Salahaddin University

College of science
2nd stage of department of Earth science and petroleum
2024-2025

Types of Gis Data

Prepared by:
Rawezh Hamadamen Shahram sherwan
.
Supervised by: Dr Kaiwan Kareemhan

Date:

13/11/2024
 Table of contents

Inrtodac on……………………………………………………………………………… 1
GIS Data Types…………………………………………………………………………. 2-3
Industries That use Gis Data ………………………………………………………. 4
Common vector File Types………………………………………………………. . . 5
Vector data advantage and disadvantages…………………………………… 6-8
Rester or vector…………………………………………………………………………… 9
Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………………… 10
Refrences……………………………………………………………………………………… 11
 Introduc on

Geographic Informa on Systems (GIS) are powerful tools that allow us to

visualize, analyze, and interpret spa al data. Understanding the different types of
GIS data is crucial for effec ve mapping and analysis. GIS data can be broadly
categorized into two main types: vector and raster. In addi on to these primary
types, GIS data can also include other formats such as 3D data, me series data,
and metadata, each serving specific purposes and applica ons. Understanding
these data types enables users to select the appropriate format for their projects
and derive meaningful insights from spa al informa on.

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 GIS Data Types
There are two different types of GIS data, vector data and raster data. Each type of
data has its format

Vector Data
Vector data is the spa al data most people are familiar with, as it is the format
presented in mapping portals such as Open Street Maps and Google Maps. It is
also used extensively in computer graphics and computer-aided design (CAD). It
consists of points, lines, and polygons.

 Point Data – Point Data typically represents nonadjacent features or dis nct
data points. Points are zero-dimensional, so you cannot measure their
length or area. Examples of point data would be ci es, points of interest,
and schools.
 Line Data – Line data is also known as arc data. It represents linear features
such as rivers, streets, and trails. Line data has a star ng and an ending
point, and, since it only has one dimension, it can only be used to measure
length.
To dis nguish arc features from each other, some lines may be solid while others
are dashed, and different colours or line thicknesses may be used. For example, a
road may be a solid black line, while a river is a dashed blue line.
 Polygon Data – Polygons typically represent areas such as ci es, lakes, or
forests. Unlike point and line data, polygons are two-dimensional and can
measure the perimeter or area of a geographic feature. Colour schemes,
pa erns or grada on colour schemes could be used to iden fy polygon
features.

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Raster Data
Raster data, also known as grid data, is made up of pixels, and each pixel has a
value. You will typically find raster data on topographic maps, satellite images, and
aerial surveys. Raster data is vital for meteorology, disaster management, and
industries where analysing risk is essen al.
There are two types of raster data, con nuous and discrete.
 Con nuous Data – Con nuous rasters are cells on the grid that gradually
change. Some examples would be an aerial photo, eleva on and
temperature. Con nuous raster surfaces come from a fixed registra on
point. For instance, in digital eleva on models, sea level is used as a
registra on point. Each cell represents a value that is above or below sea
level.
 Discrete Data – Discrete rasters have a specific theme or class, and each
pixel is assigned to a specific class. Unlike con nuous data, discrete data can
only take specific values, not values within a range. For example, in a
discrete raster land cover/use map, you can see each thema c class, and
where it begins and ends is defined.
Unlike vector data, raster data is not scalable. If it is enlarged too much, it will get
pixelated, and if stretched too much, it will become distorted. A digital photo is an
example of raster data.

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 Industries That Use GIS Data
Professionals in just about any industry can benefit from GIS technology. Here are
some of the most popular examples of industries that use GIS.
 Supply Chain – Tracking inventory shipments can make the supply chain
more effec ve, thus saving businesses money.
 Insurance – Having the ability to accurately determine risk is vital for
insurance companies. GIS can iden fy areas that are more likely to
experience earthquakes, floods, or other natural disasters, as well as
iden fy areas with higher crime rates.
 Forestry – GIS systems can collect data to help preserve ecosystems by
iden fying species in certain areas, changes in animal popula ons, and
mapping out things like annual rainfall, temperatures, and the severity and
length of dry seasons.
 Urban Planning – GIS helps planners be er understand the needs of their
city. It allows them to design the city to fill those needs in a way that will
benefit its businesses and residents.
 Banking – Banks can use GIS to determine where their branches’ loca ons
should be or what branches they should close to increase profitability. It can
also help them decide what products are best suited for their
demographics.
 Public Health – Public health offices can use GIS to iden fy areas at risk for
certain diseases. Using this data, they can deploy awareness campaigns to
help educate the ci zens of a par cular place at risk.

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 Common Vector File Types
Shapefiles
Shapefiles are a format developed by ESRI. They have been widely adopted across
the spa al industry, but their drawbacks see them losing popularity. These
drawbacks include:
1. Shareability:They consist of mul ple files (.shp, .shx, .dbf, etc.) that
comprise one shapefile, which can make them tricky for non-experts to
share and use.
2. Limited A ribute Capacity: Shapefiles are limited to a maximum of 255
a ributes.
3. Lack of Na ve Support for Unicode Characters:This can cause issues when
working with datasets that contain non-La n characters or mul lingual
a ributes.
4. Lack of Topology Informa on: Shapefiles do not inherently support
topological rela onships, such as adjacency, connec vity, or overlap
between features.
5. No Na ve Support for Time Dimension:No na ve me field type.
6. Lack of Direct Data Compression: Shapefiles do not provide built-in
compression op ons, which can result in larger file sizes.

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Vector data advantages and disadvantages
What are the advantages of using vector data?
Because vector data have ver ces and paths, this means that the graphical output
is generally more aesthe cally pleasing. Furthermore, it gives higher geographic
accuracy because data isn’t dependent on grid size.
Topology rules can help data integrity with vector data models. Not only that,
network analysis and proximity opera ons use vector data structures.

What are the disadvantages of using vector data?

Con nuous data is poorly stored and displayed as vectors. If you want to display
con nuous data as a vector, it would require substan al generaliza on. Although
topology is useful for vector data, it is o en processing intensive. Any feature edits
require updates on topology. With a lot of features, vector manipula on
algorithms are complex.

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What are the advantages of raster data?
A raster grid format is a data model for satellite data and other remote
sensing data. For raster posi ons, it’s simple to understand cell size.
Map algebra with raster data is usually quick and easy to perform. Overall,
quan ta ve analysis is intui ve with discrete or con nuous rasters.

What are the disadvantages of raster data?

Because cell size contributes to graphic quality, it can have a pixelated look and
feel. To illustrate, linear features and paths are difficult to display.
You cannot create network datasets or perform topology rules on rasters. Also,
you don’t have the flexibility with raster data a ribute tables.
Raster datasets can become poten ally very large because they record values for
each cell in an image. As resolu on increases, the size of the cell decreases. But
this comes at a cost for speed of processing and data storage.

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Vector vs Raster: Spa al Data Types
It’s not always straigh orward which spa al data type you should use for your
maps.

In the end, it really comes down to how the cartographer conceptualizes the
feature on their map.
 Do you want to work with pixels or coordinates? Raster data works with
pixels. Vector data consists of coordinates.
 What is your map scale? Vectors can scale objects up to the size of a
billboard. But you don’t get that type of flexibility with raster data
 Do you have restric ons on file size? Raster file size can result in much
larger (in comparison with vector data sets with the same phenomenon and
area).
There are some of the features you have to think about during the data design
and conceptualiza on phase.

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Raster or Vector?
While deciding whether to use a vector data model or raster data model in your
work it en rely depends on the data you have as input and what your goals are for
displaying or analyzing the data. There are many analysis that make use of both
data models i.e. vector and raster or require the conversion of one data model to
another. While conversion is a common procedure, it’s suggested that any
transla on between data model to be kept at a minimum to avoid accumula ng
error in your spa al model.
The size of the dataset should be a considera on, as raster dataset can be quite
large and difficult for some worksta on to process in a mely manner. Vector data
model is recommended for analysis, unless modeling a con nuous surface and
when using a raster data model it is important to use cell sizes that are
appropriate for analysis.

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 Conclusion

In conclusion, raster and vector data models are fundamental concepts in GIS.
They represent data in different ways and are used for different applica ons.
Raster data models are suited for storing large datasets with con nuous values,
while vector data models are best suited for data that can be represented as
discrete points or lines. By understanding the differences between these data
models, we can choose the appropriate data model for a specific GIS applica on,
ensuring that our analysis is accurate and efficient.

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 Refrences
 h ps://mgiss.co.uk/the-different-types-of-gis-data/
 h ps://www.scribd.com/document/469489280/The-advantages-and-disadvantages-
of-vector-and-raster-data-for-GIS-docx
 h ps://www.slideshare.net/pramodgpramod/data-models-in-geographical-
informa on-systemgis
 h ps://carto.com/glossary/vector

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