Scribd
Upload
5 views

Data types

The document compares open source software (FOSS) with commercial software, highlighting differences in management, user focus, cost, and innovation potential. It also discusses spatial and non-spatial data types in GIS, explaining the characteristics of vector and raster data. Examples of software and their functionalities are provided to illustrate these differences.

Uploaded by

s.sharmistha27
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
5 views

Data types

The document compares open source software (FOSS) with commercial software, highlighting differences in management, user focus, cost, and innovation potential. It also discusses spatial and non-spatial data types in GIS, explaining the characteristics of vector and raster data. Examples of software and their functionalities are provided to illustrate these differences.

Uploaded by

s.sharmistha27
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 2

The project is managed by an open source The project is managed by a closed group

community of developer and of individual or team that developed it.


programmers.
They are not aimed at unskilled users They are focused on a limited market of
outside of the programming community. both skilled and unskilled end users.
It provides better flexibility which means There is a very limited scope of innovation
more freedom which encourages with the restrictions and all.
innovation.
It is free of cost It is expensive
Free Open Source Software (FOSS) is one Environmental Research System
of the open source organization Innovation is one of the commercial
organization
More exploration and improvisation can Fewer exploration and improvisation can
be done be done
Example : OpenGeo, Quantum GIS Examples: ArcGIS, ArcView
QGIS: ArcGIS:
1. Quite less documentation for users 1. Elaborated documentation for users
2. Supports different Operating 2. Only supports Windows
System 3. Load time speed is slower
3. Load time speed is faster 4. Includes more additional addins
4. Includes more additional plugins 5. More mapping functionality
5. Less mapping functionality

DATA TYPES

SPATIAL DATA
Spatial data (mapable data) of geo-referenced data is commonly characterized by
the presence of two fundamental components. (i) The physical dimension or class i.e.,
the phenomena being reported. For example : Height of the forest canopy, demographic
class, rock type, regetation type details of a city etc. (ii) The spatial location of the
phgenomena For example : Specified with reference to common coordinate system
(latitude and longitude etc).

NON SPATIAL / ATTRIBUTE / A SPATIAL OR TABULAR DATA


There are usually data tables that contain information about the
spatialcomponents of the GIS theme. These can be numeric and/or character data such
as timber type, timber volume, road size, well depth etc. The attributes are related back
to the spatial features by use of unique identifiers that are stored both with the attribute
tables and the features in each spatial data layer. Attributes can be either qualitative
(low, medium, high income) or quantitative (actual measurements). The database
allows us to manipulate information in many ways : from simple listing of attributes,
sorting features by some attributes, grouping by attributes, or selecting and singling out
groups by attributes.

20
VECTOR DATA
A vector based GIS is defined by the vectorial representation of its geographic data. The
most common representation of map is using vector date that is consist of point, line
and polygon
A. Vector data
i. Point Data -- layers described by points (or "event") described by x,y (lat,long; east,
north)

ii. Line/Polyline Data -- layers that are described by x,y points (nodes, events) and lines
(arcs) between points (line segments and polylines)
iii. Polygon Data -- layers of closed line segments enclosing areas that are described by
attributes

B. Raster data
Consists of a matrix of cells (or pixels) organized into rows and columns (or a grid)
where each cell contains a value representing information, such as temperature. Rasters
are digital aerial photographs, imagery from satellites, digital pictures, or even scanned
maps.

21

You might also like