Basic GIS: utility and applications (Unit

IV)
By

Dr. Sananda Kundu

Assistant Professor (Dept. of Geography)
University of Manipur, Imphal
What is GIS?

• A technology
– hardware & software tools
• An information handling strategy
• The objective: to improve overall decision
making
GIS: a formal definition

“A system for capturing, storing, checking, integrating,

manipulating, analyzing, and displaying data which are spatially
referenced to the Earth. This is normally considered to involve a
spatially referenced computer database and appropriate
applications software”

(Chorley Report 1987)

 Components of GIS

Similar to other information technologies, a GIS requires the following components

besides geospatial data:
• Hardware. GIS hardware includes computers for data processing, data storage, and
input/ output; printers and plotters for reports and hard-copy maps; digitizers and
scanners for digitization of spatial data; and GPS and mobile devices for fieldwork.

• Software. GIS software, either commercial or open source, includes programs and
applications to be executed by a computer for data management, data analysis, data
display, and other tasks. Additional applications, written in Python, JavaScript,
VB.NET, or C++, may be used in GIS for specific data analyses. Common user
interfaces to these programs and applications are menus, icons, and command lines,
using an operating system such as Windows, Mac, or Linux.

• People. GIS professionals define the purpose and objectives for using GIS and
interpret and present the results.

• Organization. GIS operations exist within an organizational environment; therefore,

they must be integrated into the culture and decision-making processes of the
organization for such matters as the role and value of GIS, GIS training, data
collection and dissemination, and data standards.
Important working stages of GIS

Data preparation and Entry: Data collection and preparation to enter into
the system

Data analysis: It is an important stage of reviewing data and follow the

pattern

Data presentation: The final stage of presenting the results appropriately

 Types of Data

Spatial Non-Spatial
What makes a data spatial?
Basic difference between Remote Sensing and GIS

Remote sensing is the science of collecting data regarding anything, it

may be an object or an event, but without touching or having any
physical contact with that.

While GIS is considered as an computer-based tool for analyzing

features and events and mapping. It integrates maps with database
operations, like query and statistical analysis.
Purpose of GIS
Purpose of GIS (cont..)
 Elements of GIS
GIS consists of the following elements:
geospatial data, data acquisition, data
management, data display, data exploration,
and data analysis.

• Geospatial data cover the location of

spatial features. To locate spatial features
on the Earth’s surface, we use a coordinate
system.

• Data acquisition involves compilation of

existing and new data.

• Attribute Data Management A GIS

usually employs a database management
system (DBMS) to handle attribute data. A
DBMS also offers tools for adding,
deleting, and manipulating attributes.
• Data Display Maps are an interface to GIS. Mapmaking can be informal or
formal in GIS. It is informal when we view geospatial data on maps, and formal
when we produce maps for professional presentations and reports.

• Data exploration refers to the activities of visualizing, manipulating, and

querying data using maps, tables, and graphs.
Database can be spatial or non-spatial

CAD
By data, we mean representations that can be operated upon by a
computer. More specifically, by spatial data we mean data that contains
positional values.

By information, we mean data that has been interpreted by a human

being. Humans work with and act upon information, not data. Human
perception and mental processing leads to information, and
understanding and knowledge. One cannot expect a machine like a
computer to ‘understand’ or ‘have knowledge’.

Geoinformation is a specific type of information that involves the

interpretation of spatial data.
 Database management system

• Software package that allows the user to create and maintain a database

• A computerised record keeping system whose overall purpose is to maintain

data and to make that data available on demand

• The user of a DBMS can:

• add new (empty) files to the database

• insert new data into existing files
• retrieve data from existing files
• update data in existing files
• delete data from existing files
• remove existing files (empty or otherwise) from the database
 Advantages and implications of using a DBMS

• store and manipulate very large data sets

• the same data set can be used by many users at the same time
(data sharing)
• query language for flexible retrieval of data (indexing)
• backup and recovery functions to avoid loss of data
• avoid unnecessary duplication of data (redundancy)
• self-description of the database (data dictionary)
• security restrictions: user privileges and authorization
 Database Structure

A database is a large, computerized collection of structured data.

• In the non-spatial domain, databases are in use since a long time for
various purposes like bank account administration, stock monitoring, salary
administration, bookkeeping, and flight reservation systems, etc.

• In all these applications the amount of data is usually quite large, but that
the data itself has a simple and regular structure.

• One needs to identify the available data sources and define the format in
which the data will be organized within the database. This format is usually
called the database structure.

A database management system (DBMS) is a software package that allows

the user to set up, use and maintain a database.
 Reasons for using a DBMS
There are various reasons why one would want to use a DBMS for data storage
and processing.

• A DBMS supports the storage and manipulation of very large data sets.
Some data sets are so big that storing them in text files or spreadsheet files becomes too
awkward for use in practice. With a DBMS, this will not happen if it is used properly.

• A DBMS can be instructed to guard over data correctness.

For instance, an important aspect of data correctness is data entry checking: making sure
that the data that is entered into the database is data that does not contain obvious errors.
For instance, because we know in what study area we work, we know the range of possible
geographic coordinates, so we can ensure the DBMS checks them.

• A DBMS supports the concurrent use of the same data set by many users.
Large data sets are built up over time, which means that substantial investments are
required to create and maintain them, and that probably many people are involved in the
data collection, maintenance and processing. For different users of the database, different
views on the data can be defined. In this way, users will be under the impression that they
operate on their personal database, and not on one shared by many people. They may all be
using the database at the same time, without affecting each other’s activities. This DBMS
function is called concurrency control.
• A DBMS provides a high-level, declarative query language

A query is a computer program that extracts data from the database that
meet the conditions indicated in the query.

The word ‘declarative’ means that the query language allows the user to define what data
must be extracted from the database, but not how that should be done. It is the DBMS
itself that will decide how to extract the data that is requested in the query.

• A DBMS supports the use of a data model.

A data model is a language with which one can define a database structure and manipulate
the data stored in it.

• A DBMS includes data backup and recovery functions to ensure data

availability at all times.
Regular back-ups of the data set, and automatic recovery schemes provide an insurance
against loss of data.

• A DBMS allows the control of data redundancy.

A well-designed database takes care of storing single facts only once. Storing a fact
multiple times—a phenomenon known as data redundancy—easily leads to situations in
which stored facts start to contradict each other, causing reduced usefulness of the data.
 Types of data values
Nominal data values are values that provide a name or identifier so that one can
discriminate between different values, but that is all can be done.
An example are the names of geological units. Different categories of data such as land-
use types or soil types.

Ordinal data values are data values that can be put in some natural sequence but that do
not allow any other type of computation.
For e.g. Household income, could be classified as being either ‘low’, ‘average’ or ‘high’.

Interval data values and ratio data values do allow computation. The first differs from
the second in that it knows no arithmetic zero value, and does not support multiplication
or division.
For instance, a temperature of 20◦C is twice as warm as 10◦C, and thus centigrade
temperatures are interval data values, not ratio data values.

Rational data have a natural zero value, and multiplication and division of values are
sensible operators: distances measured in metres are an example.
 Classification of DBMS types

Flat file attribute model contains all data in a large

table. Eg. a spreadsheet with attribute data only.

Hierarchical model organizes its data at different

levels and uses only the one-to-many association
between levels. Hierarchical model

Network model builds connections across tables. It

tends to have less redundancy data storage than the Network model
corresponding hierarchical model

Relational model is a collection of tables, also called

relations, that can be connected to each other by keys
GIS comprises of..
• Data input
• Storage
• Management
• Analysis
• Output

The benefits of GIS include:

• Better information management

• Higher quality analysis
• Ability to carry out “what if?” scenarios
• Improve project efficiency
GIS Applications

• Facilities management
• Marketing and retailing
• Environmental
• Transport/vehicle routing
• Health
• Insurance
and many more
 Types of Data

The two primary types of spatial data are vector and

raster data in GIS. But what is the difference between
raster and vector data?

Vectors are points, lines and polygons

Raster data is made up of pixels. They are usually

regularly-spaced and may or may not be a square.
 Vector data
The vector data model, also called the discrete object model, uses discrete
objects to represent spatial features on the Earth’s surface.

It involves:
• Classification of spatial features into points, lines, and polygons to
represent the location and shape of these features using points and their
x, y-coordinates.

• Proper storage of the data in digital files so that they can be accessed,
interpreted, and processed.
For e.g. shapefile or geodatabase

ESRI
Representation of Vector

Point
• A point has zero dimension and has
only the property of location.
• A point feature is made of a point or a
set of points, eg. a city

Line
• A line is one-dimensional and has the
property of length and location.
• A line has two end points and may
have additional points in between to
mark the shape of the line, eg. roads,
boundaries, small streams
Polygon
• A polygon is two-dimensional and has the properties of area and perimeter, along
with location.
• Made of connected and closed lines.
• The boundary (perimeter) indicates the area of a polygon e.g. urban areas, water
bodies, forest areas
 Raster Data

The raster data model uses a regular grid to cover the space.

The value in each grid cell corresponds to the characteristic of a spatial

phenomenon at the cell location.

The changes in the cell value reflect the spatial variation of the phenomenon.

A raster is also called a grid or an image in GIS

Raster data represent points with single cells, lines with
sequences of neighboring cells, and polygons with collections
of contiguous cells
Raster Vector
In computing algorithms, a raster
can be treated as a matrix with rows
and columns, and its cell values can
be stored in a two dimensional array
and handled as an arrayed variable
in code.

Raster data are therefore much

easier to manipulate, aggregate, and
analyze than vector data.