GIS Concepts

DR. MANSOOR AHMAD HASHMI, FAST-NUCES, LAHORE,

E-MAIL: [email protected]
 Mapping Concepts
A map portrays information about the earth’s surface.

• It is an information system;

1. Provide description of geographic phenomena

2. Spatial and non spatial information
3. Map features i.e. Point, Line and Polygon

• Map Properties are;

a) Scale
b) Resolution
c) Accuracy
d) Precision
 Coordinate Systems

Two coordinate systems;

1. Spherical Coordinate System

2. Cartesian Coordinate System

 Projection Systems
Projection: the method by which the curved 3-D surface of the earth is
represented by X,Y coordinates on a 2-D flat map/screen
- distortion is inevitable

Three important globally used Coordinate systems are;

1. Geographic Coordinate (Latitude, Longitude), (Degree, Minute, Second: DMS)

2. UTM (Universal Transverse Mercator) co-ordinates (X, Y) (meters)
3. Lambert Conformal Conic (meters)

• Every flat map misrepresents the surface of earth in some way.

• A map or parts of a map can show one or more, but never all, of the following: True directions, true
distances, true areas and true shapes.
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EQUATOR 6

 The Earth is (almost, but not quite) a sphere that rotates around its
axis. If we draw a line passing through the center of the Earth along
its rotational axis, the line would pass through the North and the
South Pole.

 The Equator is an imaginary line perpendicular to this axis. It is

equidistant from the two poles, and divides the globe into the
Northern Hemisphere and the Southern Hemisphere.
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Geodetic Datum

 Geodetic datum defines the size and shape of the ellipsoid

earth and the origin (or position) and orientation (or direction)
with respect to the Earth.
 the direction of the minor axis of the ellipsoid. This is classically
defined as being parallel to the mean spin axis of the earth
 the position of its centre, either implied by adopting a
geodetic latitude and longitude (Φ, λ) and geoid / ellipsoid
separation (N) at one, or more points (datum stations), or in
absolute terms with reference to the Earth centre of mass; and
 the zero of longitude (conventionally the Greenwich Meridian).
 True geodetic datums were employed only after the late 1700s
when measurements showed that the earth was ellipsoidal in
shape. The science of geodesy.
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LONGITUDE & LATITUDE
10
LATITUDES 11

 Latitudes are imaginary circles drawn parallel to the Equator.

Latitudes specify the North-South position of a location on the globe
IMPORTANT LATITUDES 12

In addition to the Equator, there are

four other major latitudes that are
usually found on maps and globes.
 The Arctic Circle is the latitude 66°
32′ North. All locations falling North
of this latitude are said to be in the
Arctic Circle.
 The Antarctic Circle on the other
hand, is the latitude 66° 32′ South.
Any locations falling south of this
latitude are said to be in the
Antarctic Circle.
 The latitude 23° 30′ North is also
known as the Tropic of Cancer.
 The Tropic of Capricorn is the
latitude that lies at 23° 30′ South of
the Equator.
 LONGITUDES 13
 Longitudes are geographical positioning markers that run from the
geographical North to the geographical South Pole, intersecting
the Equator. They meet at both Poles, and specify the East-West
position of a location.
 Longitudes are therefore imaginary circles that intersect the North
and South Poles, and the Equator.
 Half of a longitudinal circle is known as a Meridian. Meridians are
perpendicular to every latitude.
IMPORTANT LONGITUDES 14

Unlike, latitudes, there is no obvious

central longitude. The meridian line
passes through Greenwich,
England is considered as the
reference point for longitudes. This
line is also known as the Prime
Meridian.
The Prime Meridian is set as 0°
longitude and it divides the Earth
into the Eastern and the Western
Hemisphere. All the other
longitudes are measured from
prime meridian.
Since, a sphere has 360 degrees,
the Earth is also divided into 360
longitudes.
Time zones are defined by the
Prime Meridian and the longitudes.
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Coordinate System

 There are many different coordinate

systems, based on a variety of geodetic
datums, projections, and units in use
 Geographic coordinate systems (no
projection): Spheroid (or Ellipsoid)-based
systems, local systems.
 Projected coordinate systems: world,
continental, polar, US National Grids, UTM,
state plane.
 Geographic
Latitude/Longitude on a flat
surface (WGS 84 datum)

Scale,
distance,
area, and
shape are all
distorted with
the distortion
increasing
toward the
poles.
Geographic Latitude/Longitude in
GIS system
90º West East

North

equator
0º

Prime Meridian

180 º
-180 º

0º
South

-90 º open ArcGIS for a demo

 Earth Shape Models
 Flat earth models are still used for plane surveying,
over distances short enough so that earth curvature is
insignificant (less than 10 km).
 Spherical earth models (Earth centered model)
represent the shape of the earth with a sphere of a
specified radius. Spherical earth models are often
used for short range navigation (VOR-DME) and for
global distance approximations. Spherical models fail
to model the actual shape of the earth.
 Ellipsoidal earth models are required for accurate
range and bearing calculations over long distances.
Ellipsoidal models define an ellipsoid with an
equatorial radius and a polar radius. The best of
these models can represent the shape of the earth
over the smoothed, averaged sea-surface to within
about one-hundred meters.
 Globe

 Spherical Earth’s surface

-radius 6371 km
 Meridians (lines of longitude)
- passing through Greenwich,
England as prime meridian or
0º longitude.
True direction, shape,
 Parallels (lines of latitude) distance, and area

- using equator as 0º latitude.

 degrees-minutes-seconds
(DMS),
 decimal degrees (DD)
Spherical and Ellipsoidal Earth

Earth Centered X/Y/Z Geodetic Lat/Lon/Height

Ellipsoidal Parameters

a
 Earth Surface: Ellipsoid, Geoid,
Topo

• The reference
ellipsoid surface (a
map of average sea
level).
• The reference geoid
surface (a mean sea
level-MSL surface).
• The real surface of
the Earth (the ground)
also called the
topographic surface.
 THE GEOID and ELLIPSOID
rth's e
Ea rfac
h=H+N Su
H = h+N P

h
Ellipsoid Q

"Geoid"
Po

OCEAN

h (Ellipsoid Height) = Distance along ellipsoid normal (Q to P)

N (Geoid Height) = Distance along ellipsoid normal (Q to Po )
H (orthometric height) = Distance along Plumb Line (Po to P)
SOURCE: National Geodetic Survey
http://www.ngs.noaa.gov/GEOID/geoid_def.html

GPS gets height is ellipsoid height (h), usually based on WGS84. H is really we want
 Basics of Map Projections
 A map projection is a mathematical model for conversion
of locations from a three-dimensional earth surface to a
two-dimensional map representation. This conversion
necessarily distorts some aspect of the earth's surface,
such as area, shape, distance, or direction.
 Every projection has its own set of advantages and
disadvantages. There is no "best" projection. Some
distortions of conformality (shape), scale, distance,
direction, and area always result from this processes.
Some projections minimize distortions in some of these
properties at the expense of maximizing errors in others.
Some projection are attempts to only moderately distort
all of these properties
 The mapmaker must select the one best suited to the
needs, reducing distortion of the most important features.
 Mapmakers and mathematicians have devised almost
limitless ways to project the image of the globe onto a flat
surface (paper).
 Classes of Map projections

Physical models: Distortion properties:

 Cylindrical projections  Conformal (preserves local

(cylinder) angles and shape)
- Tangent case
- Secant case  Equal area or equivalent
(area)
 Conic Projections (cone)
- Tangent case  Equidistant (scale along a
- Secant case center line)
 Azimuthal or planar
projections (plane)  Azimuthal (directions)
- Tangent case
- Secant case
Cylindrical Transverse Cylindrical Oblique Secant Cylindrical
Cylindrical

Conical Secant Conical Planar Secant Planar

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Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM)
Coordinate System
 UTM system is transverse-secant cylindrical projection, dividing the surface of the
Earth into 6 degree zones with a central meridian in the center of the zone. each one
of zones is a different Transverse Mercator projection that is slightly rotated to use a
different meridian. UTM zone numbers designate 6 degree longitudinal strips
extending from 80 degrees South latitude to 84 degrees North latitude. UTM is a
conformal projection, so small features appear with the correct shape and scale is
the same in all directions. (all distances, directions, shapes, and areas are reasonably
accurate ). Scale factor is 0.9996 at the central meridian and at most 1.0004 at the
edges of the zones.

 UTM coordinates are in meters, making it easy to make accurate calculations of short
distances between points (error is less than 0.04%)

 Used in USGS topographic map, and digital elevation models (DEMs)

 Although the distortions of the UTM system are small, they are too great for some
accurate surveying. zone boundaries are also a problem in many applications,
because they follow arbitrary lines of longitude rather than boundaries between
jurisdictions.
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31
UTM Zone Numbers
 Geographic Data (CONT’D.)
Data and Information are not same.

• Data can be described as different observations which are collected and stored.
• Information is data which is useful in answering queries or solving problems.

Digitizing a large number of maps provides a large amount of data, but the data can
only render useful information if used in analysis.

Difference between Spatial and Non-Spatial Data.

• Geographic Data are organized in a geographic data base.
• There are two components of this geographic database: its geographic position and
its attributes or properties.
• In other words, spatial data (Where is it?) and attribute data which is non spatial
data (What is it?)
 Spatial and Attribute Data
• Spatial data (where)
– specifies location
– stored in a shape file, geodatabase or similar geographic file
• Attribute (descriptive) data (what, how much, when)
– specifies characteristics at that location, natural or human-created
– stored in a data base table
GIS systems traditionally maintain spatial and attribute data separately,
then “join” them for display or analysis
– for example, in ArcView, the Attributes of … table is used to link a shapefile
(spatial structure) with a data base table containing attribute information in order
to display the attribute data spatially on a map
Computer and Spatial Data
 Data Linkage

Data Linkage

Exact Matching Non Exact Matching

Hierarchical Fuzzy
Matching Matching
 Concept of Data Linkage
A GIS typically links different sets.

• Suppose you want to find the mortality rate due to cancer among
children under 10 year of age in each country.
• If you have one file that contains number of children under 10 years of
age and another that contains the mortality rate from cancer, you must
first combine or link the two data files.
• Once this is done, you can divide on figure by the other to obtain the
desired answer.
Concept of Data Linkage (CONT’D.)
Exact Matching
• This type of matching occurs when you have information in one computer file about many geographic
features (e.g., towns) and additional information in another file about the same town features.
• The can be easily linked together by using a key common to both files – in this case, the town name.
Concept of Data Linkage (CONT’D.)
Hierarchical Matching
• Some types of information are collected in more detail and less frequently than other types of
information.
• For example, the financial data covering a large area is collected quite frequently. Whereas the
population data are collected in small areas but at less frequent intervals.
• If smaller areas fit exactly within the larger ones, then the way to make the data match the same area
is to use hierarchical matching – add the data for the small areas together until the grouped areas
match the bigger ones and then match them exactly.
Concept of Data Linkage (CONT’D.)
Fuzzy Matching
• Sometimes the boundaries of small areas do not match those of the larger ones. This occurs when
dealing with environmental data.
• For example, crop boundaries, usually defined by field edges, rarely match with the boundary between
soil types. To determine the most product soil for a particular crop, you need to overlay the two sets
and compute crop productivity for each and every soil type. In principle, it is like laying one map over
another and noting the combinations of soil and crop productivity.
 Basic Types of Spatial data
Most GIS deals with four types of geographic data;

1. Points (Zero - Dimensional spatial object)

2. Lines (Segments or Arcs, One- Dimensional spatial object)
3. Areas (Polygons, Two-Dimensional spatial object)
4. Continuous Surface (Three- Dimensional spatial object)
 Types of GIS
Three types of GIS;
1. Vector GIS
2. Raster GIS
3. Hybrid GIS

Technology is moving towards hybrid GIS

Raster Vector Integration

 Representing of Geographic Data
The spatial data are represented in digital form in two basic types
of spatial data model.

1. A vector model
2. A raster model
Representing Data with Vector Model
• Vector Model
The fundamental concept of vector GIS is
that all geographic features in the real
work can be represented either as:
• points or dots (nodes): trees, poles, fire
plugs, airports, cities
• lines (arcs): streams, streets, sewers,
• areas (polygons): land parcels, cities,
counties, forest, rock type
Because representation depends on shape, ArcView
refers to files containing vector data as
shapefiles
Representing Data with Raster Model
Raster Model
• area is covered by grid with (usually)
equal-sized, square cells.
• The position of a cell is defined by a row
and column number. A pixel is assigned
one numerical value.
• attributes are recorded by assigning each
cell a single value based on the majority
feature (attribute) in the cell, such as
land use type.
• Image data is a special case of raster data
in which the “attribute” is a reflectance
value from the geomagnetic spectrum
– cells in image data often called pixels
(picture elements)
 Concept of
Vector and Raster

Raster Representation

point
line
Vector Representation

polygon
Advantages and Disadvantages of
Raster and Vector Data Models
 Scale, Accuracy and Resolution
• Scale: the ratio of distance on a map to the equivalent distance on the ground
– in theory GIS is scale independent but in practice there is an implicit range of scales for data output in
any project
• Accuracy: how well does the database info match the real world
– Positional: how close are features to their real world location?
– Consistency: do feature characteristics in database match those in real world
• is a road in the database a road in the real world?
– Completeness: are all real world instances of features present in the database?
• Are all roads included.
• Resolution: the size of the smallest feature able to be recognized
– for raster data, it is the pixel size

The tighter the specification, the higher the cost

Integration of Vector and Raster
System- Hybrid System
An Example Raster and Vector
Integration
 Four Major GIS Functions
Data Capture
- Graphic Data: digitized, converted from existing data.
- Attribute Data: keyed-in, loaded from existing data files
Data storage and manipulation
- File management
- Editing
Data analysis
- Database query
- Spatial analysis
- Modelling
Data Display
- Maps
- Reports
Principal Components and Functions
of an Ideal GIS
THANK-YOU