GIS DATA SOURCE, STRUCTURE AND
MANAGEMENT
MURTALA UBA MOHAMMED (PhD)
Introduction
• Data are needed for mapping, analysis, and modeling
• GIS uses data from wider sources; provided that the data has
reference to location and can be captured or converted into
digital format
• Broadly speaking, the data utilized by GIS can be classified into
two:
– Existing GIS Data
– Newly Created Data
1. EXISTING GIS DATA
• Were data exist and is available, GIS utilizes such kind of
data in its analysis
• This existing data could be in digital format, it can easily
be used directly or converted into format suitable for the
analysis
• Non-digital existing data to be used in GIS has to be
digitized and georeferenced before used in GIS
• Many countries have set up websites for sharing public
data and for directing users to the source of the desired
information
• The Internet is also a medium for finding existing data
from nonprofit organizations and private companies
• Spatial data infrastructure, clearinghouse, and
• A spatial data infrastructure (SDI) is a system that allows for the
acquiring, processing, distributing, using, maintaining, and
preserving of spatial data, it supported by Clearinghouse and
geoportal
• A clearinghouse provides access to geospatial data and related
online services for data access, visualization and order
• A geoportal offers multiple services, including links to data
services, news, references, a community forum, and often an
interactive data viewer.
• Example of geoportals include:
o Data.gov, (http://www.data.gov/)
o Geospatial Platform (http://www.geoplatform.gov/),
o INSPIRE (Infrastructure for Spatial Information in the European
Community), (http://inspire.ec.europa.eu/)
o The Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS)
• When using existing data in GIS, attention should be given to:
1. Metadata which refers to refers to the information about
geospatial data which are usually prepared and entered during
the data production process
2. Data Conversion to consider whether the format is compatible
with the GIS package in use one must first convert the data
2. CREATION OF NEW DATA
• Different data sources such Remotely Sensed Data, Survey Data,
GPS Data, digitizing a paper map etc are used to create new GIS
data
• Remotely Sensed Data
– Satellite images can be digitally processed to produce a wide
variety of thematic data for a GIS project.
– Land use/land cover data are typically derived from satellite
images. Other types of data include vegetation types, crop
health, eroded soils, geologic features
– Satellite images provide timely data and, if collected at regular
intervals, they can also provide temporal data valuable for
recording and monitoring changes in the terrestrial and aquatic
environments.
• Survey Data
– Survey data consist primarily of distances, directions, and
elevations
– In GIS, field survey typically provides data for determining parcel
boundaries. An angle and a distance can define a parcel boundary
between two stations (points)
– Coordinate geometry (COGO), a study of geometry and algebra,
provides the methods for creating geospatial data of points, lines,
and polygons from survey data
• GPS Data
– Using satellites in space as reference points, a global positioning
system (GPS) receiver can determine its precise position on the
Earth’s surface
– GPS data include the horizontal location based on a geographic or
projected coordinate system
– A collection of GPS positions along a line can determine a line
• Text Files with x-, y-Coordinates
– Geospatial data can be generated from a text file that contains
x-, y-coordinates, either geographic (in decimal degrees) or
projected.
– Each pair of x-, y-coordinates creates a point. Therefore, we can
create spatial data from a file with recorded locations of weather
stations, epicenters, or a hurricane track.
– A new data source for x-, y-coordinate data is geo tagged photos
or georeferenced photos. Photos taken with GPS-enabled digital
cameras or GPS-integrated cell phones are georeferenced.
– Flickr, the photo sharing and social networking website, provides
a geotagging tool.
• Digitizing
– Digitizing is the process of converting data from analog to
digital format. Tablet digitizing uses digitizing table,
containing built-in electronic mesh, which can sense the
position of the cursor.
– To transmit the x-, y-coordinates of a point to the connected
computer, the operator simply clicks on a button on the cursor
after lining up the cursor’s cross hair with the point.
– Large-size digitizing tables typically have an absolute accuracy
of 0.001 inch (0.003 centimeter).
– Many GIS packages have a built-in digitizing module for
manual digitizing. The module is likely to have tools that can
help move or snap a feature (i.e., a point or line) to a precise
location.
GIS DATA STRUCTURE
Two different views of objects/phenomena
– continuous fields: w=f(x,y), w=f(x,y,z)
each point in space is assigned a distinct value, change
between two neighboring points is relatively small: elevation,
precipitation
represented by raster data model, but vector model is also
used: meshes, TIN, isolines or points.
– discrete objects/features: lines, points or areas with
attributes
represented by vector data model as geometry(shape) with
attribute table or object based (geodatabase); raster
representation is also used : roads, streams, census blocks,
land use, schools
1. Vector Model
• The vector data model uses discrete objects to represent spatial
features on the Earth’s surface
• Vector data can be prepared in three basic steps.
1) classifies spatial features into points, lines, and polygons over an
empty space and represents the location and shape of these
features using points and their x-, y-coordinates.
2) structures the properties and spatial relationships of these
geometric objects in a logical framework.
3) codes and stores vector data in digital data files so that they can
be accessed, interpreted, and processed by the computer.
• The computer recognizes the format of the data files (i.e., how data
are structured and stored) by their extension
TOPOLOGY
• Topology refers to the study of those properties of geometric
objects that remain invariant under certain transformations such as
bending or stretching
• Topology can be explained through directed graphs (digraphs),
which show the arrangements of geometric objects and the
relationships among objects
• A set of topological primitives are often used to identify these
geometric objects with spatial relationships. An edge or arc is a
directed line with a starting point and an ending point
• The end points of an arc are nodes, and intermediate points, if any,
are vertices
• If an arc joins two nodes, the nodes are said to be adjacent and
incident with the arc
• Importance of Topology: it ensures data quality and integrity;
can enhance GIS analysis; allow GIS users to perform spatial data
The georelational data model
• The georelational data model stores geometries and attributes
separately in a split system. Geometries (“geo”) in graphic files in a
spatial subsystem and attributes (“relational”) in a relational
database
• Typically, a georelational data model uses the feature identification
number (ID) to link the two components.
• The two components must be synchronized so that they can be
queried, analyzed, and displayed in unison.
• The coverage and the shapefile are both examples of the georelational
data model, however, the coverage is topological, and the shapefile is
nontopological
• The coverage supports three basic topological relationship:
Connectivity: Arcs connect to each other at nodes. Area definition:
An area is defined by a series of connected arcs. Contiguity: Arcs
have directions and left and right polygons.
OBJECT-BASED DATA MODEL
• The latest entry in vector data models, the object-based data model
treats geospatial data as objects
• An object can represent a spatial feature such as a road, a timber
stand, or a hydrologic unit, can also represent a road layer or the
coordinate system on which the road layer is based
• The object-based data model differs from the georelational data
model in:
1)the object-based data model stores geometries and attributes in a
single system
2)allows a spatial feature (object) to be associated with a set of
properties and method
• A class is a set of objects with similar characteristics. A GIS package
such as ArcGIS uses thousands of classes.
2. Raster Data Model
• A better option for representing continuous
phenomena is the raster data model, also called the
field-based model.
• A raster is divided divides space into rows,
columns, and cells. Cells are also called pixels
with images.
• The origin of rows and columns is typically at
the upper-left corner of the raster
• Rows function as y-coordinates and columns as
x-coordinates.
• Each cell in the raster is explicitly defined by its
row and column position
• Raster data represent points with single cells,
lines with sequences of neighboring cells, and
polygons with collections of contiguous cells
Elements of Raster Data Model
• Cell values in a raster can be categorical or numeric. A land cover
raster, for example, contains categorical data with 1 for urban use, 2
for forest, 3 for water body, and so on. A precipitation raster, on the
other hand, contains numeric data such as 20.15, 12.23, and so forth
• The cell size of a raster refers to the size of the area represented by
a single cell. If a raster has a cell size of 100 m2, it means each side
of its cell 10m in length. The cell size determines the spatial
resolution of a raster. A 10-meter raster has a finer (higher)
resolution than a 30-meter raster
• The cell depth of a raster refers to the number of bits for storing
cell values. A higher cell depth means that the cell can store a wider
range of values. The way in which the cell values are stored can
determine the data volume
• A raster may have a single band or multiple bands. Each cell in a
single-band raster has only one cell value
THANK YOU
