Introduction to Geospatial

UNIT 4 INTRODUCTION TO GEOSPATIAL Data

DATA

Structure
4.1 Introduction
Objectives
4.2 Data and Information
What is Data?
What is Information?
Data versus Information
Precision versus Accuracy
4.3 Kinds of Data
Spatial Data
Non-spatial /Attribute Data
Temporal Data
Metadata
Measured Data
Inferred Data
Imported (Converted) Data
4.4 Data Processing
Data Acquisition
Data Retrieval
Data Analysis
Data Presentation
4.5 Summary
4.6 Unit End Questions
4.7 References
4.8 Further/Suggested Reading
4.9 Answers

4.1 INTRODUCTION
You have been introduced to the basic concepts of geoinformatics and its
components in Block 1 Introduction of Geoinformatics of MGY-001 Overview
of Geoinformatics. The development of geographical or spatial awareness can
be traced back to the earliest civilisations when ancient people were interested
to know about the places that were suitable or unsuitable for different
purposes, like urban planning, agriculture, etc., and also to know where they
themselves were located in relation to these features and to other tribes or
social groups. Although most of the societies in the world have clearly moved
on a long way from primitive times, the basic concerns of modern societies’
spatial questions are much the same. These questions are still fundamental in
enabling people to navigate between different places, to organise their lives
and to utilise the resources around them. At the core of these activities lies the
use of geospatial data and information. In this unit, you will be introduced to
the concepts of geospatial data, its types and processing.
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Concepts of Geospatial Objectives
Data
After studying this unit you should be able to:
• differentiate between data and information;
• define geospatial data and information;
• discuss about different kinds of data; and
• recognise major stages in data processing.

4.2 DATA AND INFORMATION

Geoinformatics tools have enabled analyses of information in a way that was
not possible 2-3 decades ago. At the core of any analysis utilising
geoinformatics tools, lies the geospatial data. Geospatial data forms the
building blocks of any activity. The government agencies and private sectors
have enabled us to generate voluminous geographic data. Presently, we can
obtain much more diverse, dynamic and detailed data than ever possible
before, with modern data collection techniques, such as GPS, high-resolution
remote sensing instruments, laser based systems, ground surveys, and also
from internet based sources. Thus, we can say that we have moved from a data
poor era to a data rich era. The availability of huge amount of high-resolution
data and its historical records provides us opportunities for gaining economic
dynamics and address urgent real-world problems, such as global climate
change and environmental disasters.

The ability of GIS to Data which are geographically referenced describe both the location and
handle and process characteristics of spatial features on the Earth’s surface. For example, to
geographically referenced describe a tourist place, we need to refer to its location (i.e. where it is?) and
data distinguishes it from
its characteristics (i.e. name, classification, number of tourists visiting that
other information systems.
location, etc.). Therefore, geoinformatics involves two components of
geographic data. First component is spatial data, which relate to the geometry
of spatial features, and the second component is non-spatial or attributes data,
which provide information about spatial features.

4.2.1 What is Data?

Before defining ‘data’, it is better to give you an analogy of a field. You
shouldn’t have much difficulty in mentally visualising a field in reality or on a
map. You will find that defining a field is not so simple. Will the definition of
a field depend on the defined physical boundary or ownership or the purpose
for which the land is being used? When we try to define a field, we find that
there is no universally valid definition, and the definition depends on the
matter which is being highlighted.

‘Data’ or datum in the singular is derived from Latin word, which means
‘having been’ or that which is ‘given’. A similar concept is contained in the
French translation of data as ‘donnée’, which also means ‘given’. In other
words, data are those things on which understanding and explanations are
based. Data contains information which is represented in the format of digit,
letter and symbol that is used to describe status, behaviour and the outcome of
geographical objects. Let us put it more simply. Data are those things on
which understanding, explanations and inferences are based.
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Let us now understand what are geographic, geospatial and spatial data. The Introduction to Geospatial
Data
three terms are used interchangeably referring to data having a spatial
component. As you know ‘geographic’ refers to the Earth’s surface and near Spatial is a generic term
that refers to any
surface hence geographic data would refer to any data related to Earth’s
3dimensional space.
surface and near surface. ‘Geospatial’ specifically refers to location relative to Geospatial is a specific
the Earth’s hence, ‘geospatial data’ refers to any data related to any features term referring to Earth’s
and phenomenon related to Earth and has location as one of its attributes. space whereas geographic
Further, it does not necessarily refer to the surface of the Earth but also above data refers to any data
which has an explicitly
(as in weather) or below (as in ground water) the Earth. The term ‘spatial’ is a
geographic component,
broad term which refers not only to the space of Earth’s surface but to any ranging from spatial data
space. Hence, ‘spatial data’ may refer to any data related to any planet, to non-spatial data with
cosmos and even of human body also. Thus, ‘geospatial data’ is a subset of site locations.
‘spatial data’.
The terms ‘geospatial data’ and ‘geographic data’ are often used Expression of geospatial
interchangeably. However, ‘geospatial data’ is considered more precise in data in a geoinformatics
many contexts than ‘geographic data’ because it is also used in ways that do tool involves conversion
not necessarily involve a graphic representation of the information. of raw data into symbols
arranged in a manner,
The relation and difference between data and information will be discussed in which appears meaning-
next section. ful to human eye.

4.2.2 What is Information?

In general sense, the term ‘information’ describes any fact about something or
someone. Hence, ‘geospatial information’ can be defined as information
describing the location and names of Earth features. At its simplest, this can
mean the basic topographical information found on a map. Geospatial Concept of map and their
information supports a wide range of business, government and community different aspects and their
activities, and the use and re-use of this information has significant understanding are given
productivity related benefits. The terms ‘geospatial information’ and ‘spatial in Block 3, Basics of
Mapping, of this Course.
information’ are often used interchangeably. There is an early example of basic
geospatial information being combined with other layers of information, dates
back to the mid-nineteenth century, when a British Physician, John Snow in
1854, plotted individual cases of cholera on a map during an outbreak of the
disease in London. He could trace the source of the outbreak, which was a
contaminated well.

4.2.3 Data versus Information

The two terms ‘data’ and ‘information’ are often used synonymously, while Information is data in a
useful form.
their individual meaning is in reality deeply different. The substantial
distinction between them is comparable to the difference between an
apparently disorganised set of letters and a word assembled with the same
letters.
Data are the basis of information and in general represent the measure of the
external world. Only an expert system (human or machine i.e., computer) is
able to convert data into information by reading it according to established
rules. Thematic maps and topographical maps are the examples of geospatial
information that are derived from satellite images or aerial photographs, which
represent the geospatial data.
Although the terms information and data are often used synonymously as
already mentioned above however they are not identical. Data are what you 7
Concepts of Geospatial collect through observations, measurement and inference. The raw data or the
Data
data in its original form is useful and meaningful only after it is analysed and
organised. It produces information which is of use to mankind in various
ways. You can consider information as data in a useful form. Thus, the main
role of a geoinformatics tool is to convert data into useful information.

You will better understand this by following example. A retail chain may
collect data, such as where its customers live and what they purchase when
they visit one of the chain’s stores. This may result in a list of postal codes and
purchase amounts. Of course, these data are generally not useful until they
have been analysed and plotted on a map. Transforming these data into
information indicates that the majority of purchases are made by people from a
particular area. Now you see, this is how data can easily be converted into
information by a geoinformatics tool that can be used to more precisely target
the next marketing campaign.

4.2.4 Precision versus Accuracy

However, it would be appropriate to briefly discuss about it here. When
You will find that these
terms would be discussed referring to data, two terms i.e. precision and accuracy are often used
in detail in Unit10 Data interchangeably, but they mean different things. The precision of data is often
Quality Issues of MGY- confused with the accuracy. Precision is the repeatability of the data which is
003 Global Navigation quite simple to quantify. On the other hand, the accuracy of data refers to how
Satellite System and
well they were measured, recorded, stored, converted, manipulated,
Geographical Information
System. transformed and presented. Thus, accuracy refers to the closeness of a
measurement representing the quantity measured. You can better understand
the concept of precision and accuracy from Fig. 4.1.

Not precise

Fig. 4.1: An illustration showing difference between precision and accuracy

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Check Your Progress I Spend Introduction to Geospatial
5 mins Data
1) Define data.
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2) Differentiate between data and information.
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3) How would you define precision and accuracy?
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4.3 KINDS OF DATA

After studying about what is data and geospatial data, we will now study about
types of data. Data can be broadly classified into primary and secondary data.
Primary data refers to data collected by the first hand fieldwork and survey.
Secondary data are those which are found in published sources, such as
official statistics and maps or derived from primary data, or are gathered by
some external agency. Similarly, geospatial data can also be categorised into
primary and secondary geospatial data.
• Primary data can be collected from the sources, such as from ground
survey (including GPS survey), aerial photography and satellite remote
sensing, etc.
• Secondary data can be acquired by converting existing maps or other
documents into a suitable digital form. Data derived after some
processing of primary geospatial data are also the examples of secondary
geospatial data.
The geospatial data has two components based on location and its
characteristics. The location (also known as geometry or shape) represents
spatial component, whereas the characteristics represent the attributes or non-
spatial component. Hence, the two basic data types commonly used in
geoinformatics tools are: 9
Concepts of Geospatial • Spatial Data
Data
• Non-spatial Data
There are other names of data also which are given based on their
characteristics and origin such as:
• Temporal Data
• Metadata
• Measured Data
• Inferred Data
• Imported (converted) Data
These kinds of data could be either spatial or non-spatial or both.

4.3.1 Spatial Data

To qualify as spatial data, a data should have following characteristics:
i) it should have reference to locations on Earth’s surface
ii) it should have an explicit relationship between geometric and attribute
aspects of the information represented
iii) it should be organised in a particular theme, and
iv) it should have features, such as area, line or point.
Spatial data records the relationship among and about geographically
distinguishable features. Examples include the location of a rain gauge, area
submerged under flood, the route a delivery truck takes, the extent of damage
from a forest fire or a tourist place. Like other kinds of data, spatial data can
be categorised into primary and secondary spatial data. Representation of real
world features as discrete objects is done through two modes of data
representation, which embody the linkage between the real world domain of
geographic data and computer representation of these features. Thus, the
spatial data fall into two basic categories: vector and raster data as shown in
Fig. 4.2:
• Vector data represents discrete features, such as customer locations,
streets, parcels, land usage and data summarised by area.
• Raster data represents continuous numeric values, such as elevation, and
continuous categories, such as vegetation types, and water.

Spatial Data

Primary Data Secondary Data

Raster Data Vector Data Raster Data Vector Data

• Digital Satellite • GPS derived data • Scanned aerial • Data converted
Images photographs and from raster data
• Ground survey data satellite Images
• Digital Aerial • Digitised vector
• Scanned film and objects from maps
Photographs
paper maps and other sources
• Image products
generated from
primary raster data

10 Fig. 4.2: Types of spatial data and examples of raster and vector data types
a) Vector Data Introduction to Geospatial
Data
In the vector data, spatial locations of features are defined on the basis of
coordinate pairs. In this data format, real world features are represented in
the form of:
• lines (arc or line data)
• points (point or node data), and
• polygons (closed boundary encompassing area).
Points (or nodes) are the fundamental building block of spatial data. They
refer to a specific place, generally in a two-dimensional space.
Points are used to record the locations of objects, such as tourist place or
overhead bridge. Vectors are lines between the points, and are generally
stored as an ordered series of two or more nodes. Linear features, such as
pipelines, roads and rivers are usually represented in as vector data.
Polygon is a closed figure made from several vector lines, where the first
and last node in the series is the same point. Polygons are used to
represent features having areal extent, such as lakes, political boundaries,
soil type, etc., as shown in Fig. 4.3. The figure depicts how the real world
is seen as vector data.
b) Raster Data
In raster data type, real world features are represented as grids. Raster You will study in more
data uses a fixed grid dimension and record information about each grid. detail about the raster and
vector data in detail in
One or more features are associated with each grid cell. One set of cell
Unit 5 Data Types and
and associated value is known as a layer, as shown in Fig. 4.3. Raster Sources.
data, which often comes from remote sensing also include thematic maps
or scanned maps, as shown in Fig. 4.2. Digital satellite images are one of
the commonly used forms of raster data. If you are familiar with digital
photography, you will be able to recognise the raster graphics pixel as the
smallest individual grid unit which is a building block of an image.

Raster Data

Vector Data

Real world features

Fig. 4.3: Representation of real world features as vector and raster data
(source: www.gis-mapping.org/basics/how-gis-works.html) 11
Concepts of Geospatial 4.3.2 Non-spatial/Attribute Data
Data
Non-spatial data generally records information about the objects represented
as the spatial data, such as material used to construct a building, the type of
rain gauge used to measure rainfall intensity, or land use. Non-spatial data
also known as attribute (tabular) data are the descriptive data that are linked
to spatial data as shown in Fig. 4.4. Attribute data are collected and compiled
for specific project work, like districts in the states, census tracts, name of
cities, and so on, and often comes packaged with map data.

Fig. 4.4: Representation of spatial and non-spatial data (attribute data) in

geoinformatics tools

We will now discuss in the following section about the other names, which are
also used to describe data.

4.3.3 Temporal Data

The temporal dimension received relatively little attention during the early
developmental years of GIS, as compared to the spatial component. Temporal
data represents a state in time, such as the land-use, cropping, natural disaster
and urban planning patterns. It could be either spatial data or non-spatial data.
You can consider the example of temporal data which includes weather pattern
and other environmental variables, study of demographic trends, monitoring
traffic conditions, and so on. Temporal data records information about how a
parameter changes over time. Most data collection activities happen over an
easily quantifiable period of time, whose length may range from an hour to a
year or even longer, depending upon the requirement of project work.
Although in some circumstances, the duration of data collection may be only
minutes or even fraction of a second. For example, automated weather stations
may be synchronised to record simultaneously wind directions and other
meteorological variables (temperature, humidity, etc.) at different points on or
over the Earth’s surface. Temporal data could be better understood while
dealing with population census, which are held in most countries in the first or
second year of a decade.

A good example for change detection is the land use change of India as
depicted in Fig. 4.5. The first map has been prepared using 2004-05 data, and
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the last map using 2008-09 data. You can see the changes in land use pattern Introduction to Geospatial
Data
over a period of 6 years. Preparation of such maps is essential in managing
and restricting the development activities to ensure sustainable growth.

Fig. 4.5: Maps showing changes in land use/land cover in India during 2004-2009
(source: NRSC, 2010)

4.3.4 Metadata
Metadata are information about the data, their contents, sources, accuracy,
methods of collection, and other descriptions that help ensure the data are
collected appropriately. Metadata allows the transfer of important information
about the data along with a data set. Information, such as the method of data
acquisition, source of attributes recorded with the data, and similar details are
all essential information about the data to be used in geoinformatics.
The geoinformatics community has created standards for metadata. These
standards include structured fields (absolutely essential for the software to
read the data) and unstructured metadata (that is designed for humans to read
and evaluate the suitability of the dataset for their needs). The Federal
Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) established one metadata standard
called the Content Standard for Digital Geospatial Metadata (CSDGM). A
similar (and mostly compatible) ISO 19115 standard for geographic
information metadata is also widely used.

4.3.5 Measured Data

The measured data is the physically collected data, such as the data collected
by the surveyors determining the location of a pipeline. As long as the
measurement process is well understood and thoroughly checked, this source
is generally considered as the most reliable. When checking measured data, it
is critical to identify all potential sources of error because something as simple
as transcribing field notes incorrectly can greatly diminish the usefulness of
data. 13
Concepts of Geospatial 4.3.6 Inferred Data
Data
Data calculated from other data are known as inferred data. One example
would be types of crops in a given field, which are inferred from the
electromagnetic radiation reflected from the field. While using inferred data, it
is important to understand the source of base data underlying the inferences, as
well as the model used to perform the calculations. Both factors influence the
accuracy and reliability of inferred data.

4.3.7 Imported (and Converted) Data

Imported data is also referred to as converted data. It is rare that all data used
in a decision making process come from the same source or even the same
organisation. Rather, data are usually imported into or converted from
disparate sources. When using such data, you must fully understand the
process used to perform the conversion, the original source of the data, and the
manipulation carried out on the data. Thus metadata are critical here, because
they transmit vital ancillary information with the actual data set.
Spend Check Your Progress II
5 mins 1) Define geospatial data.
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2) Name the two data types of spatial data.
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4.4 DATA PROCESSING

You will now learn about data processing that is essential to create useful
Prince Henry, the information from data. Data processing involves several stages in data
Navigator in the 15th collection and management which are sensing, recording, transmission,
Century was the promoter
translation, editing, storage, and retrieval. In addition, analysis and
of a systematic approach
to the acquisition, presentation are necessary to transform the data into a form, which is useful
compilation and for decision makers. All these data processing steps can be broadly categorised
dissemination of into the following:
geographic knowledge.
• data acquisition
• data retrieval
• data analysis
• data presentation
14 We will discuss about the above steps in the following sub-sections:
4.4.1 Data Acquisition Introduction to Geospatial
Data
The first of the six stages (i.e. sensing, recording, transmission, translation,
editing and storage) of the data life cycle can be conceptualised as a self-
contained process referred to as data acquisition. These stages are required to
convert the data into a form suitable for retrieval, analysis, and presentation in
geoinformatics tool.

4.4.2 Data Retrieval

Even when the data are stored in some manner (such as in a geoinformatics
tool), they are of little use until these can be retrieved. Various querying
options are available both within the storage packages and as external
processes. Data retrieval can be carried out with a number of tools, the most
common of which is a database. This will usually allow queries to be
constructed and data to be retrieved based on certain criteria or query. Modern
GIS systems excel in this area.

4.4.3 Data Analysis

Data analysis is an important part of the decision making process in GIS. The
wide range of analysis tools available to the decision support system developer
include statistical analysis packages, numerical tools, and heuristics based
analysis tools, such as expert systems.

4.4.4 Data Presentation

Data presentation tools facilitate data analysis and interpretation in GIS. The
tools selected for use depend on the type of analysis performed and the desired
output. Graphical and mapping packages (including GIS) are among the tools
available for this stage.

4.5 SUMMARY
In this unit, you have studied about the data, information, its precision and
accuracy. You have learned that-
• Data are what you collect through observation, measurement, and
inference
• Information is the data presented in a organised form.
• Precision of data relates to repeatability of data obtained, while accuracy
is the measurement of data.
• Any data can be categorised into primary and secondary data based on its
genesis.
• Data can be labelled as spatial data, non-spatial data, temporal data,
measured data, metadata, inferred data and imported data.
• Data processing is used to create useful information from data. Major
stages of data processing are acquisition, retrieval, analysis and
presentation.

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Concepts of Geospatial
Data Spend 4.6 UNIT END QUESTIONS
30 mins
1) What do you understand by spatial data? Write its characteristics.
2) What is temporal data? Mention its importance.
3) What are primary and secondary geospatial data?
4) Briefly explain the stages in data processing cycle.

4.7 REFERENCES
• NRSC (2010), National land use and land cover mapping using multi-
temporal AWiFS data, Fifth cycle (2008-09) report- change analysis of
five cycles, NRSC/LULC/1:250K/2009, National Remote Sensing
Centre, ISRO, DOS, Hyderabad, 51p. http://applications.nrsc.gov.in/
images/ lulc_report_0809.pdf.
• www.gis-mapping.org/basics/how-gis-works.html.
Data from above websites was retrieved between 1st June to 15th July 2011

4.8 FURTHER/SUGGESTED READING

• Bernhardsen, T. (1992), Geographic Information Systems An
Introduction, 2nd Ed., John Wiley & Sons, New York, 372 p.
• Burrough, P.A. and McDonnell R. A. (1998), Principles of Geographical
Information Systems. Oxford University Press, Oxford, 333 p.
• Chang Kang-tsung (2002), Introduction to Geographic Information
Systems, University of Idaho, Tata McGraw-Hill Publishing Company
Ltd, New Delhi, 450 p.

4.9 ANSWERS
Check Your Progress I
1) Refer to section 4.2.1
2) Refer to section 4.2.3
3) Refer to section 4.2.4
Check Your Progress II
1) Refer to the introduction of section 4.3
2) Refer to Fig. 4.2

Unit End Questions

1) Refer to subsection 4.3.1
2) Refer to subsection 4.3.3
3) Refer to subsection 4.3.1
4) Refer to section 4.4.

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