VECTOR GEOPROCESSING

VECTOR GEOPROCESSING - FUNCTIONS

INPUT FUNCTIONS: DIGITIZATION
Digitization – Table vs. Tablet

Digitizing Table
A device used to capture planar coordinate data,
usually as x and y coordinates, from existing analog
maps for digital use within a computerized program
such as a GIS.
DIGITIZATION
Digitizing Tablet
A device used to capture geographic coordinate
data or projected coordinate data of the features
from the existing raster images (scanned map or
Remote sensing data)
Image Scanning
Flat bed scanners
Sheet-fed scanners
Drum scanners
Handheld scanners
DIGITIZATION

Convert the image into a raster format

compatible to GIS
Georefrencing is carried out for the raster data
Real world data is abstracted into discrete objects
on various themes.
Digitization is carried out for individual
themes/sub-themes based on the requirements
Each theme/sub-theme is stored as separate
layer
Each can have only one type of object (i.e. Points
or Lines or Polygons)
The digitized data is stored in a spaghetti data
structure
IMPORTING DATA

Presently the variety of vector GIS data sets are

available from commercial vendors.
It is necessary to import the data to native
format to perform analysis
Most of the GIS software packages provide
options to import/export popularly used vector
GIS data formats
GRAPHICAL DATA EDITING
This process is primarily carried out to check
integrity of the data following topological data
structure
The following errors are identified and rectified
during the process
Under shoots and overshoots are eliminated
Nodes are created at all points where lines intersect
All polygons are closed
Each polygon contains a label point
The topology of the layer is built
Graphical data editing comprises of four phases
of work that includes,
Setting up of editing environment
Topology building
Data editing and error corrections
Joining adjacent layers
SETTING EDITING ENVIRONMENT
The node snap tolerance is the minimum
distance within which two nodes will be
joined (matched) to form one node

The arc snapping tolerance is the distance a

new arc will be extended to intersect with an
existing arc

The grain tolerance controls the number of

vertices in an arc and the distance between
them along curved lines

The weed tolerance is the minimum

allowable distance between any two vertices
along an arc. Arcs with length less than
weed tolerance is removed
TOPOLOGY BUILDING

It involves
Building the topological structure and relationships
for the graphical elements of the layer
Error identification and automated corrections
Rebuilding the topology (clean and build)
ERRORS ELIMINATED DURING CLEAN
TASKS PERFORMED DURING BUILDING
TOPOLOGY
JOINING ADJACENT LAYERS

To generate a continuous geospatial database. It

involves three processes applied in sequence
Edge matching: It ensures that the linear features
across layer boundaries match with one another
Map joining: It is to physically join adjacent layers
to form one single layer
Dissolving redundant polygon boundaries: The
purpose is to merge polygons on adjacent layers by
removing their boundaries
DIGITAL CONVERSION OF ATTRIBUTE DATA

The descriptive data associated with graphics is

created in the form of database tables and linked
to the graphic data
It involves
Defining the structure of data file
Populating the file
Linking the file to its associated layer and other data
files
ANALYSIS FUNCTIONS
NON TOPOLOGICAL GIS
ANALYSIS FUNCTIONS
ATTRIBUTE DATABASE QUERY
Attribute database query is essential to retrieve,
update and analyze the data based on database
query
For geospatial data stored in external DBMS
SQL is the standard query language

SELECT: extracts data items in specified rows of

table
PROJECT: extracts data items in specified columns
of a table
JOIN (RELATIONAL JOIN): merges two tables
based on the values in the common columns
SQL QUERY
SELECT <attribute_name>
FROM <table>
WHERE<condition_statement>

It can use any relational (GT, LT, EQ, GE and LE),

arithmetic (=, +,-, *, / ), and Boolean ( and , or, not)
ADDRESS GEOCODING
Address is the most common form of geospatial
data commonly handled by the agencies.
In actual sense, this data is a quasi geospatial
data as it is not possible to pinpoint a location
with help of address alone.
It is essential to integrate address based data
with geospatial data
Address geocoding or Address matching is the
process by which grid references are added to
point locations described by street addresses
CONCEPT OF ADDRESS GEOCODING
It first matches the street name in both the event
table and the reference theme and then computes
the coordinates of the addresses by
Determining whether a particular street number is
on the odd or even number side of the street
Estimating the distance of the address from a street
intersection by proportion with reference to the range
of the street numbers to the street segment
concerned
Calculating the coordinate of the address using the
coordinates of street intersections
GEOCODING PROCEDURE

Reference Event
Theme Table

•Geocoding index
•Geocoding information file

Address matching by batch mode

Matching report

Matching
Geocoded Interactive
rate
address file acceptable? matching
STATISTICAL COMPUTATION AND SPATIAL
DATA ANALYSIS

Spatial statistics – Statistical spatial data

analysis incorporates spatial relationships in the
present context includes physical distance
between the observations, adjacency,
containment and connectivity
Spatial data analysis
Analyzing patterns
Mapping clusters
Measuring spatial distribution
Other utilities
SPATIAL CALCULATION AND
QUANTIFICATION
Spatial calculation of position, area, perimeter
and distance forms basic information that can be
extracted from geospatial data
Built-in tools in GIS allows the user to get this
information without any computational error
within few seconds
In windows environment, most of the GIS
packages provide real time display of the
coordinates of any point of user’s interest
Area and length computations are based on
coordinate geometry.
TOPOLOGICAL GIS ANALYSIS
FUNCTIONS
TOPOLOGICAL ANALYSIS FUNCTIONS

Topological geoprocessing includes a variety of

processes that rely on the use of topological
relationships for spatial problem solving
Topological geoprocessing can be used as
standalone process or can be combined with other
non-topological processes for problem solving
In general, topological geoprocessing is not
sophisticated conceptually or technically.
However, it is computationally intensive
Topological analysis functions can be broadly
categorised into feature based functions and
layer based functions
FEATURE BASED OVERLAY ANALYSIS
This analysis is carried out to determine the
relationships between individual features of one
layer and those of another layer
1. Point in Polygon matching
6

5
4
3

Plumb line algorithm

 2. BUFFERING
Buffer is a zone with specified width surrounding
a spatial feature

Point buffer Line buffer

Buffer distance

Polygon buffer Polygon setback

LAYER BASED TOPOLOGICAL FUNCTIONS
It works on entire layer rather than individual
features
Input and output are topologically structure
1. Reclassification (Dissolve)
2. Layer based overlay analysis
1. Point on Polygon
2. Line on Polygon
3. Polygon on Polygon
CLIP, ERASE, SPLIT, IDENTITY, UNION, INTERSECT
3. Network based geoprocessing
Path finding, allocation, tracing, Spatial interaction,
distance matrix calculation, Location-allocation modelling
VORONOI DIAGRAMS
Voronoi diagrams are often
used to delineate areas of
influence around
geographic features
Ex: Influence of Raingauge
station
A partition of space into
areas, or cells, that
surround a set of geometric
objects (usually points).
All locations within an area
are closer to the object it
surrounds than to any other
object in the set
OUTPUT FUNCTION: MAP COMPILATION
OUTPUT FUNCTION: V – R COVERSION