Introduction to gis

GeOL 212L: GeoMORPHOLOGY LABORATORY

Outline
• Defining of GIS
• Geospatial Data
• Geographic Information
Technologies
• History of GIS
• Components of GIS
• GIS Software Products
• Elements of GIS
• Applications of GIS
Defining GIS
• The common ground between information processing and the many
fields using spatial analysis techniques (Tomlinson, 1972).
• A powerful set of tools for collecting, storing, retrieving, transforming,
and displaying spatial data from the real world (Burroughs, 1986).
• A computerized database management system for the capture, storage,
retrieval, analysis and display of spatial (locationally defined) data
(NCGIA, 1987).
• A decision support system involving the integration of spatially
referenced data in a problem solving environment. (Cowen, 1988)
 What is GIS?
• A geographic information system (GIS) is a computer
system for capturing, storing, querying, analyzing, and
displaying geospatial data (Chang, 2018).

GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION SYSTEM

Geographic Information System
>data collected that is associated >processed attributes/characteristics
> A seamless operation linking the
(data) that can be used to information to the geography
with some location
symbolize and give further insight on which requires hardware,
a given location networks, software, data, and
operational procedures
GIS links graphical features (entities) to tabular data (attributes)
Geospatial Data
• Geospatial data describe both the locations and
characteristics of spatial features.
• The ability of a GIS to handle and process geospatial data
distinguishes GIS from other information systems and allows
GIS to be used for integration of geospatial data and
other data.
An example of geospatial data. The street network is based on a plane
coordinate system. The box on the right lists the x- and y-coordinates of the
end points and other attributes of a street segment.
Geographic Information Technologies
• Global Positioning Systems (GPS)
- a system of earth-orbiting satellites which can provide precise (100 meter
to sub-cm.) location on the Earth’s surface (in lat/long coordinates or equiv.)
• Remote Sensing (RS)
- use of satellites or aircraft to capture information about the Earth’s surface
- Digital orthographic images are the key product
• Geographic Information Systems (GIS)
- a system with the capability for input, storage, manipulation/analysis and
output/display of geographic (spatial) information
History of GIS
• The first operational GIS is reported to have been developed by Roger
Tomlinson in the early 1960s for storing, manipulating, and analyzing data
collected for the Canada Land Inventory (Tomlinson 1984).
• In 1964, Howard Fisher founded the Harvard Laboratory for Computer
Graphics, where several well-known computer programs of the past
such as SYMAP, SYMVU, GRID, and ODESSEY were developed and
distributed throughout the 1970s (Chrisman, 1988). These earlier
programs were run on mainframes and minicomputers, and maps were
made on line printers and pen plotters.
• Publication of Ian McHarg’s Design with Nature and its inclusion of the
map overlay method for suitability analysis (McHarg, 1969)
• Introduction of an urban street network with topology in the US Census
Bureau's Dual Independent Map Encoding (DIME) system in the 1970s
(Broome and Meixler, 1990)
Components of a GIS
Similar to other information technologies, a GIS requires
the following components besides geospatial data:
❖ Hardware
• GIS hardware includes computers for data processing, data storage,
and input/output: printers and plotters for reports and hard-copy
maps: digitizers and scanners for digitization of spatial data: and GPS
and mobile devices for fieldwork.
❖ Software
• GIS software, either commercial or open source, includes programs
and applications to be executed by a computer for data
management, data analysis, data display, and other tasks. Additional
applications, written in Python, JavaScript, VB.NET, or C++, may be
used in GIS for specific data analyses.
Components of a GIS (cont.)
❖ People
• GIS users/professionals define the purpose and objectives for using
GIS and interpret and present the results.
❖ Organization
• GIS operations exist within an organizational environment: therefore,
they must be integrated into the culture and decision-making
processes of the organization for such matters as the role and value
of GIS, GIS training, data collection and dissemination, and data
standards.
Cont.

• The flourishing of GIS activities in the 1980s was in large

prompted by the introduction of personal computers such as the
IBM PC and the graphical user interface such as Microsoft
Windows.
• Also in the 1980s, commercial and free GIS packages appeared in
the market.
• Environmental Systems Research Institute, Inc. (ESRI) released
ARC/INFO, which combined spatial features of points, lines, and
polygons with a database management system for linking
attributes to these features.
• Other GIS packages developed during the 1980s included GRASS,
MapInfo, TransCAD, and Smallworld.
Cont.

• As GIS continually evolves, two trends have emerged

in recent years:
• One, as the core geospatial technology, GIS has
increasingly been integrated with other geospatial data
such as satellite images and GPS data.
• Two, GIS has been linked with Web services, mobile
technology, social media, and cloud computing.
Occurrences of the phrases “geographic information system,” “geospatial data,” and “geospatial technologies” in
digitized Google books in English from 1970 to 2008 (the last year available). This figure is modified from a Google
Books Ngram, accessed in April 2012 (Chang, 2018).
GIS Software Products
Elements of GIS

• Pedagogically, GIS consists of the following

elements: geospatial data, data acquisition,
data management, data display, data
exploration, and data analysis.
1. Geospatial Data
• Geospatial data cover the location of spatial features.
• To locate spatial features on the Earth’s surface, we
can use either a geographic or a projected coordinate
system.
• A basic principle in GIS is that map layers representing
different geospatial data must align spatially; in other
words, they are based on the same spatial reference.
• Geospatial data is either represented as vector data or
raster data.
Cont.

• Vector data model uses points, lines, and polygons to

represent spatial features with a clear spatial location
and boundary such as streams, land parcels, built-ups,
vegetation, road networks, etc. Each feature is
assigned an ID so that it can be associated with its
attributes.
Cont’d.

• A vector data model can be georelational or object based, with or

without topology, and simple or composite.
• A georelational model stores geometries and attributes of spatial
features in separate systems.
• Object-based model stores them in a single system.
• Topology explicitly expresses the spatial relationships between
features, such as two line meeting perfectly at a point.
• Composite features are built on simple features of points, lines,
and polygons; they include the triangulated irregular network
(TIN) which approximates the terrain with a set of non-
overlapping triangles, and dynamic segmentation (combines one-
dimensional linear measures such as mileposts with two-
dimensional projected coordinates).
An example of the TIN model
Cont.

• Raster data model uses a grid and grid cells to

represent spatial features: point features are
represented by single cells, line features by sequences
of neighboring cells, and polygon features by
collections of contiguous cells.
• The cell value corresponds to the attribute of the
spatial feature at the cell location. Raster data are ideal
for continuous features such as elevation and
precipitation.
• Numerous data formats (TIFF, GIF, ERDAS, .img, etc.)
A raster-based elevation layer.
2. Data Acquisition
• Data acquisition is usually the first step in conducting a
GIS project.
• Involves compilation of existing and new data.
• To be used in a GIS, a newly digitized map or a map
created from satellite images requires geometric
transformation (i.e., georeferencing).
• Both existing and new spatial data must be edited if
they contain digitizing and/or topological erros.
3. Attribute Data Management
• A GIS usually employs a database management system
(DBMS) to handle attribute data, which can be large in
size in the case of vector data.
• Attribute data are stored in a relational database as a
collection of tables. These tables can be prepared,
maintained, and edited separately, but they can also be
linked for data search and retrieval.
• A DBMS also offers tools for adding, deleting, and
manipulating attributes.
4. Data Display
• A routine GIS operation is mapmaking because maps are an
interface to GIS.
• Mapmaking can be informal or formal in GIS.
• A professional map combines the title, map body, legend, scale
bar, and other elements to convey geographic information to the
map reader.
• After a map is composed in a GIS, it can be printed or saved as a
graphic file for presentation.
• For time-dependent data such as population changes over
decades, a series of map frames can be prepared and displayed in
temporal animation.
5. Data Exploration
• refers to the activities of visualizing, manipulating, and querying
data using maps, tables, and graphs
• Offers a close look at the data and function as a precursor to
formal data analysis.
• A combination of attribute and spatial data queries provides a
powerful tool for data exploration.
6. Data Analysis
• A GIS has a large number of tools for data analysis. Some are
basic tools, meaning that they are regularly used by GIS users.
Other tools tend to be discipline or application specific.
Applications of GIS
• GIS is a useful tool because a high percentage of information we routinely
encounter has a spatial component.
• An often cited figure among GIS users is that 80% of data is geographic.
• Businesses use GIS for a very wide array of applications
– retail site selection & customer analysis
– logistics: vehicle tracking & routing
– natural resource exploration (petroleum, etc.)
– precision agriculture
– civil engineering and construction
• Military and defense
– Battlefield management
– Satellite imagery interpretation
• Scientific research employs GIS
– geography, geology, botany
– anthropology, sociology, economics, political science
– Epidemiology, criminology
Cont’d.
• Local Government
– Public works/infrastructure management (roads, water, sewer)
– Planning and environmental management
– property records and appraisal
• Real Estate and Marketing
– Retail site selection, site evaluation
• Public safety and defense
– Crime analysis, fire prevention, emergency management,
military/defense
• Natural resource exploration/extraction
– Petroleum, minerals, quarrying
• Transportation
– Airline route planning, transportation planning/modeling
• Public health and epidemiology
• The Geospatial Industry
– Data development, application development, programming
Other Examples of the Application of GIS
References:

Chang, 2018. Introduction to Geographic Information Systems 9th

Edition. University of Idaho. New York: McGraw-Hill Education.

Peñaloga, 2016. Computer Methods in Geology: Introduction to GIS.

Aja!