1.

Introduction to Geographical
Information System (GIS)
Contents
1.1 What is GIS?

1.2 GIS Definitions

1.3 What is exactly ‘GIS’?

1.4 Why learn GIS

1.5 Purpose of GIS

1.6 History of GIS

1.7 GIS in everyday life

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1.1 What is What would be your answer when you are asked ‘Do you know
GIS? what ‘GIS’ is?
Well, some of you might know very well about what GIS is, while
some might say ‘Oh, I have being hearing about GIS very often
these days but don’t know what exactly it is, what’s its purpose
and how it works! Still others might be completely unaware about
GIS and might say ‘What is that?’

Figure 1
Thus, your encounters with GIS to date may be similar to those of
a Martin arriving on Earth and being faced with a motor car.
Imagine a Martin coming to Earth and stumbling across a motor
car show-room. Very soon he (or she) has heard of a ‘car’ and may
even have seen a few glossy brochures. Perhaps you are in the
same position.
You have heard of the term GIS, may be, even seen one or two
demonstrations of the paper output they produce.
So here is an effort to take you on a small journey about what GIS
is , what’s the purpose of using GIS, what GIS can do, and few GIS
applications .
Let’s start with the full from of GIS. Well, GIS stands for
Geographical Information Systems. So this gives you a very vague
idea, isn’t it? So let’s explore further

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1.2 Definitio  Burrough in 1986 defined GIS as, "Set of tools for collecting,
ns storing, retrieving at will, transforming and displaying spatial data
from the real world for a particular set of purposes"

 According to Chorley’s report in 1987 GIS is, “A system for

capturing, storing, checking, integrating, manipulating, analyzing
and displaying data which are spatially referenced to the Earth.
This is normally considered to involve a spatially referenced
computer database and appropriate applications software.”

 Arnoff in 1989 defined GIS as, "a computer based system that
provides four sets of capabilities to handle geo-referenced data :

- Data input
- Data management (data storage and retrieval)
- Manipulation and analysis
- Data output.

1.3 What is GIS stands for ‘Geographical Information System’. GIS are just
exactly models of real world. It usually contains just the data you need to
solve your problem!
‘GIS’?

Figure 2

Very simple way to start understanding GIS is ‘Think of maps on computers’.

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Geographic Information System (GIS) is a computer based
information system used to digitally represent and analyze the
geographic features present on the Earth’s surface and the events
(non-spatial attributes linked to the geography under study) that
take place on it.
The meaning to represent digitally is to convert analog (smooth
line) into a digital form. Every object present on the Earth can be
geo-referenced”, is the fundamental key of associating database to
GIS.
Here, term ‘database’ is a collection of information about things and
their relationship to each other and ‘geo-referencing’ refers to the
location of a layer or coverage in space defined by the co-ordinate
referencing system.

Let’s break down the term Geographic Information System

 Geographic = a location
For example – Your house, a city, a highway connecting two
cities.
 Information = Information about the location.
For example – How many people in the house, name of the city,
lanes in the highway
 System = that ties-in the above two.

In the strictest sense, the term describes any information system

that integrates, stores, edits, analyses, shares, and displays
geographic information. In more generic sense, GIS applications
are tools that allow users to create interactive queries (user created
searches), analyze spatial information, edit data, maps, and
present the results of all these operations.
The concept of geographic information systems (GIS) is not new. It
was first applied conceptually when maps on the same topic made
on different dates were viewed together to identify changes.
Similarly, when maps showing different kinds of information for
the same area were overlaid to determine relationships, the
concept of GIS was actually in use. What is new and progressing
rapidly is advancing computer technology, which allows the low-
cost examination of large areas frequently, and with an increasing
amount of data.
It gives the ability to see and analyze many 'layers' of information
at once. Many types of data can be layered and analyzed together.

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 Figure 3 (Source: ESRI)
For example, to find a suitable site for a new business in a city, one
would need these different layers: land parcels, roads, population,
household income, etc.

Thus, digitization, manipulation of information, interpretation,

and map reproduction are all steps in generating a GIS that now
can be achieved rapidly, almost in real time.
1.4 Why Most of us use maps frequently. We usually use them to figure out
learn GIS? how to get from here to there. Without simple street maps this
relatively easy task would be much more difficult. We would have
to read instructions, line-by-line, and sort of imagine the
geography described in the instructions and superimpose that
with what we see as we progress to our destination. We have
probably all done this. Maps make this task so much easier. But
maps are more than a navigational aid. They can show us
relationships that we could never see by pouring through pages of
data.

Maps can provide answers to questions not found elsewhere and

make you ask questions you never would have thought to ask.
Maps bring raw and often boring data to life.

There are applications for maps and a need for mapmakers in

nearly all fields. Some common uses for maps and GIS are
 To target sales and marketing areas
 Redraw congressional districts find the best route between
point a and point b
 Determine the race, ethnicity and income of folks living certain
distances from a facility that pollutes the air

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  Locate clusters of families with certain diseases.
 Others include disaster management, environmental planning,
traffic analysis and much more.

1.5 Purpose GIS is fundamentally used to answer questions and make

of GIS decisions. GIS is the software package that can (generically) be
applied to many different applications.

For example:

 An urban planner might like to find out about the urban fringe
growth in her/his city, and quantify the population growth that
some suburbs are witnessing. She/he might also like to
understand why it is these suburbs and not others.
 A biologist might be interested in the impact of slash-and-urban
practices on the populations of amphibians species in the forests
of a mountain range to obtain a better understanding of the
involved long-term threats to those populations.
 A natural hazard analyst might like to identify the high-risk areas
to annual monsoon-related flooding by looking at rainfall
patterns and terrain characteristics.
 A geological engineer might want to identify the best localities for
constructing buildings in an area with regular earthquakes by
looking at rock formation characteristics.
 A mining engineer could be interested in determining which
prospect copper mines are best fit for future exploration, taking
into account parameters such as extent, depth and quality of the
ore body, amongst others.
 A geoinformatics engineer hired by a telecommunication
company may want to determine the best sites for the
company’s relay stations, taking into account various cost
factors such as land prices, undulation of the terrain etc.
 A forest manager might want to optimize timber production
using data on soil and current tree stand distributions, in the
presence of a number of operational constraints, such as the
requirement to preserve tree diversity.
 A hydrological engineer might want to study a number of water
quality parameters of different sites in a freshwater lake to
improve her/his understanding of the current distribution of
Typha reed beds, and why it differs so much from that of a
decade ago.

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 If we attempt to define what is the common factor in the interests
of all these people, we might say that they are involved in studies
of their environment, in the hope of a better understanding of that
environment. By, environment, we mean the geographic space of
their study area and the events that take place there.
All the above professionals work with data that relates to space,
typically involving positional data. Positional data determines
where things are, or perhaps, where they were or will be.

To use GIS properly, it is important to know what you want to ask

and follow a disciplined process for getting the answer.

1) Frame the question

2) Select your data
3) Choose an analysis method
4) Process the data
5) Look at the results

1.6 History of About 15,500 years ago, on the walls of caves near Lascaux,
GIS France, Cro-Magnon hunters drew pictures of the animals they
hunted. Associated with the animal drawings are track lines and
tallies thought to depict migration routes. While simplistic in
comparison to modern technologies, these early records mimic the
two-element structure of modern GIS, an image associated with
attribute information.
In 1854, John Snow depicted a cholera outbreak in London using
points to represent the locations of some individual cases, possibly
the earliest use of the geographic method.
His study of the distribution of cholera led to the source of the
disease, a contaminated water pump (the Broad Street Pump,
whose handle he disconnected, thus terminating the outbreak)
within the heart of the cholera outbreak.
While the basic elements of topography and theme existed
previously in cartography, the John Snow map was unique, using
cartographic methods not only to depict but also to analyze
clusters of geographically dependent phenomena for the first time.

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Figure 4: E. W. Gilbert's version (1958) of John Snow's 1855 map of the Soho cholera
outbreak showing the clusters of cholera cases in the London epidemic of 1854
(Source : Wikipedia)

The early 20th century saw the development of photolithography,

by which maps were separated into layers. Computer hardware
development spurred by nuclear weapon research would lead to
general-purpose computer "mapping" applications by the early
1960s.
The year 1962 saw the development of the world's first true
operational GIS in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada by the federal
Department of Forestry and Rural Development. Developed by
Dr. Roger Tomlinson, it was called the "Canada Geographic
Information System" (CGIS) and was used to store, analyze, and
manipulate data collected for the Canada Land Inventory (CLI)—
an initiative to determine the land capability for rural Canada by
mapping information about soils, agriculture, recreation, wildlife,
waterfowl, forestry, and land use at a scale of 1:50,000. A rating
classification factor was also added to permit analysis.
CGIS was the world's first "system" and was an improvement over
"mapping" applications as it provided capabilities for overlay,
measurement, and digitizing/scanning. It supported a national
coordinate system that spanned the continent, coded lines as "arcs"
having a true embedded topology, and it stored the attribute and
location information in separate files. As a result of this,
Tomlinson has become known as the "father of GIS," particularly

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for his use of overlays in promoting the spatial analysis of
convergent geographic data. CGIS lasted into the 1990s and built
the largest digital land resource database in Canada. It was
developed as a mainframe based system in support of federal and
provincial resource planning and management. Its strength was
continent-wide analysis of complex datasets. The CGIS was never
available in a commercial form.
In 1964, Howard T Fisher formed the Laboratory for Computer
Graphics and Spatial Analysis at the Harvard Graduate School of
Design (LCGSA 1965-1991), where a number of important
theoretical concepts in spatial data handling were developed, and
which by the 1970s had distributed seminal software code and
systems, such as 'SYMAP', 'GRID', and 'ODYSSEY' -- which served
as literal and inspirational sources for subsequent commercial
development—to universities, research centers, and corporations
worldwide.
By the early 1980s, M&S Computing (later Intergraph),
Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI) and CARIS
(Computer Aided Resource Information System) emerged as
commercial vendors of GIS software, successfully incorporating
many of the CGIS features, combining the first generation
approach to separation of spatial and attribute information with a
second generation approach to organizing attribute data into
database structures. In parallel, the development of two public
domain systems began in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
MOSS, the Map Overlay and Statistical System project started in
1977 in Fort Collins, Colorado under the auspices of the Western
Energy and Land Use Team (WELUT) and the US Fish and
Wildlife Service.
GRASS GIS was begun in 1982 by the U.S. Army Corps of
Engineering Research Laboratory (USA-CERL) in Champaign,
Illinois, a branch of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to meet the
need of the United States military for software for land
management and environmental planning. The later 1980s and
1990s industry growth were spurred on by the growing use of GIS
on Unix workstations and the personal computer. By the end of
the 20th century, the rapid growth in various systems had been
consolidated and standardized on relatively few platforms and
users were beginning to export the concept of viewing GIS data
over the Internet, requiring data format and transfer standards.
More recently, there are a growing number of free, open source
GIS packages which run on a range of operating systems and can
be customized to perform specific tasks.

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1.7 GIS in 1) The clock radio rings at 6:00 a.m. You get up and turn on the
everyday life lights.

Figure 5
The radio and lights are powered with household electricity. A
typical electric utility company serving millions of customers uses
GIS to manage its complex infrastructure consisting of tens of
thousands of miles of transmission and distribution lines and
hundreds of thousands of utility poles.
2) In the kitchen you pour some fresh fruit juice.

Figure 6
The fruit trees were grown with water provided by an irrigation
district serving the agricultural community. The district serves
thousands of farmers and maintains hundreds of miles of
waterways. It uses GIS for engineering and operations and for
powerful digital mapping.

3) You put on a pot of coffee.

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 Figure 7
The water the coffee is made with is provided by a water utility
operating a water distribution system that consists of thousands of
miles of water mains.
The utility uses GIS for customer service, emergency response,
water distribution, infrastructure maintenance, automated
mapping, network tracing, flow analysis, and other aspects of
engineering, operations, administration, and finance .
The water utility also maintains a water/wastewater collection
system consisting of hundreds of miles of sanitary sewers and
storm drains and uses GIS in tandem with its water delivery
system.

4) You go outside, pick up the morning newspaper, and head back

into your house.

Figure 8
The wood that was the source for the paper and for the lumber of
the house was provided by wood product companies that use GIS
for sound forest management practices. The newspaper circulation
department uses GIS to understand the dynamics and
demographics of carrier routes, the basic unit used to report and
study circulation.
5) You pile the kids into the car and stop at the gas station.

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 Figure 9
GIS technology integrates all kinds of petroleum information and
applications into a common system and lets the oil companies
view that information in context on a map for exploration,
operation and maintenance, production, environment, land lease
management, and data management.
Before the oil becomes gasoline it needs to move from the oil fields
to the processing plant via pipelines. The pipeline industry uses
GIS for assisting route planning and construction, operations,
supply market analysis and reporting functions.

6) You drop the kids off at school and drive to work.

Figure 10
The roads are safer because of GIS. The community uses GIS for
managing its transportation infrastructure. GIS is used to support
planning, inventory, design, construction, operations, and
maintenance.
7) Your employer is the local phone company.

Figure 11

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GIS technology assists local service telephone companies in better
tracking the location and characteristics of their outside
infrastructure, improving access to information, improving the
ability to plan for additional capacity by forecasting future
growth, optimizing coverage of their mobile networks, and
supporting customer service routing and dispatch operations.

The telecom industry is also in the midst of a vast program aimed

at deploying a new broadband network. This program will
increase the capacity to deliver telephone, analog and digital video
and new interactive video services. The industry adopted GIS
technology to support the design, implementation, and
management of the new network.

8) You receive a package from an overnight courier.

GIS solutions for transportation fleet and logistics management

exist in the areas of routing, customer service, crew management,
street and rail network management, and vehicle/depot
management.

Figure 12
Knowing where a vehicle, pickup, or delivery is at any given time
leverages assets for optimum deployment and cost savings.

9) It's the summer day. You leave at noon, pick up the kids, and go
to the beach.

GIS is used for the management of coastal resources including

shoreline, aquatic, and terrestrial habitats and biological resources;
the distribution of threatened and endangered species; and the
location of the oil and gas infrastructure.

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 Figure 13
With GIS and the appropriate scientific database, coastal erosion is
now better understood and managed.

10) You enjoy a picnic lunch.

Figure 14
GIS helps farming cooperatives and the crop input dealer-those
fertilizer and chemical dealers who help farmers decide which
products will help grow more and better crops.
GIS technology helps farmers is to project crop output by
analyzing soil classifications and their resulting fertility. A GIS can
produce maps that show farmers how to fertilize a given field
allowing for differing levels of fertility within that same field.

11) On the way home, the kids are hungry and you stop at a fast-food
restaurant.

Figure 15

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The restaurant is at that particular location because GIS helped to
define the right store mix for the location's potential customers.
Using regional variables from strategic sales volume models, GIS
helps to direct site selection efforts and grade sites as suitable or
unsuitable.

12) When you leave, your car is still in the parking lot, right where
you left it!

Figure 16
Communities are showing that GIS is helping to reduce crime,
providing an intelligence tool that plots and tracks all crimes.
This system gives officers and investigators the ability to track
crimes on a real-time basis and correlate crime statistics in a
measurable fashion.

Advanced GIS capabilities can generate incident density and

contour maps that can be used to predict the probability of crimes
occurring.
Law enforcement agencies also use GIS in communications,
operations, and records management.

It's been a long day, but you are finally home safe and sound. GIS
has been there nearly every step of the way, helping make life
more comfortable and safe. All through the power of geography!
Geography matters to all of us, and GIS technology is the way to
gain the advantage.

GIS can be used to determine the location of an event or asset and

its relationship or proximity to another event or asset, which
may be the critical factor leading to a decision about design,
construction, or maintenance.

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 2.Specialty of Geographical Information
System (GIS)
Contents
2.1 What is so unique about GIS?
2.2 What can you do with GIS?
2.3 Questions GIS can answer
2.4 Requirements of GIS
2.5 How does GIS work

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2.1 What is so
unique
about GIS?

Figure 2.1 (Source: ESRI)

 It combines location and information about the location.
 Using GIS, you can not only see the 'place' but find out more
information about the place.
 Putting this concept in a system - gives the ability to analyze
this information in a powerful way.
 It gives the ability to see and analyze many 'layers' of
information at once.
 Many types of data can be layered and analyzed together.
 For example, to find a suitable site for a new business in a city,
one would need these different layers: land parcels, roads,
population, household income, etc.

2.2 What can 1. Mapping where things are:

you do
with GIS? Lets you find places that have the features you're looking for, and
to see where to take action

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Figure 2.2: Maps of the locations of earthquake shaking hazards (Source: ESRI)

2. Map Quantities:

Figure 2.3: The number of children under 18 per clinically active pediatrician (Source
ESRI)

Map quantities, like where the most and least are, to find places
that meet their criteria and take action, or to see the relationships
between places.
Public health officials might not only want to map physicians, but
also map the numbers of physicians per 1,000 people in each
census tract to see which areas are adequately served, and which
are not.
3. Map Densities:

In a density map you can see concentrations by simply mapping

the locations of features, in areas with many features it may be
difficult to see which areas have a higher concentration than
others. Mapping density is especially useful when mapping areas,

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 such as census tracts or counties, which vary greatly in size.

Figure 2.4: Population density in the East Asian and Indian Ocean regions.
(Source ESRI)
4. Find What’s Inside:

Use GIS to monitor what's happening and to take specific action

by mapping what's inside a specific area.

Figure 2.5: Source ESRI

For example, a district attorney would monitor drug-related
arrests to find out if an arrest is within 1,000 feet of a school

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 5. Find What's Nearby:

Find out what's occurring within a set distance of a feature by

mapping what's nearby.
The Pacific Disaster Center has developed and applied a
Vulnerability-Exposure-Sensitivity-Resilience model to map
people and facilities (what's nearby) exposed to flood risk in the
Lower Mekong River Basin (the feature).

Figure 2.6: Source ESRI

6. Map Change:

Map the change in an area to anticipate future conditions, decide

on a course of action, or to evaluate the results of an action or
policy.
Figure 2.7 shows the severe change in land use on Cape Cod since
1951. The image on the left shows the town of Barnstable in 1951
and the image on the right shows Barnstable in 1999.

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 Figure 2.7: Source ESRI
2.3 Questions For any application there are five generic questions a GIS can
GIS can answer:
answer

Figure 2.8: Source

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  Location: What exists at a particular location?
A location can be described in many ways such as a place name,
zip code, or a geographic reference.
 Condition: Identify locations where certain condition exists.
Instead of identifying what exists at a given location, find a
location where certain conditions are satisfied.
 Trends: What has changed since?
A combination of the first two questions but also seeks to find
the differences within an area over time.
 Patterns: What spatial pattern exists?
Determine whether soil nutrients of moisture availability is the
cause of low crop yield.
 Modeling: What if............?
Determine what happens, for example, if water volume in the
reservoir reduced half which are the areas likely to have water
shortage.

2.4 Requirem
ents of GIS

Figure 2.9: Source ESRI

• Hardware: Hardware is the computer system on which the GIS
software will run.

• Software: GIS software provides the functions and tools needed

to store, analyze, and display geographic information.

• Data: Geographic data and related tabular data can be collected

or bought from a commercial data provider. The digital map forms
the basic data input for GIS.

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 • Methods: Methods are the models and operating practices used.

• People: GIS technology is of limited valuewithout the people

who manage the system and to develop plans for applying it. GIS
users range from technical specialists who design and maintain
the system to those who use it to help them perform their
everyday work.

2.5 How does The GIS workflow consists of following steps:

GIS work
 Data Collection: To build any GIS, we need data. The data is
collected, converted to a convenient format and stored for use in
subsequent processes.

Example: If you are building a GIS Emergency Response, one

needs data on road networks in the city, location of hospitals/fire
stations/police stations, addresses of residents etc. Various tools
such as GPS devices, Aerial photos, Survey equipment etc. can be
used for data collection

 Display and Analysis: The stored data is displayed and

analyzed as per requirement. The data is displayed on a computer
screen and the operator gives commands to perform analysis.

Example: To find the shortest route from a house to the nearest

hospital, the operator analyzes using a route finding algorithm on
the roads data and the resulting path is displayed on the computer
screen. Many different types of data is displayed as different
layers and they are analyzed together.

 Sharing: The result of analysis needs to be shared with the

decision maker for further action.

Example: In emergency response, the shortest route found using

analysis, can be shared with the ambulance driver in form of
printed or verbal instruction.

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 3.Spatial Data
Contents
3.1 What is Spatial Data
3.2 Difference between Data, Information and Spatial
Information
3.3 Cartographic Terms
3.4 Thematic characteristics of Spatial Data
3.5 Types of Spatial Data
3.6 Types of Data Models in GIS
3.7 Raster Data Model
3.8 Vector Data Model
3.9 Raster and Vector : Comparison
3.10 Sources of Spatial Data
3.11 Topology
3.12 Accuracy and Precision in GIS

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 3.1 What is Spatial means “related to the space around us, in which we live
Spatial and function”. It refers to information related to a location
anywhere on the earth's surface, and allows users to look at an
Data
area or geographic feature in relation to other areas (in relation to
changes over time and in relation to various factors).

All Geographic Information Systems are computer representations

of some aspect of the real world. GIS present a simplified view of
the world as it would be impossible to represent reality in its
entirety in a computer. In using GIS software, we first obtain some
computer representations of the geographic phenomena-stored in
memory, in bits and bytes-as faithfully as possible. This is where
we speak of spatial data.

Name of Place: (Described): Statue of Liberty, New York

Location (Georefrenced): Latitude: 40.689087°

Longitude: -74.044614°

Figure 3.1: Source (Google Earth)

We might define a geographic phenomenon as something of

interest that can either be
- named or described
- georefrenced, and
- assigned a time (interval) at which it is/was present.

3.2 Difference There is subtle difference between the terms ‘data’ and
between ‘information’. Let us see the difference.
data,
Data:
information
and spatial By data we mean representation that can be operated by a
information computer. More specifically, by spatial data we mean data that

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contains positional values. When data are entered into the
computer, we store them as files and refer to them collectively as
database.

Information:

By information, we mean data that has been interpreted by a

human being. Human perception and mental processing leads to
information, and hopefully understanding and knowledge.
Geoinformation is a specific type of information that involves the
interpretation of spatial data.

If data is at the lowest level in the series, information is placed at

the next step. As an example, if you have a list on the Seven
Wonders of the World, that is a data. If you have a book giving
details and pictures about each wonder, it is information.

Spatial Information:

A basic difference between these type of information and

information that is collected into geographic information systems
is that GIS information has associated with it an underlying
geography, or descriptions of locations on the face of the Earth.
This means that pictures and especially maps can be a database,
too. A link to the Earth must somehow be placed into the GIS
database, so that we can refer to the data by the location and the
location by the data. With this feature comes the fact that we can
now manage the data using the underlying geography, the
attributes, or both.
This is possible for our example of ‘Seven Wonders of the World’.
Now let’s assume that we have a card with the information about
Taj Mahal along with it picture. If we went to an atlas and looked
up the latitude and longitude for Taj Mahal, we would be
geocoding the card. If we then entered the latitude and longitude
in pencil on this card, we would have a geographic information
system of sort, although we would have to enter the card into a
computer to really have a GIS. The data is now more usable,
because if we have the capability of mapping in our GIS, we can
place any card with information on a map. Later, we will see that
this is only the first of many new abilities that georeferencing the
data brings. For now, however, location is everything!

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 Figure 3.2
Thus the power of GIS is allowing the attribute and the geographic
or map information to be linked together in a useful way. For
example, we can search the data both by attributes and by using
the map. Obviously, if the two sorts of information are linked, we
can use either one to search the other, or we can use them together.
Central to this map and attribute data use is finding a way to link
the map with the attributes. As we are using the computers,
obviously the link should be in the form of numbers. In the
example here, we used latitude and longitude. Many GIS packages
use latitude and longitude. So this is quite appropriate.

Before we move on, however, it is important to get a feel for what

these geographic numbers mean and how they correspond to
places on both the Earth and the map. Is a little more complex than
it first seems, but with a little digression, we can quickly come up
to speed, and even be experts. This means that to understand GISs,
we need to know a little cartography, which is the science that deals
with the construction, use, and principles behind maps and map
use.

So let’s take a quick look at different cartographic terms.

3.3 Cartograp
hic Terms  Latitude and Longitude
Maps and globes usually have lines on them to help locate places

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 on Earth. These lines are called latitude and longitude lines. These
lines are not actually on the planet, but are imaginary lines used to
help us find our way around the curved surface of Earth.
Latitude and
Longitude

Figure 3.3: Latitude

(Source: NASA ISS Earth KAM)
Latitude : When looking at a map, latitude lines run horizontally.
Latitude lines are also known as parallels since they are parallel
and are an equal distant from each other. Each degree of latitude
is approximately 69 miles (111 km) apart; there is a variation due
to the fact that the earth is not a perfect sphere but an oblate
ellipsoid (slightly egg-shaped). Degrees latitude are numbered
from 0° to 90° north and south. Zero degree is the equator, the
imaginary line which divides our planet into the northern and
southern hemispheres. 90° north is the North Pole and 90° south is
the South Pole.

Figure 3.4: Longitude

(Source: NASA ISS Earth KAM)

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 Longitude : The vertical longitude lines are also known as
meridians. They converge at the poles and are widest at the
equator (about 69 miles or 111 km apart). Zero degrees longitude
i.e. Prime Meridian is located at Greenwich, England (0°). The
degrees continue 180° east and 180° west where they meet and
form the International Date Line in the Pacific Ocean.
Greenwich, the site of the British Royal Greenwich Observatory,
was established as the site of the prime meridian by an
international conference in 1884.

Figure 3.5
Map Legend  Map Legend
The legend is the key to read a map. It provides essential
information for the map reader. It tells us what the objects or
colors in the legend mean. Figure 3.6 shows land use/ land cover
map. The different types of land cover classes can be easily
identified with the help of the legend provided

Figure 3.6

29
Map Scale and In the practice of spatial data handling, one often comes across
Resolution in questions like
• What is the spatial resolution of the data?
GIS
OR
• At what scale is your data set?
Map Scale: Can be defined as the ratio between distance on a
paper map and distance of the same stretch in the terrain.
A 1: 50,000 scale map means that 1 cm on the map represents
50,000 cm i.e. 500 m in the terrain.

Maps are often described, in a relative sense, as being either small

scale or large scale. Figure 3.7 helps to explain this concept. We
have maps representing an area at scales of 1:100,000, 1:50,000,
and 1:25,000. Of this group, the map drawn at 1:100,000 has the
smallest scale relative to the other two maps. The map with the
largest scale is map C which is drawn at a scale of 1:25,000.

Figure 3.7 (Source: Physical Geography.net)

Resolution:

• The accuracy with which a given map scale can depict the
location and shape of map features.
• The larger the map scale, the higher the possible resolution.
• As map scale decreases, resolution diminishes and feature
boundaries must be smoothed, simplified, or not shown at all.
• Resolution plays a large role in GIS, especially in raster – based
modeling.
• Spatial Resolution: The minimum size of objects that can be
detected by a sensor system.

30
Map • Map projections
Projections

Figure 3.8
A map projection is used to portray all or part of the round Earth
(3D) on a flat surface (2D) map. Map projections are necessary for
creating maps. All map projections distort the surface in some
fashion. Some keep distance accurate, but direction suffers. Or
shape is preserved but area is not. Thus, a map or parts of a map
can show one or more, but never all of the following:
- True Directions
- True Distances
- True Areas
- True Shapes.

Depending on the purpose of the map, some distortions are

acceptable and others are not. Therefore different map projections
exist in order to preserve some properties of the sphere-like body
at the expense of other properties. There is no limit to the number
of possible map projections. The Earth can be projected in many
ways, but basically onto three shapes that can be unrolled into a
flat map: A flat plane, a cylinder, and a cone. Let’s take a quick
look at these.

i) Cylindrical Projection :

Figure 3.9 shows Cylindrical Projection Surface.

It includes projecting a spherical surface onto a cylinder
- Longitudes equally spaced
- Latitudes unequally spaced
- Scale is true along equator
- Shape and scale distortions increase near poles
Best for equatorial or low latitudes

31
 Figure 3.9
Figure 3.10 shows Transverse Cylindrical Projection Surface
- Rotate cylinder to reduce distortion along a line
- UTM (Universal Transverse Mercator) is based on
this.
- Cylinder is at right angles to the pole

Figure 3.10
ii) Conic Projection :

Figure 3.11

32
 - Result from projecting a spherical surface onto a cone.
- Best for mid- latitudes with an East- West orientation
like Canada

iii) Azimuthal (Planar) Projection :

Figure 3.12
- Result from projecting a spherical surface onto a plane.
- Best for polar or circular regions
- Direction always true from center

 Projection properties

Conformal - maintains shape

Equal- area- maintains area
Equidistant - maintains distance
Azimuthal (Planar) - maintains some directions

 Common Projections

- Mercator
- Universal Transverse Mercator
- Albers Equal Area
- Lambert’s Conformal Conic
- Azimuthal Equidistant

Different map projections result in different spatial relationships

between regions.

33
Example

Figure 3.13

Figure 3.14
3.4 Thematic There are two important components of geographic data:
Characteristics - Geographic position and
- Attributes or properties
of Spatial Data
In other words:

- Spatial data (where is it?) and

- Attribute data (what is it?).

34
 Geographic position specifies the location of a feature or
phenomenon by using a coordinate system.

‘Thematic ‘refers to the themes or ‘attributes’ of these data. The

attributes refer to the properties/qualities of spatial entities such as
identify (e.g. maize, granite, lake), ordinal (e.g., ranking such as
class1, class2, calss3), and scale (e.g., value such as water depth,
elevation, erosion rate). They are often referred to as ‘non spatial’
data since they do not in themselves represent location
information.

Figure 3.15
Thus, spatial data in GIS represents features that have a known
location on the Earth, while non- spatial data is the information
(attribute) about the same.

3.5 Types of The first question that comes in our mind is ‘How can we
Spatial Data represent the Real world data in GIS?’

Geographic data, which is comprised of geographic features and

their corresponding attribute information, is entered into a GIS
using a technique called digitizing.
Geographic object can be shown by FOUR types of representation
viz., points, lines, areas, and continuous surfaces.

Point Data: Points are the simplest type of spatial data. They are-
zero dimensional objects with only a position in space but no
length.

Figure 3.16 : Point Data

35
 Line Data: Lines (also termed segments or arcs) are one-
dimensional spatial objects. Besides having a position in space,
they also have a length.

Figure 3.17 : Line Data

Area Data: Areas (also termed polygons) are two-dimensional
spatial objects with not only a position in space and a length but
also a width (in other words they have an area).

Figure 3.18 : Area Data

Continuous Surface: Continuous surfaces are three-dimensional

spatial objects with not only a position in space, a length and a
width, but also a depth or height (in other words they have a
volume)

Figure 3.19: Continuous Surface

3.6 Types of The data model represents a set of guidelines to convert the real
Data Models in world (called entity) to the digitally and logically represented
spatial objects consisting of the attributes and geometry.
GIS
There are two major types of geometric data models:

- Vector Model
- Raster Model

36
 The Real World

Raster Data

Vector Data

Figure 3.20

3.7 Raster In the raster data model, land cover is represented as:
Data Model
 Single square cells
 Each cell will have a value corresponding to its land cover type.
 The raster data model represents features as a matrix of cells in
continuous space.

37
 Figure 3.21 :Raster Model

Raster data are good at:

 Representing continuous data (e.g., slope, elevation, chemical

concentrations).
 Representing multiple feature types (e.g., points, lines, and
polygons) as single feature types (cells).
 Rapid computations ("map algebra") in which raster layers are
treated as elements in mathematical expressions.
 Analysis of multi-layer or multivariate data (e.g., satellite image
processing and analysis)
 Hogging disk space

Aerial Photos, Satellite Imagery are Stored In Raster Format

Figure 3.22 : Satellite Image (Source : Google Earth)

38
3.8 Vector In the vector data model, features on the earth are
Data Model represented as
 Points
 Lines / routes (series of points)
 Polygons / regions
 TINs (triangulated irregular networks)
Vector data are good at:
 Accurately representing true shape and size.
 Representing non-continuous data (e.g., rivers, political
boundaries, road lines, mountain peaks).
 Creating aesthetically pleasing maps.
 Conserving disk space

Figure 3.23 : Vector Data Model

39
3.9 Raster
and Vector
Comparison

RASTER VECTOR
1. Simple data structure Complex data structure.
2. Easy and efficient Difficult to perform
overlaying. overlaying.
3. Compatible with Not compatible with
Remote Sensing Remote Sensing
imagery. imagery.
4. Occupies larger disk Less of space required.
space.
5. Suffers from No such effect.
discretization
6. Resolution depends on Depends on the source
the cell size. data.
7. Suitable for Suitable for feature with
phenomenon of distinct gradational
transition boundaries. changes.
8. Errors in perimeter Efficient encoding of
and shape topology.
9. Easier for processing Data processing is
data. complex.
10. Difficult to perform Easy to perform network
network analysis. analysis.
11. E.g.: DEM E.g. : TIN
Table 3.1
Distortion of shapes in raster data:

Figure 3.24

40
3.10 Sources GIS can contain a wide variety of geographic data types
of Spatial Data originating from many diverse sources. From the perspective of
creating geographic databases, it is convenient to classify raster
and vector geographic data as primary and secondary.

Primary data sources are those collected in digital format

specifically for use in a GIS project by direct measurement.
Typical examples of primary GIS sources include raster SPOT and
IKONOS Earth satellite images, and vector building-survey
measurements captured using a total survey station.

Secondary sources are those reused from earlier studies or

obtained from other systems. Secondary sources are digital and
analog datasets that were originally captured for another purpose
and need to be converted into a suitable digital format for use in a
GIS project.
Typical secondary sources include raster scanned color aerial
photographs of urban areas and paper maps that can be scanned
and vectorized.

Both primary and secondary geographic data may be obtained in

either digital or analog format. Analog data must always be
digitized before being added to a geographic database. Analog to
digital transformation may involve the scanning of paper maps or
photographs or text describing geographic object properties, or
the vectorization of selected features from an image. Depending
on the format and characteristics of the digital data, considerable
reformatting and restructuring may be required prior to importing
into a GIS. Each of these transformations alters the original data
and will introduce further uncertainty into the data.

3.11 Topology A GIS topology is a set of rules and behaviors that model how
points, lines, and polygons share geometry. For example, adjacent
features, such as two countries, will share a common edge. In
short, it refers to how features are connected to or relate to each
other. Topology is important for answering questions like ‘what is
shortest or fastest distance from point A to point B’
Following are three major topological concepts:
i) Adjacency: Common boundary between features.
ii) Containment : One feature within another
iii) Connectivity: Linkages between line features.

41
3.12 Accuracy Problem of error in GIS devolve from one of greatest strengths of
and Precision GIS.
Inaccuracy and imprecision can "make or break" many types of
in GIS
GIS projects i.e. errors left unchecked can make the results of a GIS
analysis almost worthless. Awareness of the problem of error is of
crucial importance. Therefore, it is important to distinguish from
the start a different between accuracy and precision.
 Accuracy: The closeness of observations, computations or
estimations to the true values or the values perceived to be true.

 Precision: The smallest unit of measurement to which data can

be recorded.

In spatial data, accuracy may relate not only to the determination

of coordinates (positional error) but also to the measurement of
quantative attribute data.

Spurious accuracy (in GIS): Calculating area sizes to the nearest

m2 from coordinates obtained by digitizing a 1: 50,000 map.

The level of precision required for particular applications varies

greatly. Engineering projects such as road and utility construction
require very precise information measured to the millimeter or
tenth of an inch. Demographic analyses of marketing or electoral
trends can often make do with less, say to the closest zip code or
division boundary.

Highly precise data can be very difficult and costly to collect. High
precision does not indicate high accuracy nor does high accuracy
imply high precision. But high accuracy and high precision are
both expensive.

Be aware also that GIS practitioners are not always consistent in

their use of these terms. Sometimes the terms are used almost
interchangeably and this should be guarded against.

What to Look For and When to Quit

It is important for you to consider the following questions before

choosing the data for your work:

 What is the age of the data?

 Where did it come from?

42
 In what medium was it originally produced?
 What is the areal coverage of the data?
 To what map scale was the data digitized?
 What projection, coordinate system, and datum were used in
maps?
 What was the density of observations used for its compilation?
 How accurate are positional and attribute features?
 Does the data seem logical and consistent?
 Do cartographic representations look "clean”?
 Is the data relevant to the project at hand?
 In what format is the data kept?
 How was the data checked?
 Why was the data compiled?
 What is the reliability of the provider?

Overall, GIS should be viewed as a technology, not

simply as a computer system !!!

43
Raster Model & Vector Model representations :

Raster Model & Vector Model representations

Figure 3.25

44
 4.Application of Geographical
Information System (GIS) for Disaster
Management
Contents
4.1 Introduction
4.2 Tsunami
4.3 Earthquakes
4.4 Floods
4.5 Landslides

45
4.1 Introducti So far we have seen what is GIS and its capabilities. Now it will be
on more interesting to see how GIS is used practically for Disaster
Management. We will take a look at simple examples. So let’s
move further.

A disaster is the tragedy of a natural or human-made hazard (a

hazard is a situation which poses a level of threat to life, health,
property, or environment) that negatively affects society or
environment. Developing countries suffer the greatest costs when
a disaster hits. Thus, the primary concern in disaster management
is to prevent a hazard take the form of a disaster. Spatial data and
related technologies have proven to be crucial for disaster
management.

A significant application of GIS is the construction of models of the

real world based on digital data. Modeling can analyze trends,
identify factors that are causing them, reveal alternative paths to
solving the given problem and indicate the implications or
consequences of decisions.

GIS is applicable to various disasters like Landslides, Earthquakes,

Floods, Tsunamis, Cyclone, etc. Thus, GIS is a very useful tool in
Disaster Management as well!
• But how can GIS help in Disaster Management, how does it actually
work?
Let’s have a brief look at use of GIS for disaster management,
starting from disaster prevention, mitigation, to management.
GIS can be useful to map the hazard prone areas i.e. areas where
disaster is likely to occur, so that the impacts of the disaster can be
reduced by mapping the elements at risk i.e. Population,
Settlements, roads that will be effected.
4.2 Tsunami Let’s start with application of GIS in case of ‘Tsunami’
We will have a look at how GIS, when integrated with other
technologies proves to be very useful in case of Tsunami damage
assessment, Tsunami early warning system, and Tsunami
evacuation path identification.

Tsunami Early Tsunami Early Warning System

Warning
System We know that, “Tsunamis” are series of large, long water waves
caused by underwater earthquakes, volcanic eruption or
submarine landslides. As displaced sea water return by the force
of gravity to an equilibrium position, a series of oscillations both

46
above and below sea level take place, and waves are generated
which propagate outwards from the source region towards the
shore devastating whatever comes in its way. The latest Indian
Ocean Tsunami (December 26, 2004) has been the one of the
strongest in the world and the deadliest of all time by an order of
magnitude.

Can GIS develop a complete Tsunami early warning system?

Well, only GIS itself cannot develop the entire tsunami early
warning system, but it needs to integrate data from different
sources to finally reach the output.
And how is that done?

Let’s take a look at how INCOIS (Indian National Center for

Ocean Information Services), India developed application software
around GIS technology.
Following steps are involved:
 Receiving data from Seismic stations
 Monitoring the change in water level
 Tsunami Modelling in GIS
 Creating Vulnerability Maps
 Issuing Warning

Let’s take a look at how it actually works

1) Estimation of Earthquake Parameters :

Data is received from the Seismic stations which are set up ( in
tsunamigenic zones ) for earthquake detection and estimation and
also from international seismic networks which detect all
earthquake events occurring in the Indian Ocean in less than 15
minutes of occurrence.
2) Monitoring of Sea Level :

The change in water level near fault zone is measured with high
accuracy to confirm whether the earthquake has actually triggered
a tsunami.

3) Tsunami Modelling :

Tsunami N2 model is used to estimate travel time and run-up

height for a particular earthquake. The output from the modelling
exercise is a huge database consisting of spatial maps depicting

47
 the water level in the Indian Ocean region at each time-step for
about 5000 simulations.
The application software has an interface to store, retrieve,
analyze and display the spatial maps from the database. The
spatial layers currently being handled by this application include
fault lines, fault segments for different earthquake magnitudes,
travel time maps, directivity maps, simulation results for about
1800 coastal forecast points, graphs of model and observed
tsunami wave profiles at each coastal forecast point, etc.
Application Software has a user friendly GUI/control panel
(Figure 4.1) depicted on a spatial canvas of the Indian Ocean
Region through which user can perform GIS operations like
navigating to a desired location, zoom, pan, query, analysis, etc.

Figure 4.1: Scenario database of about 50, 000 scenarios for Indian Ocean
(Source: INCOIS)

4) Vulnerability Maps

Tsunami run-up causes flooding of seawater into the land up to

few km resulting in loss of human life and damage to property. To
minimize such losses, coastal vulnerability maps indicating the
areas likely to be affected due to flooding and rending damage are
prepared. These community-level inundation maps are extremely
useful for assessing the population and infrastructure at risk.

48
 These maps are provided using the web-GIS interface.

5) Warning Center

Figure 4.2: A snapshot of the Tsunami Early Warning Centre at INCOIS.

The warning centre continuously monitors seismic activity in the
two tsunamigenic source regions and sea level through the
network of national and international seismic stations as well as
tide gauges and bottom pressure recorders (BPR’s). The
monitoring of water level enables confirmation or cancellation of a
tsunami. A custom-built software application generates
alarms/alerts whenever a pre-set threshold is crossed. Tsunami
bulletins are then generated based on pre-set decision support
rules and disseminated to the concerned authorities for action,
following a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP).

Tsunami Tsunami Damage Assessment:

Damage The earthquake triggered near Banda Ache of Indonesia on
December 26, 2004 was the fifth most strong for the last 100 years
Assessment:
and the worst in 40 years, registering a magnitude of 9.0. The
earthquake was followed by tsunami, surge of waves that killed
nearly a quarter of a million people in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, and
India. Thus, mapping the damage after the tsunami-disaster is of
immense important which can be done by integrating remote
sensing, GIS and GPS technologies.

49
 Let’s take a look at similar approach which was adopted in Galle
city of Sri Lanka for rapid mapping of tsunami-disaster affected
areas.
Following steps were followed for mapping the damage:
1) Damage areas in Galle city of Sri Lanka were identified by
using high resolution satellite imagery before and after the
tsunami.

Figure 4.3: Pre-Event and Post –Event Satellite Images

2) The interpretation accuracy was identified, by comparing

the satellite derived information with ground truth information,
GIS and GPS data.

50
Figure 4.4: Comparison of satellite images with ground truth information.

3) Damage maps were created in GIS using visual

interpretation of satellite data, field investigation and other data
collected from various sources. All the information was
integrated into GIS base and transferred via satellite and internet
to the rescue teams deployed on the affected zones. The results of
fast damage assessment received by field operators helped the
civil protection, in order to better coordinate the emergency
operations.
Thus, GIS when integrated with other technologies proves to be
very useful in rapid tsunami damage assessment.

51
Figure 4.5: Damage map for Gall city using Satellite Image, GIS and GPS

52
Tsunami Tsunami Evacuation Path Identification:
Evacuation
Path
Identification:

Figure 4.6: (Source: Evacuation Routes Tools Arc GIS toolbox, User’s Manual)

The 26th December 2004 Tsunami was initiated by an extreme high

magnitude earthquake (9.3 on the Richter scale) localized a few
kilometers eastwards of Sumatra’s coasts, along the subductive
system characterized by the Sunda Arc. Because of the presence of
this active tectonic margin a new tsunami event cannot be
excluded in the future. This is a reason why mitigation measures
for tsunami risk must be planned and implemented by different
authorities.
Evacuation plans are widely considered as a fundamental
instrument for Tsunami risk mitigation at the local scale. A series
of tools have been built in ‘Arc GIS’ software to define the
evacuation routes using GIS (spatial analysis techniques). These
tools allow users to apply the method to their own case study.
Let’s briefly take a look at how GIS is used to work it out!
To define the ‘best evacuation route’ from a given point, the fastest
path from that point to the assembly point is found i.e. the
accessible path. The fastest path is not always the shortest path
(which is the direct line between point and the assembly point).
This is because the shortest path can be direct but might have
natural barriers, building, rivers, lakes, sandy areas, or even very
high slope in between. All these things can dramatically reduce
velocity of movement or block it completely. For this reason when
the distance between two points is computed, not only the

53
geometric distance but the cost (in term of time, energy etc) to
move along a particular path is also considered.
Once the accessible path is found considering various factors, the
region can be subdivided into watersheds, which can be very
useful to identify how many people stay inside each basin which
helps to understand if the safe area is big enough. The maximum
evacuation time of each area can also be calculated.
All these processes can be carried out using GIS software where
different types of data from various sources can be integrated, and
analyzed in a very effective manner to reach the final decision.
Few thematic maps used for Tsunami Evacuation Route
Identification (Source: Evacuation Routes Tools Arc GIS toolbox,
User’s Manual)

54
 Land use Type Elevation

Slope Values Evacuation Time (Calculated)

Figure 4.7: Tsunami Evacuation Routes (Source: Evacuation Routes Tools Arc GIS
toolbox, User’s Manual)

4.3 Earthqua An earthquake (also known as a tremor or temblor) is the result of

kes a sudden release of energy in the Earth's crust that creates seismic
waves. An earthquake of greater magnitude has potential to
devastate cities at once and killing lives.
A very recent example of major earthquake in Haiti’s capital Port-
au-Prince on 12 January 2010 was the strongest earthquake (of 7
magnitude) in the region in 200 years. The earthquake was so
strong that hundreds of houses collapsed and one hundred
thousand people were estimated to be killed.

55
Earthquakes, unlike other disasters cannot be predicted in space
and time and hence ‘prevention is better than cure’ Thus, effective
planning and developing preparedness programs is must for
earthquake prone areas.
Developing countries are more vulnerable to hazards because of
their increasing rate of development and urban growth. Lack of
proper disaster management leads to increase in earthquake risk
in more densely populated cities. Thus, pre-planned mitigation
activities are very important as they not only save the human lives
but also reduce the potential effect of disasters. The quick and
timely evaluation of the extent and severity of damage minimizes
human suffering and streamlined rescue and relief operations.
With the advancement of space technology and GIS technique it is
now possible to overcome the difficulties in evaluating the damage
of urban infrastructure in a pre as well as post disastrous event. It
helps the urban planners, emergency managers, risk managers and
decision makers to understand the impact of earthquakes and
incorporate the results into preparedness program and urban
development plans.
Assessing the seismic vulnerability of buildings in seismic active
areas proves to be useful as a prevention measure. The seismic
vulnerability of buildings can be predicted based on a number of
structural parameters, using a Geographical Information System
(GIS) and Remote Sensing. A detailed seismic vulnerability
evaluation is very expensive and time consuming. Hence the
method of ‘Rapid Visual Screening’ (RVS) can be effectively used
to evaluate the vulnerability of large number of buildings.
Let’s take a look at how GIS along with other information is used
for Earthquake Vulnerability Assessment of buildings.
1) Various structural parameters of the building, like structure
type, number of stories, soil type, age and roof type as well as
non structural parameters like occupancy, use and owner
name are collected.
2) All the buildings are mapped in a GIS using high resolution
satellite image.
3) The gathered ground information (structural and non
structural parameters) is entered into a database.
4) Different structural parameters highly influence the
vulnerability of the building. Considering the structural and
non-structural parameters, seismic zone, slope , elevation, etc
grade of damage is estimated for each building.
5) Spatial and non-spatial data are stored, analyzed, queried and
presented effectively using a GIS. By simple queries emergency

56
 services can be located and the requirement and location for
additional ones can be evaluated.

Thus, data acquired from many different sources is successfully

merged in a GIS. A simple database can give no information
about the spatial pattern of the vulnerability of the buildings and
any kind of interpretation is not possible. Another big advantage
of GIS is that the output is not just a plain map showing the
vulnerability of building, it is dynamic. Changes, like new
buildings can be added effortlessly and the huge amount of
information available in the database can be used to create ever
new output maps and queries. This information goes far beyond
the vulnerability assessment. By different criteria, like occupancy
combined with slope and grade of damage and accessibility,
important and very vulnerable buildings can be selected, and
authorities can be addressed to improve the structure of
important buildings, better emergency access in highly
vulnerable areas can be created or emergency shelters provided.
Based on the gathered information effects of earthquake can be
predicted in measures of losses of lives and economic value. In
post earthquake scenario, the GIS can be used to predict where
most of the casualties are located, so aid can be provided quickly
and systematically.

4.4 Floods A flood can be defined as any relative high water flow that
overtops the natural or artificial banks in any portion of a river or
stream-when a bank is overtopped; the water spreads over the
flood plain and generally become a hazard to society. Floods are
among the most devastating natural hazards in the world, calming
more lives and causing more property damage than any other
natural phenomena.
Due to the increasing population, there is scarcity of land and too
many homes are being constructed in agricultural area and low
lands which has given more exposure to a disaster like flooding.
The banks of most of the rivers have been heavily built up making
those areas more congested and giving rise to frequent flooding
problems. A person familiar with such area knows the problem
areas and can visualize the scenario which we can call the ‘mental
map’. But, just a mental map is not enough to understand the
problem and find a remedy for the same. Planner, engineers and
construction workers need maps and drawings to guide them. But

57
 sometimes only maps are not enough. Super maps, capable of
storing and displaying vast amounts of data, is necessary.
Let’s take a look at how GIS is used to find the flood risk areas
using a very simple method:

Figure 4.8: Settlements around the river.

To find the areas that are most likely to be affected by floods, the
area within 200 meters of the river is demarcated (Figure 4.9).

Figure 4.9: Area within 200 meters (Buffer shown in green color) of the river

This buffer area is considered as the flood-prone area. Further, if

plans are to be made to improve the situation, it is necessary to
know which houses are coming under these flood-prone areas
which are likely to be affected by flooding.

58
 Figure 4.10: List of settlements within the buffer zone.

To demarcate the houses coming under the flood prone areas a

query is performed in GIS, where all the houses are selected
(Figure 4.10). After demarcating the houses at risk necessary
actions can be taken by the government authorities. When, we are
doing so, we are engaging in spatial reasoning, the essential
human factor in any GIS.

4.5 Landslide Landslides pose serious threat to human settlements and

s structures used for transportation, natural resources management
and tourism. It imparts significant damages to property,
highways, railways, waterways and pipelines. The slide events are
trigged mainly by rainfall, earthquake and human activities.
Various other factors like the nature of steep slopes, scarce
vegetation along the slopes, geology and other natural and man-
made reasons give rise to landslide problem causing human and
economic losses. Thus, it becomes a pressing need to investigate
and find the landslide prone areas and the cause of the landslides
in a particular area so that proper mitigation can be done.

Let’s take a look at how GIS can be used to map the landslide
prone areas.

GIS can be used effectively to map the areas which are prone to
landslides. Different methods both simple i.e. overlay methods to
complex models are available for landslide susceptibility mapping
using GIS. Here we will take a look at a simple method.

Various factors in the environment play an vital role in landslide

59
initiation. The factors can be type of vegetation/ landuse, geology,
geomorphology, slope, slope direction, distance to roads and
streams, distance to faults etc. Each of these factor may have a
certain degree of influence on landslide occurrence and hence it is
necessary to find the landslide prone areas and its cause.

Figure 4.11

A very simple overlay method in GIS can be used for the same.
This method assumes that similar conditions that have lead to
landslides in the past will also do so in future. The data needed is
different factors maps and landslide distribution map.
Each factor map (slope, geology, land use, etc) is combined with
the landslide distribution map, and various weights are assigned
to each of these factor maps (slope, geology, land use) based on the
presence or absence of landslide. i.e. if landslide is present in a
particular area that factor map is give more weight and vice-a-
versa. Finally, all the factor maps are combined together and the
final weight is evaluated. The areas having highest weight are
considered to be landslide prone and vice-a-versa. Finally the map
is reclassified into various degrees of landslide susceptibility i.e.
Low, Moderate and High.

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References:

1) An Introduction to Geographical Information Systems by Heywood I., Cornelius S.,

Carrer S.,
2) Concepts and Techniques of Geographical Information Systems by Lo.C.P., Yeung
A.W.
3) Environmental System Research Institute
4) Evacuation Routes Tools Arc GIS toolbox, User’s Manual
5) Fundamentals of Geographic Information Systems, by Demers M.N.
6) Getting Started with Geographic Information Systems., by Keith C. Clarke
7) Google Earth
8) Indian National Center for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS)
9) Introduction to Geographical Information System by Kang-stung-Chang,
10) Kids Geo.com
11) Map Quest
12) NASA ISS Earth KAM
13) Physical Geography.net
14) Principles of Geographical Information Systems by Burrough P.A MacDonneli R.A.

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