Lecture 4

GEOGRAPHIC DATA 1

1
 Data And Information
 Data refers to unprocessed facts that may occur in
isolation. facts that are assembled in no specific order and
often not connected in any way.

 Data consists of numbers, text, layers and maps; which

are in some sense neutral and almost context free.

 Examples: Population figures, Covid-19 cases, vegetation

types, land parcels, road network, rivers, etc.

 Processing will have to take place before it becomes

meaningful and contribute to the decision making process

2
 Data And Information Cont’d.

 Datum: single number or fact, single entry in database

 Data: collection of facts, multiple entries
 Data Set: collection of related data usually stored or
grouped together e.g vegetation dataset can be made up of
grassland, savanna, karoo, fynbos, etc . A road dataset can
be made up of national, provincial, district and dirt roads.
 What are other examples of datasets? – Name and explain
3 types - Assignment

3
 Types of Data - Assignment

Quantitative

Qualitative

4
Information

5
6
7
 Data And Information Cont’d

 GIS data can be sub-divided into two namely spatial and

attribute (non spatial) data.
 Spatial data is the general term used to refer to features or
measurements existing in a specific geographic space at a
specific scale.
 Spatial data are linked (referenced) to specific locations on
the earth’s surface characterized by x,y coordinates or
longitudes and latitudes.
 In GIS, spatial data can generally be classified into three
namely points (dots), lines (polylines) and polygons
(areas).
 Non spatial data refers to characteristics or additional
information describing the data. This is referred to as
attribute data usually found in a table comprised of texts,
numerical values or alpha-numeric values.
8
eThekwini health facilities Types of GIS Spatial
Data
eThekwini roads

KZN municipalities

Points

Lines

Polygons

9
Spatial

Non Spatial
 Attribute Data
 Attributes refer to the Descriptive Characteristics of
geographic features.

 For example, a geographic feature (lake) may have the

following descriptive attributes: its name, depth, water
quality, algae density, or ownership, etc.

 Attribute data consists of qualitative or quantitative data

(texts, numeric values and alpha-numeric values).

 Geographic attributes presented in the for of a table called

an attribute table - arranged in rows and columns.

 Each row represents a feature and each column represents

one attribute of the feature.

11
 Features of Attribute Data for Wards
Column Header or
Field Name Column or Field

FID SHAPE WARD_NO AREA_KM MALE FEMALE

0 Polygon 1 91 19570 21626

Row or Record 1 Polygon 2 173 11860 13825

2 Polygon 3 86 11553 12673

3 Polygon 4 68 6332 6916

4 Polygon 5 39 16502 17966

5 Polygon 6 6 12174 14455

Cell :attribute
6 Polygon 7 122 9298 10129
Value
7 Polygon 8 86 10131 10561

 Attribute data can be entered directly into GIS through the keyboard.
 Alternatively, they can be captured through other programs like
Microsoft excel or Access and then later imported into GIS where they
are joined to the spatial data.
 Metadata
 Metadata is another type of non spatial data

 It has been defined as data about data.

 Metadata provides information about the data being used and may
include:
L orign of the data
L author (who created the data)
L contact detail
L date of creation
L scale, or resolution
L projection parameters (projection type, datum, spheriods, etc)
L level of accuracy
L and other important factors
• These details give the user confidence that the data being
used is known and is appropriate for the intended
application.
 It also quides the end user on how to use the data
 Metadata should therefore be smaller in volume than the data
it describes.
 Various providers of data sets have their own standards for13
 Summary of GIS Data
 Spatial data
 Has x, y coordinates or longitudes & latitudes
 3 main classes:
• points (dots)
• line (polylines)
• polygons (areas)

 Non Spatial data

 Attribute data
 Metadata

14
 Geodatabase
 Defined as a collection of geographic
datasets of various types.
 Contains three primary dataset types: Geodatabase
Feature class, raster dataset & tables Polygons
 Also regarded as a physical store for
geographic data. Points
 “Geo” relates to spatial data &
“database” relates to the relational Lines
nature (connections) in the database
all stored in a repository or deposit.
Hence Geodatabase is a central Tables
repository for spatial data storage &
management Raster
 It makes data sharing easy, many users
can work on the same database at the
same time

15
 Types of geodatabases
 Three main types:
◦ File geodatabases: A collection of various types of GIS
datasets held in a file system folder. Single user and
small workgroups.
◦ Personal geodatabases: Original data format for ArcGIS
geodatabases stored and managed in Microsoft Access
data files. Single user and small workgroups.
◦ ArcSDE or Enterprise geodatabases: A collection of
various types of GIS datasets held as tables in a
relational database. Multiuser (many users).
◦ Types of geodatabases:
https://desktop.arcgis.com/en/arcmap/10.3/manage-
data/geodatabases/types-of-geodatabases.htm

ESRI, 2016 16
Geodatabase – Bigger Picture

17