Geographic Information System (GIS)

CEN-203 Geomatics Engineering II

 Contents

1. Introduction to GIS 5. Digital Elevation Model

2. Vector Data 6. Buffering and Overlay
3. Raster Data 7. Spatial Analysis
4. Database Creation 8. Applications of GIS
Introduction to GIS

Concept of Spatial Data

Geography is Complex!

Geography is complex and it

must be generalized,
approximated or abstracted
to represent within discrete
computing device

GIS helps to define

geography using objects and
space
What is Space
Space is defined as a relation
on a set of objects

Spatial Objects are a set of

spatial locations and
associated attributes or
properties at these locations

In GIS, non-metric spaces

exist that are not symmetric
and triangular inequality
does not hold
e.g. weighted road links in
transport network
 Properties of Spatial Objects
1. An identifier (name or number of the object)
2. Position on Earth’s surface
3. Character of the object
4. Behavior of the object
5. Property of the object

Object Identifier Position Spatial Character Behavior

Property attribute attribute
School Name Coordinates Distance to Number of Education
for one another students
point school
Borehole ID Number Coordinates Depth Size of hole Purpose
for location
at surface
Aquifer Name Coordinates Volume Water Change in
for surfaces Quality water level
 Modes of Spatial Data

Three modes of spatial Data

• Spatial mode: Variation from one place to another

• Temporal mode: Variation from time to time i.e. change in

scenarios

• Thematic mode: Variation from one characteristic to another

All measurable properties of the world fall into one of the above
categories namely place, time, and theme
 Components of Spatial Data

• Location: Spatial mode of information is called as location

• Spatial relationship: Connections between spatial objects

• A contains B
• A is adjacent to B
• A is east of B

• Attributes: Captures different characteristics of objects. Defined

by attribute table. Rows of tables are objects. Columns of table
represent each attribute
Multiple Representations of Spatial Data

Multiple representations of the same geographical phenomenon

Demo
 Sources of Spatial Data
Primary Data Collection: Direct Measurements. E.g. field sampling
 Sources of Spatial Data
Secondary Data Collection: Existing maps, tables, databases
Information about procedures to collect data, accuracy of
instruments used to collect data etc. is also required

Data about Data is known as metadata

• Definition of objects
• Definition of attributes
• Measurement schemes
• Missing values and its explanation
• Information that clarifies the collection scheme of data
Geometric Spatial Objects
Geometric Spatial Objects
 Geometric Spatial Objects
Points denote location of spatial features
Points are without size
Denoted by a single pair of location coordinates

Line denotes connection of two or more points

Node is defined as a point from which a line starts or

terminates or at which a line cross

Area denotes a bounded figure made up from minimum three lines

Collection of line segments
 Scale of Observation

Scale of observation or mapping will affect what is represented in GIS

 Geometric Spatial Objects
Points will appear in a database as separate rows with two
attributes for position, other attributes depending on the
purpose of data collection

Line (polylines or edges) will appear in a database

denoting length of the object e.g. length of a road,
direction and orientation of objects, other attributes
depending on the purpose of data collection

Area (or polygons) denotes areal extent of surface feature without

height. E.g. size of lakes; perimeter of a feature e.g. length of
shoreline; denote holes.
 Let’s talk about the Shape of the Earth

Shows distribution of Gravity

Geometrical and mathematical surface
Not a mathematical surface Spheroid/Ellipsoid

Geoid
Approximation

ellipse
Sphere

More simplified
approximation
How do I locate myself on the Earth?
Imagine a plane cuts through the
center of the Earth

Intersection of this plane with

Earth’s surface is a great circle

Any half of great circle joining

poles is a line of longitude or
meridian

Prime meridian runs through

Greenwich, England at 00
Longitude

Longitude is recorded in degrees

E/W of Prime meridian; upto 1800
How do I locate myself on the Earth?
Parallels are at right angles to
meridians

great circle located halfway

between the poles is equator

Smaller circles, parallel to equator,

are called lines of latitude or
simply latitude

Latitude is recorded in degrees

N/S upto 900
How do I locate myself on the Earth?
Prime
Meridian

NW NE
+ - + +

SW SE
- - - +
Lat and long measured in:
degrees° minutes” seconds’
(60”=1’ & 60’=1°)
UTD: 32° 59’ 16.0798N 96° 44’ 56.9522W
1 second=100ft or 30m. approx.
(lat., or long. at equator)
Decimal degrees, not minutes/seconds,
best for GIS.
dd= d° + m’/60 + s”/3600
Carry enough decimal points for accuracy!
6 decimals give 4 inch (10cm) accuracy
How do I locate myself on the Earth?

?
 What is a datum?
• When a spheroid approximates the shape of the earth a datum
defines the position of the spheroid relative to the center of the
Earth
• A local datum aligns the spheroid to fit the Earth’s surface in a
particular area – a point on the surface of the spheroid is matched
to a point on the surface of the Earth
• An earth centered (geocentric) datum uses the Earth’s center of
mass as the origin e.g. the most widely used datum WGS 1984
 Sea surface Ellipsoid

Earth surface
Geoid

Earth surface

Ellipsoid
Ocean

Geoid Gravity Anomaly

Gravity anomaly is the elevation difference between a standard shape of the earth
(ellipsoid) and a surface of constant gravitational potential (geoid)
 Definition of Elevation

Elevations are measured from the Geoid

Traditional survey Leveling follows geoid, thus elevations (orthometric height) are relative to
geoid

GPS (global positioning systems) based elevations (called ellipsoid height) are
relative to a spheroid (usually WGS84)

Land surface

Orthometric Ellipsoid height

height

Geoid
spheroid
 Projections

• Locating a spatial entity on the Earth’s surface

defined in mathematical terms in one of 2 ways
• Geographical (global) coordinates (longitude and
latitude)
• Planar coordinates using some projection (going from
3-D to 2-D)
• Various projections (depends on one’s purpose
and place)
 What is a Map Projection?

Transferring the information from a 3D surface to a 2D surface or flat surface

 What is a map projection ?

Transferring graticule of latitude and longitude onto a plane

Geographic and Projected Coordinates

(f, l) (x, y)
Map Projection
 Geographic and Projected Coordinates

• A method by which the curved 3D surface of the earth is

represented on a flat 2D map surface.
• A two dimensional representation, using a plane coordinate
system, of the earth’s three dimensional sphere/spheroid
• Location on the 3D earth is measured by latitude and longitude;
• Location on the 2D map is measured by X,Y Cartesian coordinates
• Unlike choice of spheroid, choice of map projection does not
change a location’s lat/long coordinates, only its X,Y coordinates.
You can use maps to make measurements!
Distance Direction

Shape Area

𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑎 𝑜𝑓 𝐴𝑢𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑎
𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑎 𝑜𝑓 𝑁𝑒𝑤 𝑍𝑒𝑎𝑙𝑎𝑛𝑑
 Maps have distorted information!

Distance Direction Shape Area

o You can determine one kind of information more accurately than others. For
example,

o You can measure direction for ship navigation but the areas will be distorted

o You can measure area of Australia but the shape will be distorted

o So you have to make choices what properties you have to preserve!

This is a projected map!
Mercator Projection
This is a projected map!
Mercator Projection
 This is a projected map!
Mercator Projection (Preserves the shape of the features!)

Is Antarctica like this?

 This is a projected map!
Mollweide Projection (Preserves the area of the features!)
 Projection Surfaces
Equator

Cylindrical Central
Meridian

Conical Mid-Lat

Poles
Planar
 What is a map projection ?

A mathematical operation converting features on a curved surface

to features on a plane surface using developable surfaces
𝑋 = 𝑓 𝜆, 𝜑 Y = 𝑔 𝜆, 𝜑
 Projections based on the preserved features
Equal Area Conformal
Preserves ratio of areas on the Earth to Preserves shape of the features on the Earth.
corresponding areas on the map Local angular distortion is zero
Cylindrical Conical Planar Cylindrical Conical Planar

Lambert Albers Albers Azimuthal Mercator Lambert Stereographic

Projections based on the preserved features
Conventional

Neither preserves area or shape. Used for simple portrayals of the world

Cylindrical Conical Planar

Plate Carrée Simple Conic Gnomonic

 Universal Transverse Mercator

• Uses the Transverse Mercator projection

• Each zone has a Central Meridian (lo), zones are 6° wide, and go
from pole to pole

• 60 zones cover the earth from East to West

• Reference Latitude (fo), is the equator

• (Xshift, Yshift) = (xo,yo) = (500000, 0) in the Northern Hemisphere,

units are meters
 Universal Transverse Mercator
Map Projections

Defines horizontal
positions into 6°
zones.

Each zone has a

central meridian.

Is actually 60
projections

FOR 220 Aerial Photo Interpretation and Forest Measurements

 Vector Data Model
Basic unit is a Point
Points are without size
Denoted by a single pair of location coordinates

Line denotes connection of two or more points

Node is defined as a point from which a line starts or

terminates or at which a line cross

Area denotes a bounded figure made up from minimum three lines

Collection of line segments
Vector Data Model

Type 1 [Typological Format of

Vector Model]

• Each point feature is represented

as a single coordinate pair
• Each line and polygon feature is
represented by an ordered list of
coordinates
• Shared boundary is stored only
once
 Vector Data Model: Topology

Topology defines how different vector features are spatially related

Topology defines how vector features share geometry

e.g. polygons share boundaries, lines share end-points, lines share

end-point coordinates with other point features

Topology avoids duplication of data in geo-database and reduces the

amount of data stored
Errors in Topology
Digitization Errors
 Raster Data Model
Raster Data Model divides the whole study area into regular
grid of cells in a specific sequence

Every location in the study area belongs to a certain cell

One set of cells and associated values make up a layer

e.g. building layer, road layer, vegetation layer
Raster Data Model
Raster Data Model

Legend

Settlement

Forest

Pond

Cultivation

Open Area
 Raster v/s Vector Data Models

Advantages

Raster Model Vector Model

1. It is a simple data 1. It provides a more
structure compact data structure
2. Overlay operations are than the raster model
easily implemented 2. Spatial relationship is
3. High spatial variability is better represented using
efficiently represented in topology
a raster format 3. Closely resembles hand-
4. Digital images are in drawn maps
raster format
 Raster v/s Vector Data Models

Disadvantages

Raster Model Vector Model

1. It is less compact and
data compression
techniques are often
used
2. No topology
3. Aesthetically not pleasing
as boundaries have
blocky appearance
1. Complex data structure
2. Spatial operations are
difficult to implement
3. Spatial variability is hard
to represent
4. Manipulation and
enhancement of digital
images cannot be done
in vector format
 Fun ways to learn about projections

• https://thetruesize.com/#/aboutModal?borders=1~!MTY5Nzk5MTc.MTg1NjMxOQ*MzYwMDAwMDA(MA~!CONTIGUOUS_US*OTgzMD
M5Mw.MjQ1ODQxNjk(MTc1)MA~!IN*NDUxMTI4OA.ODQzMDk1MA)MQ~!CN*MTA4NTQ4NDE.NzA0NTAzMQ(MjUz)Mg

• https://www.jasondavies.com/maps/transition/

• https://projectionwizard.org/

• https://www.researchgate.net/publication/303311220_Projection_Wizard_-_An_Online_Map_Projection_Selection_Tool
 References

Slide4,5
Google Maps

Slide 6-11,20,21,23,24,28,40,51-53
NR 605-GIS, CSRE, IIT Bombay

Slide 17
https://bolcheknig.ru/en/medicina/chto-takoe-geoid-v-geografii-chto-takoe-
geoid-fizicheskaya/

Slide 17-20
Google Earth Pro

Slide 21
https://www.britannica.com/science/latitude

Slide 22
https://desktop.arcgis.com/en/arcmap/10.3/guide-books/map-
projections/datums.htm
 References

Slide 30
https://giphy.com/gifs/family-guy-cruise-ship-set-sail-UuYwihkHeDptzuEkrG
(Cruise ship animation)

Slide 45-48
https://saylordotorg.github.io/text_essentials-of-geographic-information-
systems/s08-02-vector-data-models.html

Online Materials
oUnderstanding Map Projections, ESRI.

Journal Papers
oGhaderpour, E. Map Projection. 2014. http://arxiv.org/licenses/nonexclusive-
distrib/1.0/
oJenny et al. 2017. A guide to selecting map projections for world and hemisphere
maps. DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-51835-0_9