04/04/2025

Department of Geomatics Engineering

Design and Implementation of GIS (GE 350)

Lecturer: Michael Mutale

Design and Implementation of GIS (GE350)

Introduction to GIS
• GIS is the abbreviation for
geographic information
system
• It is a computer-based
tool designed to collect,
store, process, analyse,
visualise and interpret
spatially referenced data

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Design and Implementation of GIS (GE350)

Introduction to GIS
• GIS is a useful tool to help answer
geographic questions and make
decisions
• For example, GIS can be used by;
– Climatologists to understand the
causes and consequences of
climate change
– Political consultants to develop
campaign strategies for elections
– Epidemiologists to locate ground
zero of a disease outbreak
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Design and Implementation of GIS (GE350)

Geographic Information
• In GIS, geographic information is made
up of spatial location data and attribute
data
• Spatial location data is data with
geographic component, it answers the
question where something is
• Attribute data answers the question
what something is
• The database that contains these
geographic information is called an
attribute table, and it can be used to
symbolise features, make queries and to
analyse the data
• Example shows a choropleth map of
Internet users (per 100 people) in 2016
and its associated attribute table
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Design and Implementation of GIS (GE350)

Geographic Information

Design and Implementation of GIS (GE350)

System and GIS Capabilities
• GIS system is made up of hardware and software, e.g. satellites, ArcGIS, QGIS
• GIS has many capabilities which include;
• Data Processing: GIS can be used to view, create, edit, transform and display
geospatial data
• Spatial Analysis: Different tools are used within GIS to identify trends, patterns
and relationships in data. For example, spatial analysis can be creating buffers,
clipping features, network analysis, performing spatial statistics and so on
• Map Making: Map making helps spatially represent data from multiple sources
(e.g. spreadsheets). This is the most common use of GIS
• Imagery and Remote Sensing: This is used to extract information from imagery
and remotely sensed data (e.g. satellites)
• Data Collection and Management: This can help to access, use, integrate and
store data in a GIS 6

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Design and Implementation of GIS (GE350)

System and GIS Capabilities

Design and Implementation of GIS (GE350)

GIS Data Types: Vectors
• Geographic information can be stored
either as a vector data or a raster data
• Vector (or feature) data is categorical
data stored as geometrical shapes such
as:
– Points: Points are single x, y coordinate
locations
– Lines: Lines are defined by two or more
points that are connected with lines
– Polygons: Polygons are defined by
multiple points that are connected with
lines and are closed
• For example, geospatial data that show
the location of buildings, rivers or
ponds
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Design and Implementation of GIS (GE350)

GIS Data Types: Rasters
• Raster data is made up of a matrix of pixels, called cells, with each being the same
size and containing a value that represents the conditions for the area covered by
that cell
• Raster data formats include JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group), BMP (Bitmap
Image), PNG (Portable Network Graphics) and TIFF (Tagged Image File Format) files
• Raster data represents continuous data (integer or real values) like temperature or
elevation

Design and Implementation of GIS (GE350)

GIS Vector Data Formats
Extension File Type Description
.shp: contains feature geometry
.dbf: contains feature attribute The shapefile is BY FAR the most
data common geospatial file type
.shx: spatial index which helps you’ll encounter. All commercial
when searching and open source accept
.prj: contains projection and shapefile as a GIS format. It’s so
coordinate system information ubiquitous that it’s become the
.cpg: optional plain text file industry standard.
describing encoding of shapefile But you’ll need a complete set
.sbn and .sbx: optional files that of three files that are
store spatial index of the mandatory to make up a
features shapefile.
.qmd: metadata stored by QGIS
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Design and Implementation of GIS (GE350)

GIS Vector Data Formats
Extension File Type Description
GeoPackage is an open standard
file format for storing geospatial
data, widely used in GIS. It is based
on SQLite database technology. A
single GeoPackage file format can
store different types of geospatial
data, including vector data, raster
data, and attribute data.
.gpkg GeoPackage is designed to be
platform-independent and can be
used on different operating
systems and with different GIS
software. The format also supports
advanced features such as spatial
indexes and metadata, making it a
versatile and efficient way to store
and share geospatial data. 11

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Design and Implementation of GIS (GE350)

GIS Vector Data Formats
Extension File Type Description
GeoJSON is a format for encoding
geographic data structures, such as
points, lines, and polygons, using
.GEOJSON
JavaScript Object Notation (JSON). It is
.JSON
one of the most common open-
standard formats for online web
mapping applications.
GML allows for the use of geographic
coordinates extension of eXtensible
Markup Language (XML) which is both
human-readable and machine-
readable. GML stores geographic
.GML entities (features) in the form of text.
Like GeoJSON, GML can be updated in
any text editor. Each feature has a list
of properties, geometry (points, lines,
curves, surfaces, and polygons), and a
spatial reference system.
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Design and Implementation of GIS (GE350)

GIS Vector Data Formats
Extension File Type Description
KML stands for Keyhole Markup
Language. This GIS format is XML-
based and is primarily used for Google
Earth. KML was developed by Keyhole
Inc which was later acquired by
Google. KMZ (KML-Zipped) replaced
KML as being the default Google Earth
geospatial format because it is a
.KML compressed version of the file.
.KMZ KML/KMZ became an international
standard of the Open Geospatial
Consortium in 2008. The longitude and
latitude components (decimal degrees)
are as defined by the World Geodetic
System of 1984 (WGS84). The vertical
component (altitude) is measured in
meters from the WGS84 EGM96 Geoid
vertical datum.
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Design and Implementation of GIS (GE350)

GIS Vector Data Formats
Extension File Type Description
OSM files are the native file for
OpenStreetMap which had become the
largest crowdsourcing GIS data project
in the world. These files are a
collection of vector features from
crowd-sourced contributions from the
open community. The GIS format OSM
is OpenStreetMap’s XML-based file
.OSM
format. The more efficient, smaller PBF
Format (“Protocolbuffer Binary
Format”) is an alternative to the XML-
based format. The data interoperability
in QGIS can load native OSM files. The
OpenStreetMap plugin can convert PBF
to OSM, which then can be used in
QGIS.

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Design and Implementation of GIS (GE350)

GIS Raster Data Formats
Extension File Type Description
ERDAS Imagine IMG files is a
proprietary file format developed by
Hexagon Geospatial. IMG files are
commonly used for raster data to store
single and multiple bands of satellite
data. IMG files use a hierarchical
format (HFA) that is optional to store
basic information about the file. For
.IMG
example, this can include file
information, ground control points, and
sensor type. Each raster layer as part of
an IMG file contains information about
its data values. For example, this
includes projection, statistics,
attributes, pyramids and whether it’s a
continuous or discrete type of raster.

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GIS Raster Data Formats

Extension File Type Description

The GeoTIFF has become an industry
image standard file for GIS and satellite
remote sensing applications. GeoTIFFs
may be accompanied by other files:
TFW is the world file that is required to
.TIF
give your raster geolocation. XML
.TIFF
optionally accompany GeoTIFFs and
.OVR
are your metadata. AUX auxiliary files
store projections and other
information. OVR pyramid files
improves performance for raster
display.

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Design and Implementation of GIS (GE350)

GIS Raster Data Formats

Extension File Type Description

Band Interleaved files are a raster
storage extension for single/multi-band
aerial and satellite imagery.
Band Interleaved for Line (BIL) stores
pixel information based on rows for all
bands in an image. Whereas Band
.BIL
interleaved by pixel (BIP) assigns pixel
.BIP
values for each band by rows. Finally,
.BSQ
Band sequential format (BSQ) stores
separate bands by rows. BIL files
consist of a header file (HDR) that
describes the number of columns,
rows, bands, bit depth and layout in an
image.

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Design and Implementation of GIS (GE350)

GIS Raster Data Formats
Extension File Type Description
Grid files are a proprietary format
developed by Esri. Grids have no
extension and are unique because they
can hold attribute data in a raster file.
But the catch is that you can only add
attributes to integer grids. Attributes
are stored in a value attribute table
(VAT) – one record for each unique
Esri Grid format value in the grid, and the count
representing the number of cells. The
two types of Esri Grid files are integer
and floating-point grids. Land cover
would be an example of a discrete grid.
Each class has a unique integer cell
value. Elevation data is an example of a
floating-point grid. Each cell represents
an elevation floating value.
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Design and Implementation of GIS (GE350)

GIS Data Quality
• Due to how geospatial data is collected, analysed and represented,
uncertainties with data quality may arise
• These errors are in fact expected as almost all representations of the
world are incomplete
• Two primary attributes that characterise data quality are precision and
accuracy
• Precision refers to the fineness and exactness of the measurements,
whilst accuracy is the difference between the recorded value and the
true value

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Design and Implementation of GIS (GE350)

GIS Data Quality
• When it comes to data quality in GIS, here are some of the things look
out for:
• The completeness of the attribute table (Is there any data missing?)
• Temporal consistency (Is it up-to-date?)
• Location accuracy (Is the position of the feature, correct?)
• Logical consistency (Is the data topologically, correct?)
• Unfortunately, the more accurate and precise a geospatial data is, the
higher cost is to obtain it and store it
• This is because of the time and equipment used to collect the data
• Larger data will also always require constant maintenance
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Design and Implementation of GIS (GE350)

Finding GIS Data
• In the age of information, the world wide web has large amount of data available,
but it is best to acquire data from trusted sources
• ArcGIS Living Atlas of the World: This is a collection of geographic information from
around the globe.
• Copernicus: Copernicus is the European Union’s Earth observation programme.
• Esri Data Hub: Esri houses over 250,000 open data sets from 5,000 organisations
worldwide.
• Koordinates: This is a geospatial data management platform.
• Natural Earth Data: This site houses key cultural and physical vector GIS datasets.
• Open Geospatial Datasets: This is a repository of open geospatial datasets to be
used in an educational context.
• OpenStreetMap: OSM has some of the most detailed information on our planet.
• Apart from these, there are many governmental and non-profit platforms that offer
free access to geospatial data. 21

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