Topology

Dr. Rohit Goyal

Reader, Civil Engineering
Malaviya National Institute of Technology
Jaipur
Topics Covered
 Introduction
 Definition
 Example
 Basic Elements of Topology
 Characteristics of Topological Data
 Advantages of Topology
 Topological Tables
 Node & Chain
 Polygon
 Topology with Relational Queries
2
Introduction
 Topology is a branch of mathematics that
explores a typical set of properties of
geometrical figures.
 In 1930, the word topology was coined by
mathematician Solomon Lefschetz.
 Topology has frequently been called
 Rubber-band
 Rubber-sheet
 Rubber-space geometry
 Topology is one of the most useful data
structure concept in GIS.

3
Definition
 Topology deals with those properties of
geometric figures in a space that remain
unaltered when the space is bent, twisted,
stretched, or deformed in any way except that
tearing the space is not allowed, and distinct
points in the space cannot be made to
coincide.
 While geometry is concerned with properties
like absolute position, distance, and parallel
lines, topology is concerned with properties
like
 Relative position
 General shape
 Inter connections
4
Example
 Geometry: A circle divides a flat plane into two
regions, an inside and an outside.
 Property: A point outside the circle cannot be
connected to a point inside by a continuous path
lying in the plane without crossing the circle.
 Applying Deformation: If the plane is deformed,
it may no longer be flat or smooth, and the circle
may become a crinkly curve.
 Maintains Property: It will, however, maintain
the property of dividing the surface into an
inside and an outside.
 Properties changed: Straightness and linear and
angular measure of the plane are not
maintained.
5
 Topology

Inside
Pt. A
Pt. B
Outside

6
Basic Elements
 Concepts of topological
relationship includes three basic
elements
 Adjacency: Information about which
objects are adjacent to which objects.
 Containment: Which objects lie
entirely within which other objects.
 Connectivity: Which objects are
linked to which other objects.
7
Basic Elements

8
Characteristic of topological data
 With topological data, GIS has following
characteristics:
 Knows where different features are.
Location is stored as part of topological data
 Knows which features are around a given
feature. Connected and surrounding
features are recognized and maintained in
tables.
 Recognizes spatial relationships between
features.
9
Characteristic of topological data
 Length, distance, perimeter, area
information is recorded.
 Easy to find how to get from one location to
other using connections and paths.
 Understands the environment. Such as how
the river or pipe network flows, and can use
attribute of features to accomplish various
spatial analysis tasks.
 Many of above characteristics are not
available in spaghetti data model.
10
How it is done…
 When topology is applied (usually after
digitization of spaghetti data) to GIS,
data structure tables are built for
features, chains and nodes.
 These tables describe various
relationship
 What is connected
 What is adjacent
 Direction of chain etc.
11
Advantage
 By reading these tables, GIS can
 Track connections
 Make paths
 Measures distances and areas
 Determine many other spatial relationships
 Now features are not stored simply as
stand alone spatial elements
 They are linked and integrated with other
features.

12
13
14
Node & Chain Topology
 When topology is applied, each node is
numbered and a new node is
established at each intersection.
 Each digitized line in spaghetti model
may now consist of many chains.
 Example, line A in previous figure is divided
into two chains, C1 and C2.
 When digitizing rivers, flow directions
are maintained.
 This allows us to do flow analysis.
15
Topological Tables
 Topological tables, as shown in previous
figure, are built when topology is applied.
 These tables work together to define spatial
relationship.
 For example, given only chain topology and
node topology tables (and not the map) of
previous figure, can you find path from node 1
to node 6.
 Given the map, humans can quickly and easily
locate the path, but computers can’t.
 Topological tables and special algorithms give
it similar capabilities.

16
Polygon Topology
 Polygon topology is more complex.
 It uses node and chain topology as
discussed before.
 It also uses additional chain topology
table in which polygons left and right of
chain are identified.
 Outside all area is referred as “world” or
“universe”.
 Polygon table is made identifying all chains
from which polygon is made.

17
18
19
Adjacent Polygon
 Now using polygon and chain tables we can
easily determine polygons adjacent of any
polygon
 First search the polygon table to determine all chains
from which that polygon is made.
 Then it can search chain table to find all those
polygons which are on other side of these chains.
 Of course, when you are building topology, GIS
ensures that for adjacent polygons, common
boundary should be digitized only once.
 Twice digitized boundaries (which cannot be similar
unless software assisted, such as snap mode) are
merged to form one single boundary.

20
Relational Queries
 When topology is connected to a relational
database, the power of GIS is greatly
enhanced.
 After undertaking a topological query, we can
lookup in relational database tables to get
required information about identified entities.
 For example for a natural disaster
management service, we have created
database of available emergency services in
different states
 As soon as a disaster occurs, we may simply
locate the affected area in GIS and then ask
GIS to locate, for example, “earth movers”
adjacent to that location.
21