DATA MODEL

SPATIAL DATA MODEL--RASTER AND VECTOR

DATA MODEL

Submitted by
Hanna P Abraham
CONTENTS
 Introduction
 Data and Information
 Data model
 Data types in GIS
 Spatial data model
 Raster data model
 Vector data model
 Conclusion
INTRODUCTION
 Computers and GIS cannot directly be applied to the
real world: a data gathering step comes first.

 Digital computers operate in numbers and characters

held internally as binary digits.

 The real-world phenomenon of interest must be

represented in symbolic form.

 The abstraction process of representing any

property of the earth’s surface in a computer
accessible form involves the use of symbolic models.
In an image that uses 4 colours, 2 bits are needed for each pixel. The
following example uses two bits to store the following colours: 
00 – White; 01 – Black; 10 – Yellow; 11 – Blue

101010101010
100010100010
101110101110
101010101010
100101010110
101010101010
DATA AND INFORMATION
 Data is a set of values or elements used to
represent something.

 Geographical data are related to a location

on the Earth and can often be presented as
maps. Other names for geographical data are
geodata, geospatial data or GIS data.

 Information is the result of data and its

interpretation.
DATA MODEL
 Data models are a set of rules and or
constructs used to describe and represent
aspects of the real world in a computer.

 A GIS data model enables a computer to

represent real geographical elements as
graphical elements.
DATA TYPES IN GIS
 SPATIAL DATA 
Describes the absolute and relative location
of geographic features

 NON SPATIAL DATA

Describes characteristics of the spatial
features. These characteristics can be
quantitative and/or qualitative in nature.
SPATIAL DATA
 Spatial data is information about the
location , shape and relationships of
geographical features

 On earth , such as natural and constructed

features like ocean, lake, pond etc.

 Spatial data is usually stored as coordinate

and topology and is data that can be
mapped.
1)RASTER DATA MODEL
 The raster model is based on a systematic division
of space.

 A collection of cells( or pixels) that are

organized into rows and coloumns , making up
a grid.

 Information is contained within each cell:

location and value.

 Satellite and aerial images are already

formatted as raster.
.

Cells in a raster grid with their

associated values
USES OF RASTER DATA
 RASTER AS BASEMAPS
A common use of raster data in a GIS is as a
background display for other feature layers.
  Three main sources of raster base maps are
orthophotos from aerial photography,
satellite imagery, and scanned maps. Below
is a raster used as a basemap for road data.
RASTER AS SURFACE MAPS
Rasters are well suited for representing data that changes continuously
across a landscape (surface). 

The raster below displays elevation—using green to show lower

elevation and red, pink, and white cells to show higher elevations.
RASTER AS THEMATIC MAP

Rasters representing thematic data can be derived from analyzing

other data. A common analysis application is classifying a satellite
image by land-cover categories.
 Another typical use of the raster model is for
the so called Digital Elevation Models (DEM),
which contain the topography of a given
area. These are always single band layers
RASTER TYPES
 Discrete rasters : Have distinct themes or
categories.
Eg: One grid cell represents a land cover

Class or soil type.

 Continuous Rasters : They are grid cells

with gradual changing data such as
elevation, temperature or aerial
photograph.
There are many types of raster data you may
be familiar with:
 grids (ArcGIS & ArcInfo specific)

 graphical images (TIFF, JPEG, BMP, GIF, etc.)

 USGS DEM (Digital Elevation Model)

 remotely-sensed images (Landsat, SPOT,

AVIRIS, AVHRR, Imagine IMG, digital
orthophotos
2)VECTOR DATA MODEL

 Vector data models are composed of

points, lines and polygons.

 It uses two dimensional cartesian (x,y)

coordinate system to store the shape of a
spatial entity.
POINT
 the location of a point is described by a
single xy coordinate pair
 Considered to have no dimension
 Points are stored in point maps by registering
their location in x and y coordinates and by
coding them
 Eg; well, building, power pole etc.
LINE
 Two or more pairs of coordinates that are
connected define a line feature.
 The points are connected by straight lines.
 ONE dimensional
 Connected multiple lines are called
polylines
 e.g.Road, state boundary, contour value
POLYGONS
 Multiple pairs of coordinates that are
connected and closed define a polygon
feature.
 Two dimensional
 Eg:forest ,city, lake etc
CONCLUSION
 A data model in GIS is a mathematical
construct for representing geographic
objects or surface as data.

 Two basic data models are vector and

raster.

 Raster consist of matrix of cells

organized into rows and coloumns whereas
vector represents data using points, lines
and polygons.
REFERENCE
 Introduction to GIS
victor olaya

 www.slideshare.net

 gsp.humboldt.edu