport layout plans
(ALPs), navigational mapping, and airport security and aviation safety
operations.
Urban Development Satellite imagery for urban and land development
can be used to gather strategic planning information pertaining to a
district or an entire city. High resolution satellite imagery and LiDAR
incorporated into a GIS (Geographic Information Systems) and CAD
(Computer Aided Drafting) has gained popularity among Planners,
Developers and Engineers for large scale mapping of any region for
most urban and land development applications.
Benefits
1. Improved decision by government officials
2. Instantaneous collaboration through the cloud
3. Layer complex data to drive improve decision making
4. Improved transparency for citizen engagement
5. Identify at-risk or under-served populations within a community
6. Management of natural resources
7. Improved communications during a crisis
8. Cost savings by improved decision making
9. Planning for demographic changes to community
Functional components of GIS
A metadata record is a file of information, usually presented as an XML
document, which captures the basic characteristics of a data or
information resource. It represents the who, what, when, where, why and
how of the resource. Geospatial metadata commonly document
geographic digital data such as Geographic Information System (GIS)
files, geospatial databases, and earth imagery but can also be used to
document geospatial resources including data catalogues, mapping
applications, data models and related websites. Metadata records
include core library catalogue elements such as Title, Abstract, and
Publication Data; geographic elements such as Geographic Extent and
Projection Information; and database elements such as Attribute Label
Definitions and Attribute Domain Values. Metadata is defined by the
New Merriam-Webster Dictionary as “data that provides information
about other data”. Geographic metadata is used to document the
attributes of geographic data, e.g. database files and data develop within
a Geographic Information System (GIS), in the same way that the
nutrition label to the right documents the attributes of a food product.
Geographic metadata seeks to answer questions such as: Who
developed the data? When was the data collected? How were the data
processed? How are the data attributes defined? In what formats are the
data available? How does one obtain the data? The information in the
metadata provides context for the data and supports the effective
application of the data.
Metadata is an important, but unfortunately oft overlooked component
of GIS data. Metadata is ‘data about the data’ and it’s vital to
understanding to source, currency, scale, and appropriateness of using
GIS data. Metadata can be stored as an inherent part of the GIS data, or
it may be stored as a separate document.
Examples of information (this is not a comprehensive list) contained
within metadata are: creation date of the GIS data, GIS data author,
contact information, source agency, map projection and coordinate
system, scale, error, explanation of symbology and attributes, data
dictionary, data restrictions, and licensing. Essentially, metadata is a
description of the GIS data set that helps the user understands the
context of the data.
Roles of metadata:
Applicability: information needed to determine the data sets that exists
for a geographic location,
Fitness for use: information needed to determine whether a data set
meets a specified need,
Access: information needed to acquire an identified data set,
Transfer: information needed to process and use a data set,
Administration: information needed to document the status of existing
data (data model, quality, completeness, temporal validity etc…) to
define internal policy for update operations from different data sources.
Characteristics of a Good Database Design
1. Contemporaneous – the data should be updated regularly so as to
yield information that pertains to the same time-frame for all its
measured variables
2.Flexible and extensible so that additional datasets may be added as
necessary for the intended applications
3.the categories of information and subcategories within them should
contain all of the data needed to analyze or model the behavior of the
resource using conventional methods and models
4.Positionally accurate – if for example the boundary between the
residential and agricultural land has changed, this may be incorporated
with ease. 5. Exactly compatible with other information that may be
overlain with it
Map Projection System in Nepal
According to the definition, a GIS always consists of modules for input,
storage analysis, display and output of spatial data. Figure above shows
a diagram of these modules. For a particular GIS, each of these modules
may provide many or only few functions. However, if one of these
functions would be completely missing, the system should not be called
a geographic information system.
Beside data input (data capture), storage and maintenance, analysis and
output, geoinformation processes involve also dissemination, transfer
and exchange as well as organizational issues. The latter defines the
context and rules according to which geoinformation is acquired and
processed.
Data input: bringing data in the GIS environment.
Data manipulation: allowing alteration of primary data.
Data output: moving data (or analysis results) out of the GIS.
Data management: controlling access to data and ensuring data
integrity and storage efficiency.
Data retrieval: calling data from a stored format into use.
Data display: visualizing primary or derived data.
Data analysis and modeling: gathering insights into relationships in
the data, and modelling spatial phenomena
Various sources of GIS data:
1. Digitizing: It is process of converting data from
analog to digital torment. Manual digitizing uses a digitizing table
which has built in electronic mesh, which can sense position of cursor.
2.Scanning: It is digitizing method that converts analog map into a
scanned file, which is then converted to vector format thorough tracing
on it.
3.Field Data: These are survey and GPS data, survey data consist
primarily of distance, direction, elevations. GPS receiver can determine
its precise position on earth surface using GPS satellite in space.
4.Aerial photograph: The combination of aerial photography and
photographic interpretation provide information on relatively large
areas without necessary survey on ground
Different components of Map
lines or areas. Points also represent locations that have no area, such as
elevation of mountain peaks.
Lines: Represent linear features such as roads, streams, pipelines, cable
lines, etc. A line feature represents the shapes of geographic objects too
narrow to be displayed as areas or linear features that have length but
no area, i.e. a contour line.
Area: Represent features such as lakes, parks and reserves, forestry,
county boundaries, etc. An area feature is a closed figure whose
boundary encloses a homogeneous area such as a state, county, or water
body
The Projection System used in Nepal is the UTM (Universal Transverse
Mercator). Mercator projection is Conformal Cylindrical Projection. In
Transverse projection, Earth is wrapped around a cylinder in such a
manner that point of tangency between Globe and Cylinder is a
meridian, or line of longitude, called Central Meridian. In Conformal or
Orthomorphic Projection, the shape/angle is preserved even though the
length and breadth may distort. UTM consists total of 60 zones of
longitude each of 60 extending from 1800 W to 1800 E. 1800 W to
1740 W is designated as zone 1 with the central meridian of 1770 W and
other zone goes as so on and so further manner. Further zone are divided
in rows with a difference of 80. These zone extend from 800 S Latitude
to 840 N latitude. The first Latitude zone is designated with letter C for
800 S to 720 S latitude.
Nepal lies in the UTM zone of 440N and 450N. The scale factor is 0.9996
for the central meridian. 10 49’ east or west of central meridian has the
scale factor of 1. In recent years because Nepal has greater East-West
expansion so as to increase accuracy for cadastral survey and various
other purpose,UTM has been modified to MUTM
Datam is a set of parameters defining the coordinate system and a
set of control points whose geometric relationships are known.
- It is defined by a spheroid which approximates the shape of the Earth
and its position relative to the center of the Earth.
- It is used to locate places on the Earth.
- It is used to create starting or reference points for various works
requiring the accurate coordinates that are consistent to each other.
- Horizontal datum is used through a collection of specific points on the
Earth whose latitude and longitude have been accurately determined.
- Vertical datum is used through a collection of specific points on the
Earth with known heights either above or below the nationally defined
reference surface.
Datum Transformation
- Datum transformation is the set of mathematical formula that converts
point coordinates from one datum to another.
- It provides tools that enable the users to transform coordinates of
spatial objects from the new datum to the old one.
- The tools are known as datum transformation parameters.
- The transformation from datum A to datum B is a mathematically
straight forward process.
- It is a transformation between two orthogonal cartesian spatial
reference frames together with some elementary tools.
- The datum transformation requires knowledge about the relationships
in terms of position and orientation, defined by 7 constants (3 distances
of the datum center from the center of the earth [Δx, Δy, Δz], 3 rotations
around the x, y and z of the cartesian coordinate system axes and 1 scale
change (S) of the survey control network).
GPS errors:
1.Satellite Error: Caused by inaccuracies in time
Web Based GIS System
• Web GIS started off as GIS running in Web browsers and has evolved
into Web GIS serving desktop and mobile clients.
• Web GIS is any GIS that uses Web technology to communicate
between components: server(identified by URL) and client (a browser,
a desktop application, or a mobile application). The communication is
via HTTP. The format of the response can be an HTML, binary image,
XML(Extensible Markup Language), or JSON(JavaScript Object
Notation).
• The simplest architecture: 2-tier client-server (C-S) system. Server
program runs on the Web or in the cloud. C-S can be on one computer.
• Multi-tier system: 3 tier (including a data tier), >3 tiers in mashup Web
GIS. • GeoWeb is not identical to WebGIS. GeoWeb is the merging of
geospatial information with non-geospatial information (e.g.,
Webpages, photos, videos, and news). GeoWeb is related to the
geotagging and geoparsing research area of WebGIS.
Characteristics of Web GIS
• Global reach by HTTP.
• Support a large number of users simultanuously: requires high
performance and scalability.
• Better cross-platform capability: -Different Web browsers: IE,
Firefox, G. Chrome for diverse OSs (Win, Linux, Mac OS, iOS). -Web
GIS relying on HTML clients supports different operating
systems(OSs). -Web GIS relying in Java, .Net, and Flex can run on
multiple platforms. -However, Web GIS for mobile clients is far from
being cross-platform b/c of the diversity in mobile Oss and the
incompatibility of mobile Web browsers.
• Easy to use for end users. “If I do not know how to use your site, it is
your fault”.
• Unified system update.
•Diverseapplications. Neogeopgarphy,("new geography“), is
commonly applied to the usage of geographical techniques and tools
used for personal and community activities or for utilization by a non-
expert group of users
Functions
• Mapping/visualization and query (attribute or spatial).
• Collaborative collection of geospatial information. E.g., wikimapia,
OpenStreetMap. - VGI (volunteered geographic information).
• Geospatial analysis: measurement, optimal driving path, routing,
pollution dispersion modeling, retail site selection,…
Uses
• Web GIS as a new business model and a new type of commodity:
Location-specific advertising based on map mapping, e.g., Google Map.
SaaS business model: Web GIS can also be provided as a commodity.
E.g., ESRI Business Analyst Online (BAO).
• Web GIS as an engaging and powerful tool for e-government.
• A new infrastructure for e-science: E-Science (or eScience) is
computationally intensive science that is carried out in highly
distributed network environments, or science that uses immense data
sets that require grid computing (the federation of computer resources
from multiple administrative domains to reach a common goal); Web
GIS provides an infrastructure for geo-science research collaboration.
• Web GIS in daily life: location-based service (LBS) supported by
mobile Web, smart phones and tablets. LBS include services to identify
a location of a person or object, such as discovering the nearest banking
cash machine or the whereabouts of a friend or employee.
System analysis and design of GIS
The practice of design focuses on planning the structure and features
associated with any system. Design activities can focus on something as
simple as a coffee maker or as complex as an aircraft carrier. The
product of the design practice is a plan that can be used for
implementation. This is what is referred to as "the design." So there are
really two things happening - there is a process associated with
designing something, and then the product of that process is often called
the design.
All of you have substantial background knowledge about GIS systems,
how they are applied, and what their capabilities include. To help frame
things a bit, I'd like you to consider my argument that, in the GIS world,
design centers on a few key components: Users - Who will be the
target audience for your system? Tasks - What do the users expect to
accomplish with the system? Data - Which source materials will be
required to complete system tasks? Products - What outputs from the
system are needed?
The Process of GIS Design The basic design process we'll focus on in
this course is outlined in the graphic below. This depiction of the design
process has four key stages, each of which is influenced in part by some
sort of evaluation activity.
Needs Assessment refers to the user and task requirement analysis stage
where the goal is to identify the key components I listed above (users,
tasks, data, and products). Concept Development takes the results
from needs assessment and formalizes those results into specific design
plans, which in the GIS case could include interface mockups and
system programming architectures. Prototyping is an activity that
demonstrates the design concepts in a form that can be readily
evaluated. Implementation is the final phase of work that combines
results from the previous design phases and results in execution of the
complete, refined project. Evaluation is any activity intended to
measure the success of a particular design phase. It is presented in the
graphic below as something that occurs throughout each of the other
discrete activities.
Open source gis An open source application by definition is
software that you can freely access and modify the source code for.
Open source projects typically are worked on by a community of
volunteer programmers. Open source GIS programs are based on
different base programming languages. Three main groups of open
source GIS (outside of web GIS) in terms of programming languages
are: "C" languages, Java, and the first group would would be the group
that uses “C” language for its implementation. This is the more mature
of the groups of open source GIS, probably for the simple reason that is
the group that has been working on GIS software applications the
longest and has a long history of resuse of code. The libraries in the “C”
group, from the base infrastructure, and include some capabilities like
coordinate reprojection that make them very useful and popular. Popular
"C" based open source GIS software applications include GRASS, The
second group of Open Source GIS would be the ones that use JAVA as
the implementation language. JTS, central library for the Java GIS
development, offers some geospatial functions that allow to compare
objects and return a boolean true/false result indicating the existence (or
absence) of any questioned spatial relationship. Other operators, like
Union or Buffer, which are very hard to code, are offered in this group
making it very appreciated by GIS developers. GeoTools, Geoserve, and
OpenMap, are among the most popular open source GIS in this group
of JAVA tools. The third most influential group of Open Source GIS
would be the one that integrates applications that use “.NET” as the
implementation language. SharpMap and WorldWind are the most
popular of these applications. Outside of the three major language
groups, open source web mapping is another group.
List of Open Source GIS Software
1. FlowMap FlowMap is a freeware application designed to analyze
and display flow data. This application was developed at the Faculty of
Geographical Sciences of the Utrecht University in the Netherlands.
Platforms: Windows OS
2. GMT Mapping Tools GMT is a free, public-domain collection of
~60 UNIX tools that allow users to manipulate (x,y) and (x,y,z) data sets
(including filtering, trend fitting, gridding, projecting, etc.) and produce
Encapsulated PostScript File (EPS) illustrations ranging from simple x-
y plots through contour maps to artificially illuminated surfaces and 3-
D perspective views in black and white, gray tone, hachure patterns, and
24-bit color. Platforms: UNIX, Macintosh
3. GRASS Geographic Resources Analysis Support System (GRASS)
is the public domain GIS software application originally developed by
the US Government. GRASS is probably the most well- known open
source and original GIS software applications.
4. gvSIG gvSIG is an open source GIS application written in Java.
Platforms: Windows, Macintosh, Linux, UNIX
5. MapWindow GIS MapWindow GIS is open source GIS application
that can be extended through plugins. The application is built using
Microsoft’s .NET Platforms: Windows
Spatial Data Infrastructure(SDI)
The term spatial data infrastructure was coined in 1993 by the U.S.
National Research Council to denote a framework of technologies,
policies, and institutional arrangements that together facilitate the
creation, exchange, and use of geospatial data and related information
resources across an information-sharing community. Such a framework
can be implemented narrowly to enable the sharing of geospatial
information within an organization or more broadly for use at a national,
regional, or global level. In all cases, an SDI will provide an
institutionally sanctioned, automated means for posting, discovering,
evaluating, and exchanging geospatial information by participating
information producers and users. “The Global Spatial Data
Infrastructure supports ready global access to geographic information.
This is achieved through the coordinated actions of nations and
organisations that promote awareness and implementation of
complimentary policies, common standards and effective mechanisms
for the development and availability of interoperable digital geographic
data and technologies to support decision making at all scales for
multiple purposes.”
Four main components
Overriding objective to maximise the use of national geographic
information assets
This requires some form of coordinated action on the part of
government
It must be user driven ‘to support decision making at all scales for
multiple purposes’
This involves a wide range of activities including technical and
institutional matters and human resource development
characteristic:
Is a set of base capabilities.
Is a general comprehensive system .
Has multiple effective aspect in ict utilization.
Include some stable and dynamic physical component.
Provide important ,fundamental and irreplaceable service.
critical factors in SDI can be briefly described as follows:
1. Data standards: It refers to an agreed upon way of representing data
in a system in terms of content, type and format. Exchange of data
between databases is difficult if they support different data standards or
different query language. The development of common data
architecture and the support for a single data exchange format,
commonly known as standard for data exchange may provide a sound
basis for data sharing. Examples of these standards are the DIGEST
(Digital Geographic Information Exchange Standard) Spatial Data
Transfer Standard (SDTS) etc...
2. Heterogeneity: it means being different in kind, quality and character.
Spatial data may exists in a variety of locations, are possibly managed
by a variety of database systems, were collected for different purposes
and by different methods, and are stored in different structures. This
brings about all kinds of inconsistency among these data sets
(heterogeneity) and creates many problems when data is shared.
3. Communication problems: with advances in computer network
communication and related technology, locating relevant information in
a network of distributed information sources has become more
important recently. The question is which communication technology is
the best suitable for transfer of huge amounts of spatial data in a secure
and reliable way. Efficient tools and communication protocols are
necessary to provide search browse and delivery mechanisms.
4. institutional and Economic problems: these problems arise in the
absence of policy concerning pricing, copyright, privacy, liability,
conformity with standards, data quality etc… resolving these problems
is essential to create the right environment for data sharing.
What is Clearinghouse?
A (spatial data) clearinghouse is a distributed network of spatial data
producers, managers and users that are linked electronically together. It
is a system of software and institutions that are to facilitate the
discovery, evolution and downloading of digital spatial data and
provides means to inventory, document and data sharing. The
clearinghouse concept is a useful one in building a Geographic
Information Infrastructure (GII). The objective is to minimize
unnecessary duplication of effort for data capture, and to maximize the
benefit of geographic information sharing. Data providers nowadays are
fully aware of the importance of advertising and making available their
metadata describing their databases, to facilitate the use of their
products. This explains the current level of activity of building these
clearinghouses. A clearinghouse allows data providers to register their
geographic data sets, the quality of these data and also the instructions
for accessing them. Each data provider provides an electronic
description of each spatial data set. In addition, the provider may also
provide access to the spatial data set itself. The clearinghouse thus
functions as a detailed catalogue service with support for links to spatial
data and browsing capabilities.
How does Clearinghouse work?
To provide search interoperability among different servers of geospatial
metadata, the search and retrieve protocol known as ANSI Z39.50-1995
(ISO 23950) was initially selected by the FGDC Clearinghouse activity.
Although in use by a few organizations today, it has been effectively
replaced by the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) Catalog Services
specification, more specifically the HTTP version known as Catalog
Service for the Web (CSW). Multiple catalog services and metadata
collections (WAF) are registered with the GeoPlatform.gov site. A
periodic harvest of all metadata is performed, and all metadata are
indexed for search, as if all the metadata and data resources were
consolidated in one location, though they are actually distributed among
the agencies. This federated model preserves the notion of 'data closest
to source' allowing agencies full control of the content, metadata, and
update frequency.
Spatial analysis is a process for looking at geographic patterns
in your data and relationships between features. The actual methods
you use can be very simple –sometimes, just by making a map of the
theme you are analysing, or more complex, involving models that
mimic the real world by combining many data layers. Spatial analysis
allows us to study real-world processes. It gives the information about
the real world including the present situation of specific areas and
features, the change in situation or the trends. For instance – ‘where
and how much the forest areas are decreasing or increasing?’, ‘where
the urban areas are growing up in the Kathmandu valley?’ and so on.
Overlay
Overlay is the core part of GIS analysis operation. It combines several
spatial features to generate new spatial elements. In other word,
overlay can be defined as a spatial operation, which combines different
geographic layers to generate new information. Overlay is done using
Arithmetic, Boolean, and Relational operators, and is performed in
both vector and raster domain.
Vector Overlay
During vector overlay, map features and the associated attributes are
integrated to produce new composite map. Logical rules can be
applied to how the maps are combined. Vector overlay can be
performed on different type of map feature: viz., polygon-on-polygon
overlay, line-on-polygon overlay, point-on-polygon overlay . During
the process of overlay, the attribute data associated with each feature
type is merged. The resulting table will contain both the attribute data.
Raster Overlay
In raster overlay, the pixel or grid cell values in each map are combined
using arithmetic and Boolean operators to produce a new value in the
composite map. The maps can be treated as arithmetic variables and
perform complex algebraic functions. The method is often described as
map algebra (figure 7.6). The raster GIS provides the ability to perform
map layers mathematically. The map algebraic function uses
mathematical expressions to create new raster layers by comparing
them.
Relational Operators - The Relational operators (<, <=, <>, =, >, and
>=) evaluate specific relational conditions. If the condition is TRUE, the
output is assigned 1; if the condition is FALSE, the output is assigned
0. Below is an example of raster overlay by addition. Two input rasters
are added together to create an output raster with the values for each cell
summed.
This approach is often used to rank attribute values by suitability or risk,
then add them to produce an overall rank for each cell. The various
layers can also be assigned a relative importance to create a weighted
ranking
Proximity Analysis/ Buffering Proximity analysis is measurement of
distances from points, lines and boundaries of polygons. One of the
most popular proximity analysis is based on "buffering", by which a
buffer can be generated around a point, line and area with a given
distance . Buffering is easier to generate for raster data than for vector
data. buffering is a GIS procedure by which zones of specified radius or
width are defined around selected vector features or raster grid cells
Geographic data source and different methods of data capture
Geographic data are generally available in two forms: analogue data and
digital data. Analogue data is a physical product displaying information
visually on paper, e.g. maps. Digital data is information on computer
readable form, e.g. satellite data .There are various sources from where
we can get these different types of data., the sources are – maps, aerial
photo, satellite images, existing tabular data (in analogue and digital
format), and field data (GPS). GIS is able to capture these different types
of data from various sources. Creating a database, i.e. capturing the data,
is the initial stage and time consuming task of a GIS project
methods of data capture
Manual Data Capture:
In manual data capture process, the data is entered manually by an
operator using input devices like keyboard, touch screens, mouse etc.
for keying in data in the form of figures or text into particular software
such as Excel or any other data or word processing program.
Automated Data Capture:
Automated data capture involves the use of computerized technology
to capture data. This method has a high initial cost on account of the
initial investment required as for instance, the purchase of technology
but as the project proceeds, is found to lower the operating costs
significantly on account of low manpower requirement.
Optical Character Recognition (OCR):
OCR technology is used to convert different types of machine-printed
documents including image files, PDF files or scanned paper
documents, into searchable and editable data.
Intelligent Character Recognition (ICR):
ICR technology helps to recognize and capture handwritten printed
characters from image files. As handwritten text caries significantly,
so ICR is less accurate and complicated as compared to other
technologies
Optical Mark Reading (OMR):
OMR technology is used to capture human marked data from
documents such as forms and surveys. The technology has the capacity
to differentiate between marked and unmarked boxes and so, is used
for capturing data through boxes that are checked manually on
documents.
Magnetic Ink character Recognition (MICR):
It is a data capture technology capable of recognizing characters. It
involves the recognition of specially formatted characters that are
printed in magnetic ink, by a machine.
Magnetic Stripe Cards:
Magnetic stripe cards store data using magnetic properties of certain
materials. They possess stripes of iron-based magnetic materials on the
card.
Smart-Cards:
Smart cards are pocket-sized cards with embedded integrated circuits.
They can function on contact or can be contactless. They contain more
memory than magnetic cards and can be used for data related to
personal identification, authentication, biometrics etc.
Web-Data Capture:
Data capture from web involves the capture of data from electronic
forms through internet or intranet.
Voice- Recognition:
Voice recognition is the process of converting speech into text. The
text can be simple text or can be a set of commands.
Spatial referenced In the early days of GIS, users were handling
spatially referenced data from a single country. The data was derived
from paper maps published by the countries mapping organization.
Nowadays, GIS users are combining spatial data from a certain country
with global spatial data sets, reconciling spatial data from a published
map with coordinates established with satellite positioning techniques
and integrating spatial data from neighboring countries. To perform
these tasks successfully, GIS users need a certain level of appreciation
for a few basic spatial referencing concepts pertinent to published maps
and spatial data. Geographic referencing, which is sometimes simply
called georeferencing, is defined as the representation of the location of
real-world features within the spatial framework of a particular
coordinate system. The objective of georeferencing is to provide a rigid
spatial framework by which the position of the real-world features are
measured, computed, recorded, and analyzed. In practice
georeferencing can be seen as series of concepts and techniques that
progressively transform measurements carried out on the irregular
surface of a map, and make it easily and readily measurable on this flat
surface by means of a coordinate system. The concept of representing
the physical shape of earth by means of a mathematical surface and the
realization of this concept by the definitions of the geoid and ellipsoid
are fundamental to georeferencing.
Quality aspect of spatial data
When we refer to the concept of geographical information quality is
necessary to know that this subject is usually covered by the quality
elements. These elements quality should be evaluated in function of the
foreseen use and the production cost. Without fear of committing
mistakes, we can affirm that every day exist less economic resources
and this fact forces the administrators of public resources to find
technical solutions that guarantee the optimization of each cent. The
direct consequence of this action is the demand of precise and accurate
projects. Happily, the manufacturing companies of mensuration
equipment accompanied the technological evolution of recent years and
have launched new instruments every year with ever more affordable
costs. Three decades ago, the acquisition of good angular measurement
instruments incorporating an electronic distance measurement, cost
around three to four tens of thousands of dollars. Nowadays it is possible
to acquire more compact and better quality instruments for one third of
the original value. This fact has contributed greatly to the small survey
companies and even city halls of small cities, as they can be equipped
with instruments that, since they are used in a convenient way, guarantee
quality of the collected information.
map projection A map projection is a systematic transformation
of the latitudes and longitudes of locations from the surface of a sphere
or an ellipsoid into locations on a plane. Maps cannot be created without
map projections. All map projections necessarily distort the surface in
some fashion. Depending on the purpose of the map, some distortions
are acceptable and others are not; therefore, different map projections
exist in order to preserve some properties of the sphere-like body at the
expense of other properties. There is no limit to the number of possible
map projections.[2]:1 More generally, the surfaces of planetary bodies
can be mapped even if they are too irregular to be modeled well with a
sphere or ellipsoid; see below. Even more generally, projections are a
subject of several pure mathematical fields, including differential
geometry, projective geometry, and manifolds. However, "map
projection" refers specifically to a cartographic projection.
Spatial database design
A spatial database system may be defined as a database system that
offers spatial data types in its data model and query language, and
supports spatial data types in its implementation, providing at least
spatial indexing and spatial join methods. A spatial database includes
collections of information about the spatial location, relationship and
shape of topological geographic features and the data in the form of
attributes. The design of the spatial database is the formal process of
analyzing facts about the real world into a structured model. Database
design is characterized by the following phases: requirement analysis,
logical design and physical design. In other words, you basically need a
plan, a design layout and then the data to complete the process.
Steps in database design
1. Conceptual
a. software and hardware independent b. describes and defines included entities c.
identifies how entities will be represented in the database d. i.e. selection of spatial
objects - points, lines, areas, raster cells e. requires decisions about how real-world
dimensionality and relationships will be represented f. these can be based on the
processing that will be done on these objects g. e.g. should a building be represented
as an area or a point?
h. e.g. should highway segments be explicitly linked in the database?
2. Logical
a. software specific but hardware independent
b. sets out the logical structure of the database elements, determined by
the data base management system used by the software
3. Physical
a. both hardware and software specific b. requires consideration of how
files will be structured for access from the disk
Remote Sensing
Remote Sensing is the science and art of acquiring information
(spectral, spatial, temporal) about material objects, area, or
phenomenon, without coming into physical contact with the objects, or
area, or phenomenon under investigation.
• In remote sensing, information transfer is accomplished by use of
electromagnetic radiation (EMR). • EMR is a form of energy that
reveals its presence by the observable effects it produces when it strikes
the matter. • So, one is looking at the physical nature of spatially
distributed features., Remote Sensing refers to the activities of
recording/observing/perceiving (sensing) objects or events at far away
(remote) places. Remote Sensing is defined as the science and
technology by which the characteristics of objects of interest can be
identified, measured or analyzed the characteristics without direct
contact. Remote Sensing deals with gathering information about the
Earth from a distance. This can be done from a few metres off the
Earth’s surface, an aircraft flying hundreds thousands of metres above
the surface, or a satellite orbiting hundreds of kilometers above the
Earth.
How does remote sensing work?
Electro-magnetic radiation which is reflected or emitted from an object
is the usual source of remote sensing data. A device to detect the electro-
magnetic radiation reflected or emitted from an object is called a
"remote sensor" or "sensor". Cameras or scanners are examples of
remote sensors. A vehicle to carry the sensor is called a "platform".
Aircraft or satellites are used as platforms. The characteristics of an
object can be determined, using reflected or emitted electro-magnetic
radiation, from the object. That is, "each object has a unique and
different characteristics of reflection or emission if the type of object or
the environmental condition is different. "Remote sensing is a
technology to identify and understand the object or the environmental
condition through the uniqueness of the reflection or emission.
GPS
The Global Positioning System (GPS) has been developed in order to
allow accurate determination of geographical locations by military and
civil users. It is based on the use of satellites in Earth orbit that transmit
information which allow to measure the distance between the satellites
and the user. If the signals from three or more satellites are received,
simple triangulation will make it possible to determine unambiguously
the location of the user.
The GPS receiver compares the time a signal was transmitted by a
satellite with the time it was received. The time difference tells the GPS
receiver how far away the satellite is. With four or more satellites in
view, the receiver can determine the user's 3D position (latitude,
longitude and altitude).
GPS is a system. It’s made up of three parts: satellites, ground stations,
and receivers. Satellites act like the stars in constellations—we know
where they are supposed to be at any given time. The ground stations
use radar to make sure they are actually where we think they are. A
receiver, like you might find in your phone or in your parents car, is
constantly listening for a signal from these satellites. The receiver
figures out how far away they are from some of them.
Once the receiver calculates its distance from four or more satellites, it
knows exactly where you are. Presto! From miles up in space your
location on the ground can be determined with incredible precision!
They can usually determine where you are within a few yards of your
actual location. More high-tech receivers, though, can figure out where
you are to within a few inches.
Components of GPS
The Global Positioning System is divided into three major components:
the control segment, the space segment, and the user segment. All three
of these segments are required to perform positional determination.
The Control Segment consists of five monitoring stations - Colorado
Springs, Ascension Island, Diego Garcia, Hawaii, and Kwajalein Island
. Colorado Springs serves as the master control station. The Control
Segment is the sole responsibility of the DoD who undertakes
construction, launching, maintenance, and virtually constant
performance monitoring of all GPS satellites. The monitoring stations
track all GPS signals for use in controlling the satellites and predicting
their orbits.
SPACE SEGMENT
The Space Segment consists of the constellation of earth orbiting
satellites. The satellites are arrayed in 6 orbital planes, inclined 55
degrees to the equator . They orbit at altitudes of about 12,000 miles
each. Each satellite contains four precise atomic clocks (Rubidium and
Cesium standards) and has a microprocessor on board for limited self-
monitoring and data processing. The satellites are equipped with
thrusters, which can be used to maintain or modify their orbits.
User segment:
-GPS User Segment consists of the GPS receivers and the user
community.
-The typical receiver is composed of an antenna and pre-amplifier, radio
signal microprocessor, control and display device, data recording unit,
and power supply.
-GPS receivers convert SV signals into position, velocity, and time
estimates. A minimum of four satellites are required to compute the four
dimensions of X, Y, Z (position) and Time.
Geo database and its character
The physical store of geographic information, primarily using a
database management system (DBMS) or file system is called a
geodatabase. A geodatabase is a collection of featureclasses and
tables,feature classes can be organized into feature dataset.the
geodatabase data model is an object oriented data model that lets you
make the feature in your gis datasets smarter by endowing them with
natural behavour. the geodatabase lets you implement custom behavour
by implementing domains ,validation rule or writing software code.
In order that the GIS database provides the best service it should be:
Contemporaneous – the data should be updated regularly so as to
yield information that pertains to the same time-frame for all its
measured variables
Flexible and extensible so that additional datasets may be added as
necessary for the intended applications
& the categories of information and subcategories within them should
contain all of the data needed to analyze or model the behavior of the
resource using conventional methods and models
Positionally accurate – if for example the boundary between the
residential and agricultural land has changed, this may be incorporated
with ease. Exactly compatible with other information that may be
overlain with it Readly upgrade in regular schedule Accessable to
what ever need it
map projection
Map projections are attempts to portray the surface of the earth or a
portion of the earth on a flat surface. Some distortions of conformality,
distance, direction, scale, and area always result from this process. Some
projections minimize distortions in some of these properties at the
expense of maximizing errors in others. Some projection are attempts to
only moderately distort all of these properties. We need to choose a
projection that will MINIMIZE distortion in our area and be best suited
for our application .The map projection can be onto a flat surface or a
surface that can be made flat by cutting, such as a cylinder or a cone. If
the globe, after scaling, cuts the surface, the projection is called secant.
Lines where the cuts take place or where the surface touches the globe
have no projection distortion.
Map projections fall into three general classes:
(1) Cylindrical (2) Conical (3) Planar or Azimuthal
Cylindrical Projection: is assumed to circumscribe a transparent globe
(marked with meridians and parallels) so that the cylinder touches the
equator throughout its circumference. Assuming that a light bulb is
placed at the center of the globe, the graticule of the globe is projected
on to the cylinder. By cutting open the cylinder along a meridian and
unfolding it, a rectangle-shaped cylindrical projection is obtained.
Cylindrical are true at the equator and distortion increases toward the
poles
Conical Projection: a cone is placed over the globe in such a way that
the apex of the cone is exactly over the polar axis. A cone must touch
the globe along a parallel of latitude, known as the standard parallel,
which can be selected by the cartographer. Along this standard parallel,
scale is correct and distortion is the least. When the cone is cut open
along a meridian and laid flat, a fan shaped map is produced, with
meridians as straight lines radiating from the vertex at equals angles,
while parallels are arcs of circles, all drawn using the vertex as the
center.
Planar or Azimuthal Projection(planar): A plane is placed so that it
touches the globe at the north or South Pole. This can be conceived as
the cone becoming increasingly flattened until its vertex reaches the
limit of 180o. The projection resulting is better known as the polar
Azimuthal projection. It is circular in shape with meridians projected as
straight lines radiating from the center of the circle, which is the pole.
Geographical phenomena: Geographic phenomena exist in
the real world. In using GIS software, we first obtain some computer
representation of these phenomena-stored in memory, in bits and bytes-
as faithfully as possible. This is where we speak of spatial data.
Geographic phenomenon is as something of interest that Can be named
or described Can be georeferenced, and Can be assigned a time
(interval) at which it is/was present .What are relevant phenomena are
for one’s current use of GIS depends entirely on the objectives that one
has. For instance, in water management, the objects of study can be river
basins, agro-ecologic units, measurements of actual evapotranspiration,
ground water levels, irrigation levels etc…observe that all of these can
be named/described, georeferenced and provided with a time interval at
which each exists. In multipurpose cadastral administration, the objects
of study are different houses, barns, parcels, streets of various types,
land use, sewage canals and other form of urban infrastructure may all
play a role. Again these can be named/described, georeferenced and
assigned a time interval of existence. We do not claim that all relevant
phenomena come as triplets (description, georeferenced, time interval),
though many do. If the georeference is missing .
Spatial Data modeling:
A data model in geographic information systems is a mathematical
construct for representing geographic objects or surfaces as data. For
example, the vector data model represents geography as collections of
points, lines, and polygons; the raster data model represent geography
as cell matrices that store numeric values; and the TIN data model
represents geography as sets of contiguous, non-overlapping triangles.
Data models are a set of rules and/or constructs used to describe and
represent aspects of the real world in a computer. Two primary data
models are available to complete this task: raster data models and vector
data models.
Raster data model: Continuous numeric values, such as elevation, and
continuous categories, such as vegetation types, are represented using
the raster model. The raster data model represents features as a
matrix/lattice of cells in continuous space. A point is one cell, a line is
a continuous row of cells, and an area is represented as continuous
touching cells.
Vector data model: Discrete features, such as customer locations, are
usually represented using the vector model. Features can be discrete
locations or events, lines, or areas. Lines, such as streams or roads, are
represented as a series of coordinate pairs. Areas are defined by borders,
and are represented by closed polygons. When you analyze vector data,
much of your analysis involves working with (summarizing) the
attributes in the layer's data table.
Digital mapping :(also called digital cartography) is the
process by which a collection of data is compiled and formatted into a
virtual image. The primary function of this technology is to produce
maps that give accurate representations of a particular area, detailing
major road arteries and other points of interest. The technology also
allows the calculation of distances from one place to another.Although
digital mapping can be found in a variety of computer applications the
main use of these maps is with the Global Positioning System, or GPS
satellite network, used in standard automotive navigation systems.
Digital maps heavily rely upon a vast amount of data collected over
time. Most of the information that comprise digital maps is the
culmination of satellite imagery as well as street level information.
Maps must be updated frequently to provide users with the most
accurate reflection of a location. While there is a wide spectrum on
companies that specialize in digital mapping, the basic premise is that
digital maps will accurately portray roads as they actually appear to give
"life-like experiences."
What are various coordinate system used in
GIS application?
A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system that enables
every location on the Earth to be specified by a set of numbers or letters.
The coordinates are often chosen such that one of the numbers
represents vertical position, and two or three of the numbers represent
horizontal position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude,
longitude and elevation. coordinate system is a standardized method for
assigning codes to locations so that locations can be found using the
codes alone. Standardized coordinate systems use absolute locations. A
map captured in the units of the paper sheet on which it is printed is
based on relative locations or map millimeters.
Some standard coordinate systems used are:
• Geographic coordinates
• Lat-long, geodetic lat long, Earth Centered Earth Fixed XYZ
• Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM) system
• Military grid
• State plane coordinate system
Latitude, Longitude, Height The most commonly used
coordinate system today is the latitude, longitude, and height system .
The Prime Meridian and the Equator are the reference planes used to
define latitude and longitude. Geographic coordinates are the earth's
latitude and longitude system, ranging from 90 degrees south to 90
degrees north in latitude and 80 degrees west to 180 degrees east in
longitude
Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM)
◗ Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM) is the most prevalent system
used for mapping and other work
◗ UTM zone numbers designate 6 degree longitudinal strips (60
vertical zones) extending from 80 degrees South
latitude to 84 degrees North latitude. Zone numbers start from the 180th
meridian in an eastward direction
Military Grid Reference System (MGRS)
◗ MGRS is an extension of the UTM system. UTM zone number and
zone character are used to identify an area 6
degrees in east-west extent and 8 degrees in north-south extent.
◗ UTM zone number and designator are followed by 100 km square
easting and northing identifiers.
◗ The system uses a set of alphabetic characters for the 100 km grid
squares.
◗ Starting at the 180 degree meridian the characters A to Z (omitting I
and O) are used for 18 degrees before starting over.
State Plane Coordinate System (SPCS)
◗ In the United States, the State Plane System was developed in the
1930s and was based on the North American Datum 1927 (NAD27).
◗ State plane systems were developed in order to provide local
reference systems that were tied to a national datum
Some smaller states use a single state plane zone.
◗ Larger states are divided into several zones.
◗ State plane zone boundaries often follow county boundaries.
International Terrestrial Reference System (ITRS) :
describes procedures for creating reference frames suitable for use with
measurements on or near the Earth's surface. This is done in much the
same way that a physical standard might be described as a set of
procedures for creating a realization of that standard. The ITRS defines
a geocentric system of coordinates using the SI system of measurement.
Problems do you face during the spatial data sharing?
Geographic data exchange and sharing means the flow of digital data
from one information system to the other. Advances in technology, data
handling and data communication allow the user to think of the
possibility of finding and accessing data that has been collected by
different data providers. Their objective is to minimize the duplication
of effort in spatial data collection and processing. Data sharing problems
which can be viewed as critical factors in SDI can be briefly described
as follows:
1. Data standards: It refers to an agreed upon way of representing data
in a system in terms of content, type and format. Exchange of data
between databases is difficult if they support different data standards or
different query language. The development of common data
architecture and the support for a single data exchange format,
commonly known as standard for data exchange may provide a sound
basis for data sharing. Examples of these standards are the DIGEST
(Digital Geographic Information Exchange Standard) Spatial Data
Transfer Standard (SDTS) etc...
2. Heterogeneity: it means being different in kind, quality and character.
Spatial data may exists in a variety of locations, are possibly managed
by a variety of database systems, were collected for different purposes
and by different methods, and are stored in different structures. This
brings about all kinds of inconsistency among these data sets
(heterogeneity) and creates many problems when data is shared.
3. Communication problems: with advances in computer network
communication and related technology, locating relevant information in
a network of distributed information sources has become more
important recently. The question is which communication technology is
the best suitable for transfer of huge amounts of spatial data in a secure
and reliable way. Efficient tools and communication protocols are
necessary to provide search browse and delivery mechanisms. 4.
institutional and Economic problems: these problems arise
Map Resolution: Refers to how accurately the location and shape
of the map features can be depicted for a given map scale. In large-scale
maps the resolution is greater because the reduction factors used to put
the real-world features on a map is less. As a map scale decreases,
features are simplified, smoothed or not represented at all. Features such
as roads and streams must be represented as lines not areas. Millions of
maps are produced and used annually throughout the world by
scientists, scholars, governments, and business to meet environmental,
economic, political, and social needs.
Maps gain value in three ways:
• As a way of recording and storing information: Governments,
business, and society as large must store large
quantities of information about the environment and the location of
natural resources, capital assess, and people.
• As a mean of analyzing distributions and spatial patterns: Maps
let us recognize spatial distribution and relationships and make it
possible for us to visualize and hence conceptualize patterns and
processes that operate
Through space.
• As a method of presenting information and communication
findings: Maps allow us to convey information and findings that are
difficult to express verbally.
MAP LAYERS
A map layer is GIS database containing groups of point, line or area
(polygon) featuresrepresenting a particular class or type of real-world
entities such as customers, streets, orpostal codes. A layer contains both
the visual representation of each feature and a link from the feature to
its database attributes. Maps in a geographic information system are
made by combining multiple layers. Each map layer is used to display
and work with a specific GIS dataset. A layer represents geographic
data, such as a particular theme of data. Example map layers include
streams and lakes, terrain, roads, political boundaries, parcels, building
footprints, utility lines, and orthophoto imagery.
A layer references the data stored in geodatabases, coverages,
shapefiles, rasters, and so on, rather than actually storing the geographic
data. Thus, a layer always reflects the most up-to-date information in
your database.
Layers have a number of properties you can work with and set. You can
right-click a layer in the table of contents and click Properties to view
the Layer Properties dialog box, where you can set symbology, labeling,
drawing rules, and other options. For example, you can specify that
streams are drawn with all blue lines, parcels are drawn based on their
land-use code, parks are drawn using a green pattern fill and are labeled
with the park name, digital elevation is portrayed as a shaded relief, and
so on. In addition, other properties include defining the scales at which
they can draw, which features to draw from the data source, where that
data is located in your database, attribute properties, joins, and relates
for working with the tabular information.
Digital terrain model(DTM)
A digital terrain model is a topographic model of the bare earth – terrain
relief - that can be manipulated by computer programs. The data files
contain the spatial elevation data of the terrain in a digital format which
usually presented as a rectangular grid. Vegetation, buildings and other
man-made (artificial) features are removed digitally - leaving just the
underlying terrain ( on the other hand, Digital Surface Model (DSM) is
usually the main product produced from photogrammetry, where it does
contain all the features mentioned above, while a filtered DSM results
in a DTM). DTM model is mostly related as raster data type (opposed
to vector data type), stored usually as a rectangular equal-spaced grid,
with space (resolution) of between 50 and 500 meters mostly presented
in cartesian coordinate system – i.e. x, y, z (there are DTMs presented
in geographic coordinate system – i.e. angular coordinates of latitude
and longitude). For several applications a higher resolution is required
(as high as 1 meter spacing). A DTM can be used to guide automatic
machinery in the construction of a physical model or even in computer
games. DTM can be stored in a GIS databases in several ways:
1) a set of contour vectors (left);
2) a rectangular grid of equal-spaced corner/point heights (middle); or,
3) an irregularly spaced set of points connected as triangles (TIN -
Triangular Irregular Network) (right).
Application of DTM
1. Visualization of the terrain
2. Reduction (terrain correction) of gravity measurements (gravimetry,
physical geodesy)
3. Terrain analyses in Cartography and Morphology
4. Rectification of airborne or satellite photos
5. Extraction of terrain parameters, model water flow or mass movement
Geographic coordinate system Vs projected system
Geographic coordinate system
1.A geographic coordinate system (GCS) is a coordinate system which
uses a three-dimensional spherical surface (ellipsoid) to define locations
on the earth. A common choice of coordinates is latitude and longitude.
For example, Leuven, Belgium is located on 50°52'47" North and
4°42'01" East in the WGS84 coordinate system.
2.A geographic coordinate system is constituted by a datum (DATUM),
a prime meridian (PRIMEM) and unit (UNIT). The datum is constituted
by a ellipsoid model (SPHEROID) and a anchor point.
3.An example is: WGS84 coordinate system with unique EPSG
code 4326
Projected coordinate system
1.In a projected coordinate system (PCS) you project the geographic
coordinate that you have measured, to, for example, a cylinder which
you roll out easily on two-dimensional surface (the map). There exist
many different projections and we'll not go in further detail about that
here.
2.Typically every country, state or region has its optimal projected
coordinate system which minimizes distortions for particular
applications like mapping.
3.Examples are:
South central Texas in the United States uses "NAD83( NSRS2007) /
Texas South Central (ftUS)" with unique EPSG code 3674 Belgium
uses "ETR S89 / Lambert 2008" with unique EPSG code 3812
What is distortion and its types?
Types of distortion
Distance:
A map is equidistant when it portrays distances from the center of the
projection to any other place on the map.
Direction
: A map preserves direction when azimuths (angles from a point on a
line to another point) are portrayed correctly in all directions.
Scale:
Scale is the relationship between a distance portrayed on a map and the
same distance on the Earth.
Area:
When a map portrays areas over the entire map so that all mapped areas
have the same proportional relationship to the areas on the Earth that
they represent, the map is an equal area map.
Vector Data & Rastar Data Adv & DisADV
Advantages :
1.Data can be represented at its original resolution and form without
generalization.
2.Graphic output is usually more aesthetically pleasing . Since most
data, e.g. hard copy maps, is in vector form no data conversion is
required. 3.Accurate geographic location of data is maintained.
4.Allows for efficient encoding of topology, and as a result more
efficient operations that require topological information, e.g. proximity,
network analysis.
Disadvantages:
1.The location of each vertex needs to be stored explicitly.
2.For effective analysis, vector data must be converted into a topological
structure. This is often processing intensive and usually requires
extensive data cleaning. As well, topology is static, and any updating or
editing of the vector data requires rebuilding of the topology.
3.Algorithms for manipulative and analysis functions are complex and
may be processing intensive. Often, this inherently limits the
functionality for large data sets, e.g. a large number of features.
4.Continuous data, such as elevation data, is not effectively represented
in vector form. Usually substantial data generalization or interpolation
is required for these data layers.
5.Spatial analysis and filtering within polygons is impossible
Raster Data
Advantages :
1.The geographic location of each cell is implied by its position in the
cell matrix. Accordingly, other than an origin point, e.g. bottom left
corner, no geographic coordinates are stored.
2. Due to the nature of the data storage technique data analysis is usually
easy to program and quick to perform. 3.The inherent nature of raster
maps, e.g. one attribute maps, is ideally suited for mathematical
modeling and quantitative analysis.
4.Discrete data, e.g. forestry stands, is accommodated equally well as
continuous data, e.g. elevation data, and facilitates the integrating of the
two data types.
5.Grid-cell systems are very compatible with raster-based output
devices, e.g. electrostatic plotters, graphic terminals.
Disadvantages:
1.The cell size determines the resolution at which the data is
represented.;
2.It is especially difficult to adequately represent linear features
depending on the cell resolution. Accordingly, network linkages are
difficult to establish.
3.Processing of associated attribute data may be cumbersome if large
amounts of data exists. Raster maps inherently reflect only one attribute
or characteristic for an area.
4.Since most input data is in vector form, data must undergo vector-to-
raster conversion. Besides increased processing requirements this may
introduce data integrity concerns due to generalization and choice of
inappropriate cell size. Most output maps from grid-cell systems do not
conform to high-quality cartographic needs.
Map Elements:
Maps are the primary tools by which spatial relationships and
geographic data are visualized. Maps therefore become important
documents. There are several key elements that should be included each
time a map is created in order to aid the viewer in understanding the
communications of that map and to document the source of the
geographic information used. 1)Data Frame:The data frame is the
portion of the map that displays the data layers. This section is most
important and central focus of the map document. 2) Legend :The
legend serves as the decoder for the symbology in the data frame.
Therefore, it is also commonly known as the key. Descriptions detailing
any color schemata, symbology or categorization.3)Title:The title is
important because it instantly gives the viewer a succinct description of
the subject matter of the map. The title “Fire History in Topanga,
California” quickly tells the viewer the subject matter and location of
the data. 4)North Arrow:The purpose of the north arrow is for
orientation. This allows the viewer to determine the direction of the map
as it relates to due north. Most maps tend to be oriented so that due north
faces the top of the page. 5)Scale:The scale explains the relationship of
the data frame extent to the real world. The description is a ratio. This
can be shown either as a unit to unit or as one measurement to another
measurement.6)Citation:The citation portion of a map constitutes the
metadata of the map. This is the area where explanatory data about the
data sources and currency, projection information and any caveats are
placed. 7)Explanation: Also known as a legend. The explanation lists
symbols used on a map and what they depict. These symbols should
appear in the explanation exactly as they are found in the body of the
map and be described clearly and fully. Do not treat the legend as an
afterthought, it should receive careful attention
How GPS work?
The GPS uses satellites and computers to compute positions anywhere
on earth. The GPS is based on satellite ranging. That means the position
on the earth is determined by measuring the distance from a group of
satellites in space. Triangulation from the satellite is the basis of the
system. To triangulate, the GPS measures the distance using the travel
time of a radio message, for which it needs a very accurate clock. Once
the distance to a satellite is known, then we need to know where the
satellite is in space. To compute a position in three dimensions, we need
to have four satellite measurements. The GPS uses a trigonometric
approach to calculate the positions. The GPS satellites are so high up
that their orbits are very predictable and each of the satellites is equipped
with a very accurate atomic clock
spatial relationship : A primary function of a GIS is to
determine the spatial relationships between features: Do they overlap?
Is one contained by the other? Does one cross the other?Geometries can
be spatially related in different ways. The following are examples of
how one geometry can be spatially related to another:Geometry A
passes through geometry B.Geometry A is completely contained by
geometry B.Geometry A completely contains geometry B.The
geometries do not intersect or touch one another.The geometries are
completely coincident.The geometries overlap each other.The
geometries touch at one point.To determine whether these relationships
exist or not, execute spatial relationship functions. These functions
compare the following properties of the geometries you specify in your
query:The exteriors (E) of the geometries, which is all of the space not
occupied by a geometryThe interior (I) of the geometries, which is the
space occupied by a geometryThe boundary (B) of the geometries,
which is the interface between a geometry's interior and exterior. For
example, if you have a table that stores the locations of proposed
development sites and another table that stores the location of
archaeologically significant sites, you might want to make sure that the
features in the development sites table do not intersect the
archaeological sites. You could issue a query to make sure none of the
development sites intersect archaeology sites and, if any do, return the
ID of those proposed developments.
Spatial DBMS: A spatial database system may be defined as a
database system that offers spatial data types in its data model and query
language, and supports spatial data types in its implementation,
providing at least spatial indexing and spatial join methods. Spatial
database systems offer the underlying database technology for
geographic information systems and other applications. We survey data
modeling, querying, data structures and algorithms, and system
architecture for such systems. The emphasis is on describing known
technology in a coherent manner, rather than listing open problems. In
various fields there is a need to manage geometric, geographic, or spatial
data, which means data related to space. The space of interest can be,
for example, the twodimensional abstraction of (parts of) the surface of
the earth or a 3d-space representing a digital terrain model. At least since
the advent of relational database systems there have been attempts to
manage such data in database systems.
Data Surface Modeling (DSM)
The Surface Modeling process allows you to construct and transform
representations of natural terrains and mathematical surfaces from the
3D information you provide. The Surface Fitting, Contouring, and
Triangulation operations allow you to produce Digital Elevation Model
rasters (DEMs), contour lines, and triangulated irregular networks
(TINs), respectively. The input for each operation can be any one of the
terrain representations described above or 3D point data. Elevation
values can be read directly from the 3D object or assigned by query from
any numeric field in its attribute database. The process provides fast,
efficient processing of even very large datasets.
GIS in agriculture:- helps farmers to achieve increased
production and reduced costs by enabling better management of land
resources. ... Agricultural Geographic Information Systems using
Geomatics Technology enable the farmers to map and project current
and future fluctuations in precipitation, temperature, crop output etc.
Technological innovations and geospatial technology help in creating a
dynamic and competitive agriculture which is protective of
the environment and capable of providing excellent nutrition to the
people. While natural inputs in farming cannot be controlled, they can
be better understood and managed with GIS applications. GIS can
substantially help in effective crop yield estimates, soil amendment
analyses and erosion identification and remediation. More accurate and
reliable crop estimates help reduce uncertainty. GIS in agriculture helps
farmers to achieve increased production and reduced costs by enabling
better management of land resources. The risk of marginalization and
vulnerability of small and marginal farmers, who constitute about 85%
of farmers globally, also gets reduced.
Agricultural Geographic Information Systems using Geomatics
Technology enable the farmers to map and project current and future
fluctuations in precipitation, temperature, crop output etc.
Agricultural mapping is day by day becoming crucial for monitoring
and management of soil and irrigation of farmlands. It is facilitating
agricultural development and rural development.
GIS in Government Sector
The GIS and data systems section of the Department of Infrastructure
and Property Management, manages and maintains Council”s
Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Asset Data Systems. It also
provides GIS services and strategic support for the whole
organisation.The current structure inhibits GIS communication across
the organisation.
Local government GIS application
•
Asset mapping to identify strategic relationships
•
Strategic planning future development
• Geological mapping (foreshore geology) and landslide hazards
•
Flood plain mapping, overland flow modeling
•
Vegetation mapping, wildfire fuel load monitoring
• Property identification, parcel boundaries
• Identification of surface drainage hidden by vegetation
• Emergency management, traffic route planning
• Emergency response, evacuation action plans
• Customer service, location of points of interest
• Demographic characteristics of population catchments