Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Hardware
• Hardware is the computer on which a GIS operates. Today, GIS software runs on a wide range of hardware types,
from centralized computer servers to desktop computers used in stand-alone or networked configurations
Software
• GIS software provides the functions and tools needed to store, analyze, and display geographic information.
Key software components are: GUI, DBMS, TOOLS
Data
• Possibly the most important component of a GIS is the data. Geographic data and related tabular data can be
collected in-house or purchased from a commercial data provider. A GIS will integrate spatial data with other
data resources and can even use a DBMS, used by most organizations to organize and maintain their data, to
manage spatial data.
People
• GIS technology is of limited value without the people who manage the system and develop plans for applying it
to real-world problems. GIS users range from technical specialists who design and maintain the system to those
who use it to help them perform their everyday work.
Methods
• A successful GIS operates according to a well-designed plan and business rules, which are the models and
operating practices unique to each organization.
There have been four distinct phases in the development of
Geographic Information Systems.
Phase one, between the early 1960s and the mid 1970s saw a new
discipline being dominated by a few key individuals who were to shape
the direction of future research and development.
The second phase, from the mod 1970s to early 1980s saw the
adoption of technologies by national agencies that led to a focus on
the development of best practice.
Phase three, between 1982 until the late 1980s saw the development
and exploitation of the commercial market place surrounding GIS
whilst …
The final phase since the late 1980s has seen a focus on ways of
improving the usability of technology by making facilities more user
centric.
A Geographical Information System (GIS) is a system for
capturing,
storing,
analyzing and
managing data and associated attributes,
which are spatially referenced to the Earth.
The geographical information system is also called as a geographic
information system or geospatial information system.
It is an information system capable of integrating, storing, editing,
analyzing, sharing, and displaying geographically referenced
information.
In a more generic sense, GIS is a software tool that allows users to
create interactive queries, analyze the spatial information, edit data,
maps, and present the results of all these operations.
GIS technology is becoming essential tool to combine various maps and
remote sensing information to generate various models, which are used
in real time environment.
Geographical information system is the science utilizing the geographic
concepts, applications and systems.
There are five basic questions which a complete GIS must answer. These are:
By data, we mean representations that information, we mean data that has been
can be operated upon by a computer. interpreted by a human being.
More specifically, by spatial data we Humans work with and act upon
mean data that contains positional information, not data.
values, such as (x, y) co-ordinates. Human perception and mental
processing leads to information, and
hopefully understanding and
knowledge.
Geoinformation is a specific type of
information resulting from the
interpretation of spatial data.
Information is intended to reduce
uncertainty in decision-making, any
errors and uncertainties in spatial
information products may have
practical, financial and even legal
implications for the user.
Spatial data and geoinformation
A subtle difference exists between the terms data and information.
Since the real power of GIS lies in their ability to combine and analyse
georeferenced data from a range of sources, we must pay attention to
the issues of data quality and error,
As data from different sources are also likely to contain different kinds
of error.
This may include mistakes or variation in the measurement of position
and/or elevation, in the quantitative measurement of attributes or
metadata in the labelling or classification of features.
Some degree of error is present in every spatial data set.
It is important, however, to distinguish between gross errors (blunders or
mistakes), which must be detected and removed before the data is used,
variations in the data caused by unavoidable measurement and
classification errors.
Spatial data and geoinformation
2. A database offers a number of techniques for storing data and allows the use
of the most efficient one—i.e. it supports storage optimization,
3. A database allows the imposition of rules on the stored data; rules that will be
automatically checked after each update to the data—i.e. it supports data
integrity,
5. A database will try to execute each query in the data manipulation lan- guage
in the most efficient way—i.e. it offers query optimization.
Databases
Table was obtained from table D AYMEASUREMENTS through the use of a query
language.
A query was defined that computes the monthly average SST from the daily
measurements, for each buoy.
A discussion of the particular query language that was used is outside the scope of
this book, but we
Spatial databases and spatial analysis
In more recent years, spatial The phenomena for which we want to store
databases (also known as representations in a spatial database may have
geodatabases) have emerged. point,
line,
area or image characteristics.
Besides traditional
administrative data, they can Different storage techniques exist for each of
store representations of real these kinds of spatial data.
world geographic phenomena These geographic phenomena have various
for use in a GIS. relationships with each other and possess
spatial (geometric), thematic and temporal
attributes (they exist in space and time).
These databases are special
because they use additional For data management purposes, phenomena are
techniques different from classified into thematic data layers.
tables to store these spatial The purpose of the database is usually
representations. described by a description such as cadastral,
topographic, land use, or soil database.
Spatial analysis
Spatial analysis is the For example, in the El Nin˜o case, we may want to
generic term for all identify the the steepest gradient in water
manipulations of spatial temperature.
data carried out to The aim of spatial analysis is usually to gain a better
improve one’s understanding of geographic phenomena through
understanding of the discovering patterns that were previously unknown
to us,
geographic phenomena
that the data represents. or to build arguments on which to base important
decisions.
It should be noted that some GIS functions for spatial
It involves questions analysis are simple and easy-to-use, others are much
about how the data in more sophisticated, and demand higher levels of
various layers might analytical and operating skills.
relate to each other, and Successful spatial analysis requires appropriate
how it varies over space. software, hardware, and perhaps most importantly,
a competent user.
THANKYOU!
TYBSC IT SEM VI
PROF. ARTI GAVAS
ANNA LEELA COLLEGE OF COMMERCE AND ECONOMICS,
SHOBHA JAYARAM SHETTY COLLGE FOR BMS, KURLA