ESM431

Map Data Algebra

Group 3 Presentation

Ekanem Inifom 18CL024835

Ikpeba Sonia 18CL024837
Okeke Godswill 17CL023298
Iyamu Osarenomase
18CL024838
 MAP DATA ALGEBRA

Map algebra is an algebra for manipulating geographic data, primary fields.

Developed by Dr Dana Tomlin and others in the late 1970s, it is a set of
primitive operations in geographic information system (GIS) which allows one
Alayer (maps) using mathematical or other operations such as addition,
subtractions etc.

Map algebra basically involves doing math with maps but the key difference is
that it only applies to raster data. That’s why we also call it raster math.

Basic concepts Of Map Algebra

The fundamental concepts in map algebra are the same as those in
mathematical algebra, that is:

 Values are the 'things' on which the algebra operates. Input data and
output data (results) are presented as grids of values. Values can be
categorical (nominal or ordinal) or numerical.

 Operators may be applied to single values to transform them, or

between two or more values to produce a new value. In
mathematical algebra, the minus sign '-' is an operator that negates a
single value when placed in front of it, as in -5. The plus sign '+' is
also an operator, signifying the addition operation, which, when
applied between two values, produces a new value: 1 + 2 = 3

 Functions are more complex, but still well defined, operations that

produce a new output value from a set of input values. The input set
may be a single value or a set of values.

1|Page
 Types Of Map Data Algebra
As said, map algebra uses math-like operations. For example, you can apply
simple math like addition or multiplication to update raster cell values. 

The most common type of map algebra is a cell-by-cell function. This type has
raster directly stacked on top of one another. Then, the function applies to cells
aligned with each other.

But you can also change the configuration so it’s not only cell-by-cell. Here are
the types of map algebra operations that you can use:

1. Local

2. Focal

3. Zonal

4. Global

1. LOCAL OPERATION

The simplest approach is map algebra on a cell-by-cell basis. For example, you
have 2 raster stacked on top of each other. Then, you add each cell one-by-one.

If raster cells represent temperature, you can subtract them both at different
time periods. By using a local operation, you can find the difference in
temperature for each cell.

2|Page
For example, If you were to take a snapshot of land surface temperature in
April 2015. Then, if you took April 2014 land surface temperature, When you
subtract April 2014 from April 2015 for land surface temperature, it shows the
difference between temperature for two given periods.

This is an example of a local operator because it subtracts each cell from one
year to another. It’s also an example of an arithmetic operator because it uses
subtraction.

3|Page
 2015

2014

Cells overlap with a range of -25° to +45°C. Then, we subtracted 2014 from
2015 land surface values for each cell. As a result, the output map has a range
from -40° to +40°C.

4|Page
What’s special about this is that you can pinpoint cells with the greatest
difference. If values are positive, this means that 2015 land surface
temperatures were hotter. But if values are negative, this means that 2015 land
surface temperatures were colder.

What happens when you have null values? Null isn’t a numerical value. If there
are null values in any of the raster cells, they will remain as null in the output
raster.

Local operations can also be performed on multiple input rasters. In this case, a
single value will be returned for each cell based on some operation being
applied to the corresponding cell in each of the input rasters. An example of
this type of operation is using the Cell Statistics tool: for each output cell, a
statistical calculation (such as the mean or range) is performed on the cell
values of all the input rasters at that corresponding location.

2. GLOBAL OPERATION

Global operations apply a bulk change to all cells in a raster. If you want to add
a value of 1 to all grid cells, this is a global operation.

Global, or per-raster, operations compute an output raster dataset in which the

output value at each cell location is potentially a function of all the cells
combined from the various input raster datasets. There are two main groups of
global operations which are: Euclidean distance and weighted distance.

 Euclidean Distance Global Operations

Euclidean distance global operations assign to each cell in the output raster
dataset its distance from the closest source cell. An example of a source may be
the location from which to start a new road. The direction of the closest source
cell can also be assigned as the value of each cell location in an additional
output raster dataset.

5|Page
 Non-Euclidean (Weighted) Distance Global Operations

Non-Euclidean distance operations determine the cost of moving from a

destination cell to the nearest source cell over a surface that is weighted by
some cost in addition to Euclidean distance. An example is planning to build a
road from point A to point B, where the shortest, most direct path would in fact
be more expensive to build on if the surface is steep or the ground composition
is too soft (a swamp, for example).

In all the global calculations, knowledge of the entire surface is necessary to

return the solution. For example, Euclidean distance is an example of a global
operation. By calculating the closest distance away from a source, it applies the
function globally in a raster.

3. FOCAL OPERATION

6|Page
Focal operations are spatial functions that compute an output value of each cell
using neighborhood values. For example, convolution, kernel, and moving
windows are focal operations.

Focal, or neighborhood, operations produce an output raster dataset in which

the output value at each cell location is a function of the input value at a cell
location and the values of the cells in a specified neighborhood around that
location. As each cell in the input is processed, the neighborhood is essentially
a moving window that shifts along with it. The configuration (size and shape)
of the neighborhood determines specifically which cells surrounding the
processing cell should be used in the calculation of each output value. The most
typical neighborhood is 3 by 3 cells, which incorporates the processing cell and
its closest eight neighbors.

An example of a focal operation would be determining the slope of the terrain.

The neighborhood would consist of a 3x3 square around the cell in question.
Taking the values of each of those cells and averaging them together, you are
able to produce a value for the cell in question.
Common applications include terrain analysis, image processing, site analysis
or data simplification.

7|Page
Moving Window: A moving window is a rectangular arrangement of cells that
shifts in position. By applying an operation to each cell from a moving
window, it commonly smooths values in a raster.

4. ZONAL OPERATION
Zonal operations apply a math function to a group of cells within a specified
zone. For example, a zone could be a vector or raster format.

If you want to find out how much rain is in a watershed, you can use a zonal
operation. By using a raster with precipitation, you can set your zone as a
watershed with a sum function.

8|Page
Zonal operations compute an output raster dataset where the output value for
each location depends on the value of the cell at the location and the
association that location has within a cartographic zone. Zonal operations are
similar to focal operations except that the definition of the neighborhood in a
zonal operation is the configuration of the zones themselves, not a specified
neighborhood shape. Individual zones can be of any shape or size and can be
disconnected from each other. Zones can be defined either as raster or feature
data. For raster data, a zone is all cells with the same value. For feature data, a
zone is all features with the same attribute value (LandClass = 4, for example).

MATHEMATICAL FUNCTIONS
Here are examples of operations that you can use for map algebra:

 Arithmetic operations (addition, subtraction, multiplication, division)

 Statistical operations (minimum, maximum, average, median)

 Relational operations (greater than, smaller than, equal to)

 Trigonometric operations (sine, cosine, tangent, arcsine)

 Exponential and logarithmic operations (exponent, logarithm).

RELEVANCE OF MAP ALGEBRA

9|Page
1. Map Algebra is a simple and powerful algebra with which you can execute
all Spatial Analyst tools, operators, and functions to perform geographic
analysis.
2. Map Algebra is available through the Spatial Analyst module; an extension
of the ArcPy Python site package.
3. As Map Algebra has been integrated in Python, all the functionality of
Python and ArcPy and its extensions (modules, classes, functions, and
properties) is available to you.

CONCLUSIONS
Here we have described the fundamentals of a network map algebra that
supports the process of synthesizing solutions to network-based location-
selection problems. This algebra relies on the transformation of scenarios into a
set of matrix representations that are then manipulated by operators. These
abstracted realizations of solutions to location-selection problems can be
passed among users as tokens that are used to generate maps. The entire
detailed network (e.g., TIGER file) need not be passed each time a solution is
developed. Rather, the network representation is static, and the structures are
used to symbolize results, thus resulting in a substantial reduction in network
traffic.

10 | P a g e