BScIT Semester 6,

PGIS Unit 2,
Chapter 03
Data management and
processing systems

By
Pushpa Mahapatro
 • Handheld PC’s:
• Advances in computer hardware seem to take
3.1 Hardware place at an ever-increasing rate.
and software • Computers are also becoming increasingly
portable, while offering this increased
trends performance.
• Computers are also becoming increasingly
affordable.
• Hand-held computers are now commonplace in
business and personal use, equipping field
surveyors with powerful tools, complete with
GPS capabilities for instantaneous
georeferencing.
• software providers continue to produce
application programs and operating systems
that, while providing a lot more functionality,
also consume significantly more memory.
• Existing software obviously performs better
when run on faster computers.
• There have also been significant
developments in computer networks.
• Any computer on Earth can connect to some
network, and contact computers virtually
anywhere else, allowing fast and reliable
exchange of (spatial) data.
• Mobile communication:
• Mobile phones are more and more
frequently being used to connect to
computers on the Internet.
• The UMTS protocol (Universal Mobile
Telecommunications System), allows digital
communication of text, audio, and video at a
rate of approximately 2 Mbps.
• combination of a GPS receiver, a
portable computer and mobile phone
has already dramatically changed our
world
• Wireless LAN and WiFi:
• Wireless LANs (Local Area Networks), under
the so-called WiFi standard, nowadays offer a
bandwidth of up to 108 Mbps on a single
connection point, to be shared between
computers.
• They are more and more used for constructing a
computer network in office buildings and in
private homes.
3.2
Geographic • For many years, analogue data sources
information were used, processing was done manually,
systems: and paper maps were produced. The
introduction of modern techniques has led to
an increased use of computers and digital
information in all aspects of spatial data
handling.
Data requirements:
• Typical planning projects require data sources,
both spatial and non-spatial, from different
national institutes, like national mapping
agencies, geological, soil, and forest survey
institutes, and national census bureaus.
• The data sources obtained may be from
different time periods, and the spatial data
may be in different scales or projections. With
the help of a GIS, the spatial data can be
stored in digital form in world coordinates.
 GIS can be considered to be a data store
(i.e. a system that stores spatial data), a
3.2.1 GIS toolbox, a technology, an information
software: source or a field of science.

The main characteristics of a GIS software

package are its analytical functions that
provide means for deriving new
geoinformation from existing spatial and
attribute data.
GIS tools:
• tools are equally well-suited for a
particular application, and they can be
improved and perfected to better serve
a particular need or application.
• Geographic information science is
driven by the use of our GIS tools, and
these are in turn improved by new
insights and information gained
through their application in various
scientific fields.
Industry-standard GIS
packages:
• GISs have traditionally focused more
on support for raster-based
functionality, others more on
(vector-based) spatial objects.
• Well-known, full-fledged GIS
packages include ILWIS, Intergraph’s
GeoMedia, ESRI’s ArcGIS, and
MapInfo from MapInfo Corp.
Which one is better?
• ILWIS’s traditional strengths are in
raster processing and scientific
spatial data analysis, especially in
project-based GIS applications.
• ESRI and MapInfo products have
been known better for their
support of vector-based spatial
data and their operations, user
interface and map production.
 Role of GIS in organizations:
3.2.2 GIS
• organizational factors will define the
architecture context and rules for the capture,
and processing and sharing of
functionality geoinformation, as well as the role
which GIS plays in the organization as a
whole.
• GIS consists of several functional
components
• —components which support key GIS
functions.
• Figure shows a diagram
of these components,
with arrows indicating
the data flow in the
system.
 Data sharing:
3.2.3 Spatial
Data • The sharing of spatial data between
Infrastructure the various GISs in those
(SDI): organizations is of key importance
and aspects of data dissemination,
security, copyright and pricing
require special attention.
• The design and maintenance of a
Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI)
deals with these issues.
SDI Definition: “the relevant base collection of
technologies, policies and institutional
arrangements that facilitate the availability of
and access to spatial data”.

Standards:

• Standards exist for all facets of GIS, ranging from data

capture to data presentation. They are developed by
different organizations, of which the most prominent are
the International Organization for Standardisation (ISO)
and the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC).
 3.3.1 Spatial
data The functions for capturing data are closely
capture and related to the disciplines of surveying
preparation:
3.3 Stages of engineering, photogrammetry, remote
sensing, and the processes of digitizing,
spatial data i.e. the conversion of analogue data into
digital representations.
handling
Remote sensing, in particular, is the field
that provides photographs and images as
the raw base data from which spatial data
sets are derived.
Digitizing and scanning:
• Various media and computer networks play an
important role in the dissemination of this data,
particularly the internet.
3.3.2 Spatial data storage and maintenance

• Data organization:
• The data may be organized in thematic categories, such
as land use, topography and administrative subdivisions,
or according to map scale.
• An important underlying need or principle is a
representation of the real world that has to be designed to
reflect phenomena and their relationships as naturally as
possible.
• Cells, pixels and voxels:
• Vector data types describe an object through its boundary, thus dividing the
space into parts that are occupied by the respective objects.
• The raster approach subdivides space into (regular) cells, mostly as a square
tessellation of dimension two or three. These cells are called either cells or
pixels in 2D, and voxels in 3D.
• The data indicates for every cell which real world feature it covers, in case it
represents a discrete field.
Differences:
DBMS and spatial databases:
• All major GIS packages provide
facilities to link with a DBMS and
exchange attribute data with it.
• Spatial (vector) and attribute data
are still sometimes stored in
separate structures, although they
can now be stored directly in a
spatial database.
Data maintenance:
• Maintenance of (spatial) data can best
be defined as the combined activities
to keep the data set up-to-date and as
supportive as possible to the user
community.
• After a major earthquake, for instance,
we may have to update our road
network data to reflect that roads have
been washed away, or have otherwise
become impassable.
 SDSS:
3.3.3 Spatial • Spatial queries and process models play
query and an important role in this functionality.
analysis One of the key uses of GISs has been to
support spatial decisions.
• Spatial decision support systems (SDSS)
are a category of information systems
composed of a database, GIS software,
models, and a so-called knowledge
engine which allow users to deal
specifically with locational problems.
• Spatial data analysis:
• Analysis of spatial data can be defined as computing new
information that provides new insight from the existing, stored
spatial data.
• Ex: In mountainous areas this is a complex engineering task with
many cost factors, which include the amount of tunnels and bridges
to be constructed, the total length of the tarmac, and the volume of
rock and soil to be moved. GIS can help to compute such costs on
the basis of an up- to-date digital elevation model and soil map.
 • The presentation of spatial data, whether in print or on-screen,
3.3.4 Spatial data in maps or in tabular displays, or as ‘raw data’, is closely related
to the disciplines of cartography, printing and publishing.
presentation • The presentation may either be an end-product, for example as a
printed atlas, or an intermediate product, as in spatial data made
available through the internet.
3.4 Database
management systems

• Database design and Maintenance:

• Firstly, one has to consider carefully what the database purpose is, and
who its users will be.
• Secondly, one needs to identify the available data sources and define
the format in which the data will be organized within the database.
This format is usually called the database structure.
• Lastly, data can be entered into the database.
3.4.1 Reasons for using a
DBMS

• A DBMS supports the storage and manipulation of very large

data sets.
• A DBMS can be instructed to guard over data correctness.
• A DBMS supports the concurrent use of the same data set by many
users.
• A DBMS provides a high-level, declarative query language.
• A DBMS supports the use of a data model. A data model is a language
with which one can define a database structure and manipulate the data
stored in it.
• A DBMS includes data backup and recovery functions to ensure data
availability at all times.
• A DBMS allows the control of data redundancy
•.
 3.4.2 Alternatives for
data management

• When the data set is small, its use relatively simple, and with just one
user—we might use simple text files, and a text processor.
• If our data set is still small and numeric by nature, and we have a
single type of use in mind, a spreadsheet program will suffice.
• If we have a number of field observations with measurements that we
want to prepare for statistical analysis.
3.4.3 The relational data
model

• A data model is a language that allows the definition of:

• The structures that will be used to store the base data,
• The integrity constraints that the stored data has to obey at all moments
in time, and
• The computer programs used to manipulate the data.
For the relational data model, the structures used to
define the database are attributes, tuples and
relations.

Computer programs either perform data extraction

from the database without altering it, in which case
we call them queries.

They change the database contents, with updates or

transactions.
 Relations, tuples
and attributes:
A table or relation is An attribute is a
itself a collection of named field of a
tuples (or records). It tuple, with which
is a collection of each tuple associates
tuples that are a value, the tuple’s
similarly shaped. attribute value.
When a relation is created, we need to
indicate what type of tuples it will store. This
means that we must
• Provide a name for the relation,
• Indicate which attributes it will have, and

Set the domain of each attribute. Primary

key?

Relation instance?
3.4.4 Tuple selection works like a filter: it allows tuples
that meet the selection condition to pass, and
Querying a disallows tuples that do not meet the condition.
relational
database Selection condition: A selection condition is a
truth statement about a tuple’s attribute values
such as: AreaSize>1000.

Attribute projection works like a tuple formatter:

it passes through all tuples of the input, but
reshapes each of them in the same way.
• Join condition: The
FROM-clause identifies
the two input relations;
the WHERE-clause
states the join
condition.
 3.5.1
Linking GIS software provides
3.5 GIS and GIS support for Spatial data
spatial and and thematic or attribute
databases DBMS:
data.
GISs have traditionally
stored spatial data and
attribute data separately.
Storing spatial and
attribute Data:
• The strength of GIS Storing spatial
and attribute Data technology
lies in its built-in ‘understanding’
of geographic space and all
functions that derive from this,
for purposes such as storage,
analysis, and map production.
Linking objects and tables:
• With vector representations, our spatial
objects—whether they are points, lines
or polygons—are automatically given a
unique identifier by the system.
• This identifier is usually just called the
object ID or feature ID and is used to
link the spatial object (as represented
in vectors) with its attribute data in an
attribute table.
 Object-oriented and object-
3.5.2 Spatial relational data models were
database developed for just the
functionality purpose.
These extend standard
relational models with
support for objects, including
‘spatial’ objects.
Spatial DBMS:
• GIS software packages are able to store
spatial data using a range of commercial and
open source DBMSs such as Oracle, Informix,
IBM DB2, Sybase, and PostgreSQL, with the
help of spatial extensions.
• Some GIS software have integrated database
‘engines’, and therefore do not need these
extensions. Ex - ESRI’s ArcGIS
• A spatial database allows users to store,
query and manipulate collections of spatial
data.
Capabilities:
• The capabilities of spatial databases will
• continue to evolve over time. Currently,
ESRI’s ArcGIS geodatabase can store
topological relationships directly in the
database, providing support for
different kinds of features (objects) and
their behaviour (relations with other
objects), as well as ways to validate
these relations and behaviours.
• Querying a spatial database:
• A Spatial DBMS provides
support
for
geographic co-ordinate
systems and
transformations. It also
provides storage of the
relationships between
features, including the
creation and storage of
topological relationships.
Thank you.