TABLE OF CONTENT

• OBJECTIVE
• CRITERIAS
• INTRODUCTION
• OVERLAY OPERATION
Objective
• Understand the role of overlay methods in GIS for
spatial decision making
• Different Overlaying methods like Boolean and
Weighted approaches
 Overlay
• It is the hallmark(most typical feature) of GIS

• Helps to overlay different layers for decision making on the

basis of certain criterias

• superimposes multiple data sets (representing different

themes) together for the purpose of identifying relationships
between them

• creates a composite map by combining the geometry and

attributes of the input data sets

• Helps to generate a new data layer as a product of existing

layers

• Before the use of computers, a similar effect was developed

by Ian McHarg and others by drawing maps of the same area
at the same scale on clear plastic and actually laying them on
top of each other.
• overlay can be implemented in either vector or raster systems.
• In the vector case, often referred to as polygon overlay, the
intersection of two or more data layers produces new features
(polygons). Attributes (symbolized as colors in the illustration) of
intersecting polygons are combined.
• The raster implementation (known as grid overlay) combines
attributes within grid cells that align exactly. Misaligned grids must
be resampled to common formats.
Criterias
• Feature should be of same area
• Registered to the same domain
• Should be properly co-refrenced together
• Should be of same resolution
Overlay Operations
Overlay Operations

• Overlay Operations involve combining spatial

and attribute data from two or more spatial
data layers. “Stacking data”

• Very powerful and popular operations

• Overlays require that data be in the same

coordinate system
 Vector Overlay
• Vector Overlay involves combining point, line,
polygon geometry and associated attributes
• Overlay creates new geometry
• Vector overlay uses Boolean operators
• OR
• AND
• XOR
• NOT
Contd…
• OR
• It is used for union overlay ,combines the
geographic feather and attributes tables of both
input to give a single new output

Input A Input B overlay

Contd...
• AND
• It is used for intersect overlay, defines the area
where both inputs overlap and set a attributes
field for each.
overlay
Input A Input B
 Contd..
Similarly,
XOR operator
NOT operator

Delete overlay Symmetric difference overlay

It defines an area of It defines an total
one input after output area except
excluding another overlapping area.
input.
Vector Overlay Problems
• Common Features represented in both layers, but
with slightly different geometry
• This creates sliver polygons when the overlay
operations are performed
Sliver Polygons
Type of Overlay
• Intersection
• Union
• Erase(subtract)
• Identity
• Symmetrical
Difference
• Cover(update)
• Clip
 Intersect

• Computes a geometric intersection of the

input features. Features or portions of
features which overlap in all layers and/or
feature classes will be written to the output
feature class.
• It is roughly analogous to AND in logic and
multiplication in arithmetic
 Union

• Computes a geometric union of the input

features. All features and their attributes
will be written to the output feature class.
• It is roughly analogous to OR in logic and
addition in arithmetic.
 Erase

• Creates a feature class by overlaying the Input

Features with the polygons of the Erase
Features. Only those portions of the input
features falling outside the erase features
outside boundaries are copied to the output
feature class.
• It is roughly analogous to AND NOT in
logic and subtraction in arithmetic.
 Identity

• Computes a geometric intersection of the

input features and identity features. The
input features or portions thereof that
overlap identity features will get the
attributes of those identity features.
 Symmetrical Difference

• Features or portions of features in the input

and update features that do not overlap will
be written to the output feature class.
• It is roughly analogous to XOR in logic.
 Update

• Computes a geometric intersection of the

Input Features and Update Features. The
attributes and geometry of the input features
are updated by the update features in the
output feature class.
 Clip
• Clip contains the same overall extent as the intersection, but
only retains the geometry and attributes of one of the input
layers.
• It is most commonly used to trim one layer by a polygon
represent an area of interest for the task
Types of vector overlay operation
•Three types
• Point-in-polygon overlay: where points on one dataset
are overlaid onto polygons of another to determine the
location of points on the polygon.

Road Land use

Contd..

•Line-on-polygon overlay: This implies

that the output layer has more line segments than the input
layer. Each line segment on the output layer combines
attributes from the input layer and the underlying polygon.
Contd..

•Polygon-on-polygon: This operation

involves two polygon layers and the output combines the
polygon boundaries from the input and overlay layers to
create a new set of polygons. Each polygon carries
attributes from both layers and and these attributes differ
from those of adjacent polygons.
Proviences Land use
 Understanding overlay analysis
Overlay analysis is a group of methodologies applied in
optimal site selection or suitability modeling.
Steps to perform overlay analysis
The general steps
• Define the problem.
• Break the problem into submodels.
• Determine significant layers.
• Reclassify or transform the data within a layer.
• Weight the input layers.
• Add or combine the layers.
• Analyze.
 Raster Overlaly

• numeric values are assigned to each characteristic

• mathematically combine the layers and assign a new value to each
cell in the output layer
• each cell of each layer references the same geographic location
Raster overlay by addition
Multiplication and addition
 Tools in raster overlay
Zonal Statistics
• Zonal toolset
• Calculates statistics on values of
raster within the zones of another dataset.
 Tools in raster overlay

Combine
• Local toolset
• Combines multiple rasters so that a unique output value is assigned
to each unique
combination of input values.
 Tools in raster overlay

Weighted Overlay
• Overlays several rasters using a common measurement scale and
weights each according to its importance.
• multiplied by their percentage influence, and the results are added
together 
• All input data must be integer
 Tools in raster overlay

Weighted sum
• Overlays several rasters, multiplying each by their given weight and
summing them together.
• the cell values are multiplied by
their weight factor, and the
results are added together