Faculty of Applied Engineering and

Urban Planning

Civil Engineering Department

Geographic Information Systems

Spatial Analysis

Lecture 8

3rd Semester 2014/2015

Content

Retrieval, classification and measurement

• Measurement
• Spatial selection queries
• Classification
Overlay functions
• Vector overlay operators
• Raster overlay operators
Neighbourhood functions
• Proximity computation
• Spread computation
• Seek computation
Network analysis
Objective of spatial data analysis

The principal objective of spatial data analysis is to

transform and combine data from diverse
sources/disciplines into useful information, to
improve one’s understanding or to satisfy the
requirements or objectives of decision-makers.

Typical problems may be in planning (e.g., what

are the most suitable locations for a new dam?)
or in prediction (e.g., what will be the size of the
lake behind the dam?).
Analytical GIS Capabilities

There are many ways to classify the analytic

functions of a GIS. The classification used for this
lecture makes the following distinctions in
function classes:
•Measurement, retrieval, and classification functions
•Overlay functions
•Neighbourhood functions
•Connectivity functions
 Retrieval, classification and
measurement

allow to explore the data without making fundamental

changes, and therefore they are often used at the
beginning of data analysis. Measurement functions
include computing distances between features or along
their perimeters, and the computation of area size of 2D
or volume size of 3D features.
 Retrieval, classification and
measurement
Counting, to understand frequency of features, is also
included. Spatial queries retrieve features selectively,
using user-defined, logical conditions.

Classification means the (re)assignment of a thematic,

characteristic value to features in a data layer.

All functions in this category are performed on single

(vector or raster) data layer, often using the associated
attribute data.
Retrieval, classification and
measurement

Measurement:
•Measurements on vector data
•Measurements on raster data
Retrieval, classification and
measurement
Measurements on vector data:
Location, Length, Area, Minimal Distance
Minimal Bounding Box
determines the minimal rectangle—with sides parallel to
the axes of the spatial reference system—that covers the
feature.
 Measurement
Length (Lines)
by Pythagorean theorem
1
D
D  x2  x1  2
  y2  y1 
2
2

Area (Polygons)
by dividing the polygon into
triangles whose areas can
easily be calculated
Retrieval, classification and
measurement

Measurements on raster data:

The geometric information stored with the raster data is:

Horizontal and vertical resolution, and the location of an
anchor point so all other measurements by the GIS are
computed.

The anchor point is fixed by convention to be the lower

left (or sometimes upper left) location of the raster.
Retrieval, classification and
measurement

Location of an individual cell derives from the raster’s

anchor point, the cell resolution, and the position of the
cell in the raster. Again, there are two conventions:

the cell’s location can be its lower left corner,

or the cell’s midpoint.

These conventions are set by the software in use, and in

case of low resolution data they become more important
to be aware of:
 Retrieval, classification and
measurement
 The area size of a selected part of the raster (a group of
cells) is calculated as the number of cells multiplied with the
cell area size.
•The distance between two raster cells is the standard
distance function applied to the locations of their respective
mid-points, obviously taking into account the cell resolution.
Where a raster is used to represent line features as strings of
cells through the raster, the length of a line feature is
computed as the sum of distances between consecutive cells.
Spatial selection queries

• Spatial selection by attribute conditions

Spatial selection queries

• Spatial selection using topological relationships

Inside
Intersect
Adjacent
In distance with
 Classification
An example classification: Anderson Land Cover
classification (Anderson et al., 1976)

1 urban or built-up
2 agricultural
3 rangeland 41 deciduous forest

4 forest 42 evergreen forest

... 9 43 mixed forest

 Classification
Line Dissolve (Map Dissolve)

2 3
1 2

1 4

1 grain crops
2 orchards 1 agricultural
3 residential 2 non-agricultural
4 commercial
Overlay Functions

This group forms the core computational activity of

many GIS applications. Data layers are combined and
new information is derived, usually by creating
features in a new layer. The computations are simpler
for raster data layers than for vector layers, but both
can be used.
Overlay Functions
The principle of overlay is to combine features that
occupy the same location.
Many GISs support overlays through an algebraic
language, expressing an overlay function as a formula
in which the data layers are the arguments.

Different layers can be combined using arithmetic,

relational, and conditional operators and many
different functions
Overlay Functions

These functions (Operators) are as follows:

•polygon intersection
•spatial join
•polygon clipping
•polygon overwrite
Overlay

A series of registered
data layers ‘overlaying’
each other

Arguably the most

important GIS analysis
function
Overlay

Derived from manual

cartographic overlay
using Mylar sheets
(transparent plastic)
that were physically
overlaid on top of one
another.
 Overlay
An overlay operation takes two or more data layers as
input and results in an output data layer

Three types of overlay:

Point in polygon
Line in polygon
Polygon (polygon on polygon)
 Point in Polygon Overlay
Trees Land Cover NewTrees
1 2
A C + = A C
B B

Point Table Poly Table Point Table

ID Tree ID Cover ID Tree Cover
A Elm 1 Rural A Elm Rural
B Maple 2 B Maple Rural
C Elm Urban C Elm Urban
 Line in Polygon Overlay
Streets Land Cover NewStreets

A C A C
+ = D
B B
1 2

Line Table Poly Table Line Table

ID Street ID Cover ID Street Cover
A Race 1 Rural A Race Rural
B Race 2 B Race Urban
C Arch Urban C Arch Urban
D Race Urban
 Polygon Overlay

Intersection (and) Union (or) Identity

 Polygon Overlay: Intersection
Agriculture Land Cover <Intermediate>

A
A

B
B

ID Owner ID Cover Area of

A Brown A commercial intersection
B Smith B industrial New node
 Polygon Overlay: Intersection
<Intermediate> Output

Area of ID Owner Cover

intersection A Brown commercial
New node
B Smith industrial
 Polygon Overlay: Union
Agriculture Land Cover <Intermediate>

A
A

B
B

ID Owner ID Cover Area of

A Brown A commercial union
B Smith B industrial New node
 Polygon Overlay: Union
Output

<Intermediate>
B C

A
D E

ID Owner Cover
A commercial
Area of
B Brown
union
commercial C
New node Brown D
Smith E
 Polygon Overlay: Identity
Agriculture Land Cover
(input layer) (identity layer) <Intermediate>

A
A

B B

ID Owner ID Cover Area of

A Brown A commercial identity
B Smith B industrial New node
 Polygon Overlay: Identity
Output
<Intermediate>
A B

C D

ID Owner Cover
Area of A Brown commercial
identity B Brown
C Smith
New node
D Smith industrial
 Raster Overlay
GISs that support raster processing - as do most
-usually have a full language to express operations on
rasters.
Neighbourhood functions

Whereas overlays combine features at the same

location, neighborhood functions evaluate the
characteristics of an area surrounding a feature’s
location. This allows to look at buffer zones around
features, and spreading effects if features are a source
of something that spreads—e.g., water springs, volcanic
eruptions, sources of pollution
Neighbourhood functions

To perform neighbourhood analysis, we must:

1.state which target locations are of interest to us, and

what is their spatial extent,

2.define how to determine the neighbourhood for each

target,

3.define which characteristic(s) must be computed for

each neighbourhood.
Neighbourhood functions

Proximity computation:

1.Buffer zone generation

2.Thiessen polygon generation

Neighbourhood functions
 Buffer
Definition of what is within/without a given proximity

Line buffer

Point buffer

Polygon buffer
 Doughnut Buffer
e.g. within 10 meters but not within 5 meters

Buffer
polygon
5
10

‘Hole’
 Variable Buffer
Buffer distance varies by some feature attribute or
friction surface
 Variable Buffer
ID Dist A B
Original line
A 3
B 2 C
C 5

6 4

10

Buffer polygon
Neighbourhood functions
Table 12.3 Computing water use based on land-use area 
Unit
Total Land
Demand Demand Node
Node Land Use Use
Node Total
Area Type Area
(l/day/ha (l/day) (l/day)
(ha) (ha)
)
J-1 6.88 Industrial 6.88 11,200 77,100 77,100
Industrial 1.38 11,200 15,500
J-2 7.69 Commercial 0.92 4,700 4,300 60,200
Residential 5.38 7,500 40,400
Commercial 1.31 4,700 6,100
J-3 7.69 Residential 5.15 7,500 38,600 44,800
Undeveloped 1.23 0 0
Industrial 0.17 11,200 1,900
Commercial 0.10 4,700 470
J-4 8.50 20,800
Residential 2.45 7,500 18,400
Undeveloped 5.78 0 0
Industrial 6.48 11,200 72,500
J-5 8.09 80,100
Commercial 1.62 4,700 7,600
Industrial 0.20 11,200 2,200
J-6 4.86 Commercial 1.36 4,700 6,400 33,400
Residential 3.30 7,500 24,800
Connectivity functions

Connectivity functions evaluate how features are

connected. This is useful in applications dealing with
networks of connected features.

Examples are
road networks, water courses in coastal zones, and
communication lines in mobile telephony.
 Network Analysis
A network is a connected set of lines, representing
some geographic phenomenon, typically of the
transportation type.

Network analysis can be done using either raster or

vector data layers, but they are more commonly done
in the latter, as line features can be associated with a
network naturally, and can be given typical
transportation characteristics like capacity and cost
per unit.
Network Analysis