Spatial Analysis Using Grids

Learning Objectives

Continuous surfaces or spatial fields
representation of geographical
information

Grid data structure for representing
numerical and categorical data

Map algebra raster calculations

Interpolation

Calculate slope on a raster using
 ArcGIS method based in finite
differences
 D8 steepest single flow direction
 D steepest outward slope on grid
centered triangular facets
Readings – at http://help.arcgis.com
• Elements of geographic information starting from “Overview of
geographic information elements”
http://help.arcgis.com/en/arcgisdesktop/10.0/help/00v2/00v200000003
000000.htm
to “Example: Representing surfaces”
Readings – at http://help.arcgis.com
• Rasters and images starting from “What is raster data”
http://help.arcgis.com/en/arcgisdesktop/10.0/help/009t/009t000000020
00000.htm
to end of “Raster dataset attribute tables”
 Two fundamental ways of representing
geography are discrete objects and fields.
The discrete object view represents the real world as
objects with well defined boundaries in empty space.

(x1,y1)
Points Lines Polygons

The field view represents the real world as a finite number

of variables, each one defined at

f ( y) 
each possible position.

f ( x , y ) dx
x  

Continuous surface
 Raster and Vector Data
Raster data are described by a cell grid, one value per cell
Vector Raster

Point

Line
Zone of cells
Polygon
 Raster and Vector are two methods
of representing geographic data in
GIS
• Both represent different ways to encode and
generalize geographic phenomena
• Both can be used to code both fields and
discrete objects
• In practice a strong association between
raster and fields and vector and discrete
objects
Numerical representation of a spatial surface (field)

Grid

TIN Contour and flowline

 Six approximate representations of a field used in GIS

Regularly spaced sample points Irregularly spaced sample points Rectangular Cells

Irregularly shaped polygons Triangulated Irregular Network (TIN) Polylines/Contours

from Longley, P. A., M. F. Goodchild, D. J. Maguire and D. W. Rind, (2001), Geographic Information
Systems and Science, Wiley, 454 p.
 A grid defines geographic space as a mesh of
identically-sized square cells. Each cell holds a
numeric value that measures a geographic attribute
(like elevation) for that unit of space.
 The grid data structure

• Grid size is defined by extent, spacing and

no data value information
– Number of rows, number of column
– Cell sizes (X and Y)
– Top, left , bottom and right coordinates
• Grid values
– Real (floating decimal point)
– Integer (may have associated attribute table)
 Definition of a Grid
Cell size

Number
of
rows
NODATA cell
(X,Y)
Number of Columns
Points as Cells
Line as a Sequence of Cells
Polygon as a Zone of Cells
NODATA Cells
Cell Networks
Grid Zones
 Floating Point Grids

Continuous data surfaces using floating point or decimal numbers

Value attribute table for categorical
(integer) grid data

Attributes of grid zones

 Raster Sampling

from Michael F. Goodchild. (1997) Rasters, NCGIA Core Curriculum in GIScience,

http://www.ncgia.ucsb.edu/giscc/units/u055/u055.html, posted October 23, 1997
 Cell size of raster data

From http://help.arcgis.com/en/arcgisdesktop/10.0/help/index.html#/Cell_size_of_raster_data/009t00000004000000/
 Raster Generalization

Largest share rule Central point rule

 Map Algebra
Example
Cell by cell 7
5
6
6 Precipitation
evaluation of -
-
mathematical Losses
3 3
functions 2 4 (Evaporation,
Infiltration)
=
2 3
=
5 2 Runoff
Runoff generation processes
Infiltration excess overland flow P
aka Horton overland flow
P f
P qo
f

Partial area infiltration excess P

overland flow
P
P qo
f

Saturation excess overland flow P

P
P qo
qr
qs
Runoff generation at a point depends on
• Rainfall intensity or amount
• Antecedent conditions
• Soils and vegetation
• Depth to water table (topography)
• Time scale of interest

These vary spatially which suggests a spatial

geographic approach to runoff estimation
Cell based discharge mapping flow
accumulation of generated runoff
Radar Precipitation grid

Soil and land use grid

Runoff grid from raster

calculator operations
implementing runoff
generation formula’s

Accumulation of runoff
within watersheds
 Raster calculation – some subtleties

Resampling or
interpolation (and
+ reprojection) of inputs to
target extent, cell size, and
projection within region
defined by analysis mask
=
Analysis mask

Analysis cell size

Analysis extent
 Spatial Snowmelt Raster Calculation Example
The grids below depict initial snow depth and average temperature over a day for an area.
100 m 150 m
100 m

100 m 150 m

150 m
40 50 55
4 6
100 m

40 50 55

150 m
4 6

42 47 43
42 47 43
42 44 41 2 4

2 4
42 44 41

(a) Initial snow depth (cm) (b) Temperature (oC)

One way to calculate decrease in snow depth due to melt is to use a temperature index
model that uses the formula
D new  D old  m  T
Here Dold and Dnew give the snow depth at the beginning and end of a time step, T gives
the temperature and m is a melt factor. Assume melt factor m = 0.5 cm/ OC/day.
Calculate the snow depth at the end of the day.
New depth calculation using Raster
Calculator
“snow100” - 0.5 * “temp150”
Example and Pixel Inspector
 The Result

• Outputs are
on 150 m grid.
38 52
• How were
values
obtained ?
41 39
 Nearest Neighbor Resampling with
Cellsize Maximum of Inputs
100 m

40 50 55
40-0.5*4 = 38

42 47 43
55-0.5*6 = 52
38 52
42 44 41
42-0.5*2 = 41

41-0.5*4 = 39 41 39
150 m

4 6

2 4
 Scale issues in interpretation of
measurements and modeling results
The scale triplet
a) Extent b) Spacing c) Support

From: Blöschl, G., (1996), Scale and Scaling in Hydrology, Habilitationsschrift, Weiner Mitteilungen Wasser Abwasser Gewasser, Wien, 346 p.
From: Blöschl, G., (1996), Scale and Scaling in Hydrology, Habilitationsschrift, Weiner Mitteilungen Wasser Abwasser Gewasser, Wien, 346 p.
Use Environment Settings to control the scale
of the output
Extent

Spacing & Support

Raster Calculator “Evaluation” of “temp150”

4 4 6 6 6

2 4 4

2 4

2 4 4

Nearest neighbor to the E and S

has been resampled to obtain a
100 m temperature grid.
Calculation with cell size set to 100 m grid
“snow100” - 0.5 * “temp150”

• Outputs are on
100 m grid as
38 47 52 desired.
• How were
41 45 41 these values
obtained ?
41 42 39
 100 m cell size raster calculation

40-0.5*4 = 38
100 m

40 50 55 50-0.5*6 = 47
55-0.5*6 = 52
42 47 43
42-0.5*2 = 41
38 47 52
47-0.5*4 = 45
42 44 41 43-0.5*4 = 41
41 45 41
42-0.5*2 = 41
150 m

4 6 6 44-0.5*4 = 42
41 42 39
4 6 41-0.5*4 = 39
2 4 4
2 4 Nearest neighbor values resampled to
2 4 4 100 m grid used in raster calculation
 What did we learn?
• Raster calculator automatically uses
nearest neighbor resampling
• The scale (extent and cell size) can be set
under options

• What if we want to use some other form of

interpolation? From Point
Natural Neighbor, IDW, Kriging,
Spline, …
From Raster
Project Raster (Nearest, Bilinear,
Cubic)
 Interpolation
Estimate values between known values.
A set of spatial analyst functions that predict values for a
surface from a limited number of sample points creating a
continuous raster.

Apparent improvement in resolution may not

be justified
 Interpolation
methods
• Nearest neighbor
• Inverse distance 1
z   zi
weight ri
• Bilinear
interpolation z  (a  bx )( c  dy)
• Kriging (best linear
z   wizi
unbiased estimator)
• Spline z   ci x e i y e i
Nearest Neighbor “Thiessen”
Spline Interpolation
Polygon Interpolation
Interpolation Comparison

Grayson, R. and G. Blöschl, ed. (2000)

 Further Reading
Grayson, R. and G. Blöschl, ed. (2000),
Spatial Patterns in Catchment Hydrology:
Observations and Modelling, Cambridge
University Press, Cambridge, 432 p.

Chapter 2. Spatial Observations and

Interpolation

Full text online at:

http://www.catchment.crc.org.au/special_publications1.html
Spatial Surfaces used in Hydrology

Elevation Surface — the ground surface

elevation at each point
3-D detail of the Tongue river at the WY/Mont border from LIDAR.
Roberto Gutierrez
University of Texas at Austin
 Topographic Slope

• Defined or represented by one of the following

– Surface derivative z (dz/dx, dz/dy)
– Vector with x and y components (Sx, Sy)
– Vector with magnitude (slope) and direction (aspect) (S, )
 ArcGIS “Slope” tool

dz (a  2d  g) - (c  2f  i)

dx 8 * x_mesh_spa cing
a b c
d e f dz (g  2h  i) - (a  2b  c)

dy 8 * y_mesh_spacing
g h i
2 2
rise  dz   dz   rise 
      deg  atan  
run  dx   dy   run 
ArcGIS Aspect – the steepest downslope
direction

dz
 dz / dx 
dy atan  
 dz / dy 
dz
dx
 30 Example
a b c dz (a  2d  g) - (c  2f  i)

80 74 63 dx 8 * x_mesh_spacing
(80  2 * 69  60)  (63  2 * 56  48)
d e f 145.2o 
69 67 56 8 * 30
 0.229
g h i
60 52 48 dz (g  2h  i) - (a  2b  c)

dy 8 * y_mesh_spacing
(60  2 * 52  48)  (80  2 * 74  63)

Slope  0.229 2  0.329 2 8 * 30
 0.401  0.329

atan (0.401)  21.8o

 0.229   180o
Aspect  atan    34.8
o

  0.329   145.2o
Hydrologic Slope (Flow Direction Tool)
- Direction of Steepest Descent
30 30

80 74 63 80 74 63

69 67 56 69 67 56

60 52 48 60 52 48

67  48 67  52
Slope:  0.45  0.50
30 2 30
Eight Direction Pour Point Model

32 64 128

16 1

8 4 2

ESRI Direction encoding

Limitation due to 8 grid directions.

?
 The D Algorithm
Proportion Steepest direction
flowing to downslope
neighboring Proportion flowing to
grid cell 4 is neighboring grid cell 3
1/(1+2) is 2/(1+2)
3 2
4 2 1
Flow
direction.

5 1

6 8
7

Tarboton, D. G., (1997), "A New Method for the Determination of Flow Directions and
Contributing Areas in Grid Digital Elevation Models," Water Resources Research, 33(2): 309-
319.) (http://www.engineering.usu.edu/cee/faculty/dtarb/dinf.pdf)
 The D Algorithm
Steepest direction
downslope

3 2
4
2
 e1  e2 
0 1 1  atan  
5 1   e0  e1 

2 2
8  e1  e2   e0  e1 
6
7 S    
     

If 1 does not fit within the triangle the angle is chosen along the
steepest edge or diagonal resulting in a slope and direction equivalent to
D8
 D∞ Example
30

80 74 63  e 7  e8 
1  atan  
 e0  e7 
eo
69 67 56  52  48 
 atan    14 .9 o

 67  52 
e7 e8
60 52 48
2 2
284.9o  52  48   67  52 
S    
14.9o  30   30 
 0.517
 Summary Concepts
• Grid (raster) data structures represent
surfaces as an array of grid cells
• Raster calculation involves algebraic like
operations on grids
• Interpolation and Generalization is an
inherent part of the raster data
representation
 Summary Concepts (2)
• The elevation surface represented by a grid digital
elevation model is used to derive surfaces
representing other hydrologic variables of interest
such as
– Slope
– Drainage area (more details in later classes)
– Watersheds and channel networks (more details
in later classes)
 Summary Concepts (3)
• The eight direction pour point model
approximates the surface flow using eight
discrete grid directions.
• The D vector surface flow model
approximates the surface flow as a flow
vector from each grid cell apportioned
between down slope grid cells.