Advanced Topics in Information Systems

Overview

The Disciplines:
• Information Systems
• Computer Science

- Why do we have to deal with IS while we are CS

students?
- What is the difference?
 What is a System?

• A group of connected entities and activities

which interact for a common purpose
– Has a broad usage in almost all fields,
– Examples:
• A car is a system where all the components operate
together to provide transportation,
• A School System,
• A University System,
• A Computer System,
• A Database System, etc.
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Information System

• a set of processes, executed on raw data, to produce

information which will be useful in decision-
making.
• an information system must have a full range of
functions to achieve its purpose, including
observation, measurement, collection of data,
description, explanation, analysis, and presentation
for the purpose of forecasting and decision-making.

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 Information System Professionals:

• Focus on integrating information technology solutions and

business processes to meet the information needs of
businesses and other enterprises, enabling them to achieve
their objectives in an effective, efficient way.

• emphasize on information, and views technology as an

instrument for generating, processing, and distributing
information.

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 Computer Science
• Deals with a “wide range of subjects, from its theoretical and
algorithmic foundations to cutting-edge developments in
robotics, computer vision, intelligent systems, bioinformatics,
and other exciting areas”. (Joint task force ACM/IEEE, 2006)
• Computer Science Professionals:
– deal with the design and implementation of software,
– devise new ways to use computers;
– progress in the CS areas of networking, database, human-computer-
interface, the design of Web technologies, robotics, etc.
– develop effective ways to solve computing problems; Ex. Develop the
best possible ways to store information in databases, send data over
networks, and display complex images.

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 Comparative Views of the Computing Disciplines

• by the Joint Task Force of the ACM, AIS and IEEE societies
(primarily designed to develop a benchmark for Computing Curricula in 2006)
Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), since 1947
The Association for Information Systems (AIS), since 1994
The Computer Society of the Institute for Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE-CS), 1946
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 Computer Science

by the Joint Task Force of the ACM and IEEE societies

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 Information Systems

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 Comparative Views of the Computer Science and
Information Science

Comp 626 Ch1 - Semester II – 2008/09 9

 Computer Engineering

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 Information Technology

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 Topic 1

Geographic Information Systems

and
Spatial Data Management
Topic Objectives:

• Develop familiarity with various applications of Geographic

Information Systems (GIS) and spatial data management,

• Acquire knowledge of modeling and managing spatial data,

• Develop the know-how of designing Spatial Database,

• Enable students to use and apply GIS software tools for practical
problems,

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 Outline for Topic 1:

1. Introduction to GIS
2. Geographic Data & GIS
3. Modeling Geographic Data and
Spatial Analysis
4. Spatial Databases and Spatial Queries

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Reference Books:
1. Geographic Information Systems and Science: P. A. Longlry,
M. F. Goodchild, D. J. Maguire, D. W. Rhind, John Wiley,
2003.
2. Spatial Databases: With Application to GIS; P. Rigaux, M.
Scholl, A. Voisard, Morgan Kaufmann. 2002.
3. An Introduction to Geographical Information Systems,
Heywood, Ian etal., 2nd edition, Prentice Hall, 2002.
4. Spatial Databases: A Tour, Shashi Shekhar, Sanjay Chawla,
Prentice Hall, 2003.
5. Fundamentals of Spatial Information Systems Academic
Press, by Robert Laurini & Derek Thompson, March 1992,

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Chapter 1: Introduction to GIS

1.1 Overview
1.2 What is GIS?
1.3 Application Domains
1.4 Positioning on Earth
1.1 Overview
Spatial Data:
• Spatial: any thing pertaining to the concept of
space, place, and location.
• Spatial Data: Data that have some form of spatial
or geographical reference that enables entities to
be located in two- or three-dimensional space.
• Any information about the location and shape of,
and relationships among, geographic features.
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Geography
• “ … is concerned with the location or spatial
variation in both physical and human phenomena
on the earth’s surface” -Martin Kenzer, 1989.
• “ …is the study of earth as the home of people” –
Yi-Fu Tuan, 1991.
• “ …is the study of the patterns and processes of
human (built) and environmental (natural)
landscapes, where landscapes comprise real
(objective) and perceived (subjective) space.” -
Gregg Wassmansdorf, 1995.
• http://geography.about.com/library/misc/blquote.htm

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 1.2 What is GIS?
• Geographic Information System (GIS) is a system that
uses geographically referenced data (spatial data) as
well as non-spatial data and includes operations to
support spatial analysis with a common purpose of:
– decision-making, and
– Managing data:
• For Example:- use of land, resources, transportation, oceans
or any spatially distributed entities,

• the connection between the elements of the system is

geography (e.g. location, proximity, spatial distribution)
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 GIS: Contd…

• can be seen as a system of hardware, software and

procedures designed to support, capture, manage,
manipulate, analyze, model and display a spatially-
referenced data for solving complex planning and
management problems.
• although many other computer programs can use spatial
data (e.g. AutoCAD and statistical packages), GISs
include the additional ability to perform spatial
operations and analysis.

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 GIS: Contd…

• GIS provides a method to visualize or display spatial data.

• GIS integrates spatial and other kinds of data within a

single system,
• GIS allows access to administrative records - property
ownership, tax files, utility cables and pipes - via their
geographical positions.

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Summary
• Specialized computer systems to process Geographical
Information, since the 1970’s,
– Techniques to input geographical information, converting information
in to digital formats,
– Techniques of storage and query for geographic information,
– Methods for automated analysis of geographical data: search for
patterns, combine different kinds of data, make measurements, find
optimum sites or routes, and a host of other tasks,
– Techniques for display of data in the form of maps, images, etc.
– Capabilities for output of results in the form of numbers, tables, and
maps.
The collective name for such systems is
Geographic Information Systems (GIS).
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Structure of a GIS

Application layers

Data analysis
subsystem

Data acquisition Mapping

subsystem subsystem

DB querying
and management
subsystem

Geographic
database

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GIS: is a convergence of technological fields
• GIS has been called an "enabling technology" because of
the potential it offers for the wide variety of disciplines
which must deal with spatial data,
• each discipline provides some of the techniques which make
up GIS,
• many of these disciplines emphasize data collection - GIS
brings them together by emphasizing integration, modeling
and analysis ,
• as an integrating field of these disciplines, GIS often claims
to be the science of Spatial Information,

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Contributing Disciplines and Technologies:

• Geography
• Cartography
• Remote Sensing
• Photogrammetry
• Surveying
• Geodesy
• Statistics
• Operations Research
• Computer Science
• Mathematics
• Civil Engineering
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Cartography

• concerned with the display of spatial information,

• deals with the design of maps, which is an
important source of input data for GIS and the
main form of output from GIS,
• computer cartography (also called "digital
cartography", "automated cartography")
provides methods for digital representation and
manipulation of maps and their methods of
visualization,

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Remote Sensing

• remote sensing includes techniques for data

acquisition and processing anywhere on the
globe at low cost, consistent update potential,
• images from space and the air are major source
of geographical data,
• interpreted data from a remote sensing system
can be merged with other data layers in a GIS,

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Photogrammetry

• the process of making maps or scale drawings from

photographs, especially aerial photographs,
• the process of making precise measurements by means of
photography,
• is the source of most data on topography (ground surface
elevations) used for input to GIS,

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Surveying
• the measurement of dimensional relationships, as of
horizontal distances, elevations, directions, and angles, on
the earth's surface especially for use in locating property
boundaries, construction layout, and mapmaking.
• provides high quality data on positions of land
boundaries, buildings, etc

Geodesy
• the geologic science of the size and shape of the earth,
• source of high accuracy positional control for GIS

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Statistics
• the science of collection, organization, interpretation
and analysis of numerical data,
• many models built using GIS are statistical in nature,
many statistical techniques used for analysis,
• statistics is important in understanding issues of error
and uncertainty in GIS data,

Operations Research
• the use of mathematical or statistical analysis of a process or an operation,
• it is used in making decisions.
• many applications of GIS require use of optimizing techniques for decision-making

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Computer Science
• computer-aided design (CAD) provides software, techniques for
data input, display and visualization, representation, particularly
in 3 dimensions,
• advances in computer graphics provide hardware, software for
handling and displaying graphic objects and techniques of
visualization,
• database management systems (DBMS) contribute methods for
representing data in digital form, procedures for system design
and handling large volumes of data, particularly access and
update,
• artificial intelligence (AI) uses the computer to make choices based
on available data in a way that is seen to emulate human
intelligence and decision-making - computer can act as an
"expert" in such functions as designing maps, generalizing map
features,
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Mathematics
• branches of mathematics, such as geometry and graph
theory, are used in GIS system design and analysis of
spatial data,

Civil Engineering
• deals with the design and construction of public works,
such as bridges or dams, and other large facilities
• GIS has many applications in transportation, urban
engineering, etc.
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1.3 Application Domains
1. urban planning
2. environmental planning
3. rural and forestry planning
4. marine applications
5. transportations
6. natural resources
7. Earth sciences / geology
8. archaeology
9. real estate management
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10. Defense, etc. 33
 Reading Assignment - I

• Specify what a GIS can do in the different

domains listed above,
• Identify the duty of a Computer professional in
each of the domains,

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