Introduction to

GIS

GIS (Geo-informatics Science

1. Geographic Information system(GIS)

2. Remote Sensing (RS)
3. Global Navigation Satellite
System (GNSS)
3S

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 History of GIS

 Work on GIS began in late 1950s, but first GIS software

came only in late 1970s from the lab of the ESRI.
 Canada was the pioneer in the development of GIS as a
result of innovations dating back to early 1960s.
 Much of the credit for the early development of GIS
goes to Roger Tomilson.
 Evolution of GIS has transformed and revolutionized the
the ways in which planners, engineers, managers etc.
conduct the database management and analysis.

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GIS - Defination

A typical GIS can be understood by the help of various definitions

given below:-
A geographic information system (GIS) is a computer-based tool for
mapping and analyzing things that exist and events that happen on
Earth
 Burrough in 1986 defined GIS as, "Set of tools for collecting,
storing, retrieving at will, transforming and displaying spatial data
from the real world for a particular set of purposes"
 Arnoff in 1989 defines GIS as, "a computer based system that
provides four sets of capabilities to handle geo-referenced data :
 data input
 data management (data storage and retrieval)
 manipulation and analysis
 Data output. "
 Hence GIS is looked upon as a tool to assist in decision-making
and management of attributes that needs to be analysed spatially.

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Four Major functions of GIS
 Data capture
 Graphic data
 Attributes data
 Data storage and manipulation
 File management
 Editing
 Data analysis
 Database query
 Spatial analysis
 modeling
 Data display
 Map display
 Report writing

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Overview of Geographic Information system

 Geographic Information System (GIS) is a computer based

information system used to digitally represent and analyse the
geographic features present on the Earth' surface and the events
(non-spatial attributes linked to the geography under study) that
taking place on it. The meaning to represent digitally is to convert
analog (smooth line) into a digital form.

"Every object present on the Earth can be geo-referenced", is the

fundamental key of associating any database to GIS. Here, term
'database' is a collection of information about things and their
relationship to each other, and 'geo-referencing' refers to the
location of a layer or coverage in space defined by the co-ordinate
referencing system.

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 Why GIS

 70% of the information includes some geographical

facts in the decision making process
 Ability of assimilate divergent source of data both spatial
and non-spatial (attribute data)
 Visualization impact
 Sharing of information
 Analytical capability on a spatial context

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Factors Aiding the rise of GIS.

 Revolution in Information Technology.

 Computer Technology.
 Remote Sensing.
 Global Positioning System.
 Communication Technology.
 Rapidly declining cost of Computer Hardware, and at
the same time, exponential growth of operational speed
of computers.
 Enhanced functionality of software and their user-
friendliness.
 Visualizing impact of GIS corroborating the Chinese
proverb "a picture is worth a thousand words."
 Geographical feature and data describing it are part of
our everyday lives & most of our everyday decisions are
influenced by some facet of Geography.
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 Questions a GIS can answer

 Location
 What is at ….. / where is ……
 Condition
 Where is it … if satisfy conditions
 Trends
 What is changed since..
 Patterns
 What spatial pattern exists
 Modeling
 What if

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Four M’s

Modeling
Measurement Mapping Monitoring

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 Geographical Information System

GIS

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Hardware

 Hardware is the computer on which a GIS operates

 GIS runs on robust computer technology, capable of
processing millions of computations per second. Most of
GIS softwarws runs on PC, UNIX and Macintosh
systems.

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 Software

 GIS software provides functions and tools needed to

input and store geographic information. It also provides
query tools, performs analysis, and displays geographic
information in the form of maps or reports.
 All GIS software packages rely on an underlying
database management system (DBMS) for storage and
management of the geographic and attribute data

Data

 Data in a GIS comes in two parts: 1) the geographic

data that represents the physical places eg. cities,
rivers, lakes; and 2) the attribute data that describes the
characteristics of the geographic features: population,
length, area.
 Data is one of the most important, and often most
expensive, components of a GIS

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 People

 Thereal power of a GIS comes from the people who

use them

Note!

 Buying GIS software and loading it on a computer does

not mean that you instantly have a GIS. GIS's also
require data, people, and manipulation. The trained user
is able to make a GIS powerful by asking questions,
linking to complex databases, and layering data in a
intelligent manner.

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 GIS vs Other Information systems

 What distinguishes GIS from other forms of information

systems, such as databases and spreadsheets, is that
GIS deals with spatial information. GIS has the
capability to relate layers of data for the same points in
space, combining, analysing and, finally, mapping out
the results. Spatial information uses location, within a
coordinate system, as its reference base. The most
common representation of spatial information is a map
on which the location of any point could be given using
latitude and longitude, or local grid references such as
the National Grid.

GIS & Related Mapping technologies

 In order to enable spatial data manipulation and results,

a GIS must include the following characteristics, based
on the above components:
a. A database management system (DBMS)
b. Analysis capability
c. Spatial geo-referencing
d. Graphics input and output
Related types of mapping software may have some
but not all of these capabilities:
 CAD: Computer Assisting Drawing, e.g. AutoCad, Microstation c, d
GDS: Graphic Design System, e.g. CorelDraw, Illustrator d
DBMS: Database Management System, e.g. Oracle, Sybase a
DIPS: Digital Image Processing System, e.g. PCI, Erdas b, c, d
GPS: Global Positioning Systems, e.g. Garmin, Trimble c, d

 Each of these may perform better than a GIS at their

specialty, but only a GIS has all four components:

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 What is GIS
 Maps have been used for thousands of years, but it is
only within the last few decades that the technology has
existed to combine maps with computer graphics and
databases to create geographic information systems or
GIS.

GIS is used to display and analyze spatial data which

are tied to a (relational) database. This connection is
what gives GIS its power: Maps can be drawn from the
database and data can be referenced from the maps.
When a database is updated, the associated map can
be dynamically updated as well. GIS databases include
a wide variety of information: geographic, social,
political, environmental, and demographic.

Topo Map of Kathmandu valley

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 How it works
 GIS uses layers, called "themes," to overlay different
types of information. Each theme represents a category
of information, such as roads or forest cover.

How GIS works

 Visualizing Your Data

 Like, standard database management systems, a GIS
provides tools that enable a user to query, manipulate and
summarize large quantities of data. Additionally, a GIS
enables you to link the tabular attribute data with the
mapped features so that you can visualize patterns in the
data across space.
 Ability
to combine multiple thematic layers for the
purpose of answering complex questions.
 Examples of thematic layers are roads, rivers or buildings.
The ability to combine these layers in a GIS allows us to
answer questions like: "Where are all of the rivers that are
within 25 meters of a road?"

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 How GIS works

 Combining Data
 One of the greatest advantages of using GIS is its capacity
to combine layers of data into a single map
 Layering data in a GIS allows users to analyze features in
one theme, relative to features in another theme.

 The Query
 A query is the same thing as a search. When you do a
query, you are asking a database to find all of the data that
is related to the terms, phrases, or features that you
choose.
 With GIS, you query the system by asking a question, or
series of questions, to the database system. It then
displays the data that relates to your query as a new theme.

The importance of geospatial data

 Spatial data have two essential parts: location and

attributes.
 A GIS requires locational references. Typical locational
references are latitude and longitude and national grid
references such as the National Grid. However, other
geospatial codes can also be used to identify location,
such as postcodes.
 Attributes. Any locality would have a number of
characteristics or properties associated with it. These
attributes are usually kept in tables, containing such
information as vegetation types, population, annual
income, and so on.
 GIS systems store and process data in two formats,
vector and raster.

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 Features – points, lines, polygons

Points: discrete locations of geographical features to small

to be depicted as lines or polygons

Lines: objects too narrow to be depicted as areas

Polygons: enclosed areas of homogeneous features

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Vector Model

 Point
VECTOR REPRESENTATION
 Line
 polygon

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 GIS data types: Vectors

 Vectors can be classified into three primary feature

types: points, lines and polygons.
 All vector data is stored as an x,y coordinate, or a series
of x,y coordinates.
 The main advantage of the vector data format is that it
allows precise representation of points, boundaries, and
linear features. This makes it particularly useful for
analysis tasks that require accurate positioning, for
example in engineering or cadastral boundary
databases

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 Surfaces
A surface describes an occurrence that has a value for every point on the
earth.

Examples of surface representations:

Raster datasets Contour bands TIN layers

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RASTER REPRESENTATION

ROW
COLUMN
CELLSIZE
RESOLUTION
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 Imagery

Raster data structures obtained from

various sensors carried in satellites and
aircrafts.

Composed of cells that are organized in a

grid of rows and columns.

Coordinate system of a raster dataset

includes cell size and reference coordinate
(e.g. upper left of the grid).

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Imagery - Examples

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 Attributes

Maps convey descriptive information through symbols, colors and labels.

Descriptive attributes of features are managed in tables.

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Advantages and Disadvantages of raster

and vector data models
RASTER MODEL VECTOR MODEL

Advantages Avantage
- simple data structure - compact data structure
- easy and efficient overlaying - efficient for network analysis
- compatible with RS imagery - efficient projection transformation
- high spatial variability is efficiently - accurate map output
represented
- simple for own programming
- same grid cells for several attributes

Disadvantages Disadvantages
- inefficient use of computer storage - complex data structure
- errors in perimeter, area, and shape - difficult overlay operations
- difficult network analysis - high spatial variability is
- inefficiently represented
- loss of information when using large - not compatible with RS imagery
cells
- less accurate (although attractive) maps
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 Hybrid GIS

Image
Processing

Raster GIS Hybrid GIS

Vector GIS

DMBS CADD System

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Data from Reports

Maps Other Geographic Information
System
Tabular Maps
Data

Collection Input Storage and Manipulation Output and Photographic

Field Data And Correction Retrieval and Analysis Reporting Product

Data From Statistics

Other Database
Other Geographic Information
System External Statistical
Remote Packages Data to Others
Sensing Digital Database

Global Position Data Input

System to Model

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 GIS data types: Raster

 In a GIS, raster data is a cell-based representation of

map features. Satellite images, aerial photography and
scannned images are all stored in raster format.
 Grid-cell structures are known as pixels.
 Pixel resolution represents the size of the ground area
covered by each pixel in the image
 The raster data model is good for representing indistinct
boundaries, such as thematic information on soil types,
soil moisture, vegetation, ground temperatures, and so
on
 the higher the grid resolution, the larger the data file is
going to be. This is the main limitation of raster based
GIS.

Fields of GIS application

Resource management

Environment Statistics

Geodesy
Engineering

Geology Geoinformation

Planning

Geography

Supply/Disposal Climatology

Transportation

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 Major areas of GIS application (more
detail)

 Different streams of planning

 Urban planning, housing, transportation planning
architectural conservation, urban design, landscape.
 Street Network Based Application
 It is an addressed matched application, vehicle routing and
scheduling: location and site selection and disaster
planning.
 Natural Resource Based Application
 Management and environmental impact analysis of wild
and scenic recreational resources, flood plain, wetlands,
forests, and wildlife.

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Major areas of GIS application

 View Shed Analysis

 Hazardous or toxic factories siting and ground water
modelling. Wild life habitat study and migrational route
planning.
 Land Parcel Based
 Zoning, sub-division plans review, land acquisition,
environment impact analysis, nature quality management
and maintenance etc.
 Facilities Management
 Can locate underground pipes and cables for maintenance,
planning, tracking energy use.

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 GIS softwares

 ARC/INFO
 ArcMap
 ArcEditor
 ArcView
 MapInfo
 SmallWorld
 Grass
 AutoCadMap
 GeoMedia
 ...

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 Some Way GIS is USED

Emergency Services – Fire & Police

Environmental – Monitoring & Modeling
Business – Site Location, Delivery Systems
Industry – Transportation, Communication, Mining,
Pipelines, Healthcare
Government – Local, State, Federal, Military
Education – Research, Teaching Tool,
Administration

Wherever Spatial Data Analysis is Needed

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NETWORK ANALYSIS

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 Questions?

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