Introduction

to
Geographic Information System
(GIS)
Dr. Mostafa Ali

By Dr. Mohamed Nour Eldien 1

Google Earth Geographic Web Browser

[Link]
By Dr. Mohamed Nour Eldien 2
Google Earth 3D With Terrain

By Dr. Mohamed Nour Eldien 3

Adding data to Google Earth

By Dr. Mohamed Nour Eldien 4

Table of content
 Chapter 1: Introduction to GIS
1.1. GIS Definitions and principals
1.2. History of GIS
1.3. GIS Main Concepts
1.4. GIS Functions
1.5. GIS Components
1.6. How To Use GIS (GIS Applications)
1.7. Data in GIS
1.8. Selecting the Right Data

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 1.1. GIS Definitions and principals

What is GIS?
GIS = Geographic Information System(s)

GIS is a collection of computer hardware, software, and

geographic data for capturing, managing, analyzing, and
displaying all forms of geographically referenced information.

Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI), 2007

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What is GIS?
GIS = Geographic Information System(s)

GIS is a collection of computer hardware, software, and

geographic data for capturing, managing, analyzing, and
displaying all forms of geographically referenced information.

Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI), 2007

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Definition of GIS (1)

Geographic Information System:

“An organized collection of computer hardware,
software, geographic data, and personnel
designed to efficiently capture, store, update,
manipulate, analyze and display all forms of
geographically referenced information.”
—from Understanding GIS—The ARC/INFO Method,
ESRI, 1993

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GIS

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What is a GIS?

Geographic Information System

Records

Fields

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 What is a GIS?
Information System

A means of storing,
retrieving, sorting,
+ and comparing
Geographic Position spatial data
to support some
analytic process.
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 What is GIS
How does a GIS
work ?

Satellite Data Other Digital

Data

Aerial Photographs

GIS New
Information

Digital Maps

Tabular Information

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 What is GIS “Geographic Information System”?
•A geographic information system (GIS) uses computers and software to control the
fundamental principle of geography—that location is important in people’s lives.
• GIS combines layers of information about a place to give you a better understanding of that
place.
• What layers of information you combine depends on
your purpose — finding the best location for a new store, analyzing environmental damage,
viewing similar crimes in a city to detect a pattern, and so on.

Why is this layering so important?

The power of a GIS over paper maps is your ability to
select the information you need to see according to what
goal you are trying to achieve.
 A business person trying to map customers in a
particular city will want to see very different
information than a water engineer who wants to see
the water pipelines for the same city.
 Both may start with a common map—a street and
neighborhood map of the city but the information they Integrate data in various
add to that map will differ. formats from many sources
using GIS.
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 The Basic Of GIS
• The short history of GIS (it goes back to the late 1960's) was founded in attempts in the UK, Canada
and US to automate some of the land-management and census activities of government.
• Figuring out how to do that, and how to explain what went wrong when they tried, was the start of the
science of GIS. It was realized that many map-related concepts that seem so simple to us (scale, a
boundary), required a lot of effort to teach to a computer.

What is a GIS?
• The name says it all, but we have to understand the implications of the words in the name.

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GIS and Related Software

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GIS concepts are not new!
 London cholera epidemic 1854

Soho

+Cholera death
Water pump

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Spatial information handling 1854

Soho

+Cholera death
Water pump

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1.2. History of GIS
 Prior to 1960
◦ GIS’s origins lie in thematic cartography.
◦ Many planners used the method of map overlay
using manual techniques.
 The 1960s and 1970s
◦ Many new forms of geographic data and mapping
software.
◦ First GIS developed in Canada for land use
inventory.
◦ Development of the first computer cartography
packages for mainframe computers.
◦ First remote sensing images.
◦ Mathematical Models.
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 The 1980s and 1990s
◦ First commercial GIS Packages.
◦ Diffusion of Microcomputers.
◦ Integration with other software (mainly CAD and
databases).
◦ US Census Bureau efforts in the 1980s:
 Digitize spatial, economic and demographic attributes of the
United States.
 Creation of the TIGER format (Topologically Integrated
Geographic Encoding and Reference ).
 The 2000s
◦ Integrated Information technologies with geography.
◦ Powerful applications on desktop computers.
◦ Web/network based data sources.
◦ Portable and inexpensive field GISs with GPS
capabilities.
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1.2 GIS Main Concepts
This section covers the two basic GIS concepts you need to know to effectively use any
GIS maps
GIS Concept #1: Features have attributes associated with them.
Imagine a tree. How would you keep track of and communicate information about this
tree to other people who need to know all about it? You might use a database to keep
track of what species it is, how old it is, how tall it is, how healthy it is, and any other
attributes that are important. This tree is one record in a database. We call each
category (i.e. tree height) a field. Now imagine a grove of
trees that you need to keep
track of attributes for.
Because we are now dealing
with more than one tree, it
becomes relevant where
each tree is so we know
what information relates to
which tree

Layers representing the real

world
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We map the location of each tree and identify which attributes belong to which tree.
This is the foundation of GIS. A GIS tells us where some is. Computers are
synonymous with GIS, and using a computer we can have hundreds of fields (different
attributes) for millions of records (trees).

GIS Concept # 2: Information is separated into layers.

We can also have other layers of information in our GIS.
Our infor-mation on trees would constitute one layer
of information. We could also have a layer with
rivers and a layer with soil types.
Any information can be represented as a layer

A map represents the landscape in an artificial way.

Vector layers represent features in one of several ways:
Points: A point is good for representing information
in which it is necessary to show where a feature is,
but its physical shape is not important
(i.e. trees in the old growth tree layer).
Lines: A line is suitable to represent many real world features
(i.e. the rivers in the river layer).
Polygons: Don't be intimidated by the name. It is really just a solid multi-sided shape.
When you see a polygon, remember that everything inside the boundary has the
attributes associated with the record. (i.e. soil types in the soils layer)

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Maps are Composed of Layers
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Roads

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You might hear people talk about coverage, Geodatabase, or shapefile. All
these terms are other names for layers of information.
With individual layers we can conduct analysis between layers and
only display layers of interest
How GIS deals with layered data?
GIS takes the numbers and
words from the rows and
columns in databases and
spreadsheets and puts them
on a map. Placing your data
on a map highlights where
you have many customers if
Combining attributes and Geometry in GIS
you own a store, or lots of
leaks in your water system if
you run a water company. It allows you to view, understand, question,
interpret, and visualize your data in ways simply not possible in the rows
and columns of a spreadsheet. And, with data on a map, you can ask more
questions. You can ask
“Where?,” “Why?,” and “How?,” all with the location information on hand.

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1.3. GIS Functions
 Data Input & Management
◦ Spatial
◦ Attribute
◦ Quality Control & Database Management
 Data Manipulation: Geo-processing
◦ Analysis & Modeling
 Information Output
◦ Maps, charts, tables, reports …

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Basic Structure of a GIS

Data Input

Geographic
Query
Database

Transformation
Output: Display
and Analysis

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 Spatial Data Modeling

Spatial Data
Spatial Analysis
Visualization & &
Spatial modeling
Attribute Data

Database Management System

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 Data Input

Digitize Scan GPS

Digital
Air Elevation
Satellite Imagery Photos Model
Tiger/Line

Transformation
Transformation

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Information Output
Output

• Maps
• Charts
•
Reports

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 Triad of Geography

Where

Why? How?
When What

 Where: locations
 When: time
 What: things  properties/attributes

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GIS Applied:
Two Big Questions

Where is what?
◦ Obtain information from a location

What is where?
◦ Query information to find location

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Methods of representing geographic space
Geometric data models

Vector

Raster

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Geometry, topology and attributes
 Geometry: coordinates and form of the
objects
 Topology: adjacency relations of objects
 Attributes: properties, values

Example: Country map of South America

Geometry: coordinates of the borders
Topology: the countries border
Attributes: names of countries, population,
etc. 32
By Dr. Mohamed Nour Eldien
1.4. GIS Components

 Organized collection of:

◦ Hardware
Software
◦ Network People
◦ Software
◦ Data Data
◦ People
◦ Procedures Network

Procedures

Hardware

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Scanner

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Digitizers

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Digitizer

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Typology of human errors in
digitizing:
(A) undershoots and overshoots;
(B) invalid polygons;
and (C) sliver polygons

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Error induced by data cleaning

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Mismatches of adjacent spatial data
sources that require rubber-sheeting

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1.5. How To Use GIS (GIS Applications)
1) Mapping Where Things Are
Mapping where things are lets you find
places that have the features you are
looking for and to see where to take
action.
Find a feature—People use maps to see
where or what an individual feature
is.
Finding patterns—By looking at the
distribution of features on the map
instead of just an individual feature,
you can see patterns emerge.
2) Mapping Quantities
People map quantities, such as
where the most and least are, to
find places that meet their criteria
and take action, or to see the
relationships between places. This
gives an additional level of
information beyond simply
mapping the locations of features.
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3) Mapping Densities
While you can see concentrations by
simply mapping the locations of features,
in areas with many features it may be
difficult to see which areas have a
higher concentration than others.
A density map lets you measure the
number of features using a uniform unit,
such as acres or square miles, so you can clearly
see the distribution. Mapping density is especially
useful when mapping areas, such as census tracts
or counties, that vary greatly in size. on maps showing
the number of people per census tract, the larger
tracts might have more people than smaller ones. But some smaller tracts might have
more people per square mile—a higher density.

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4) Finding What's Inside
Use GIS to monitor what is happening
and to take specific action by mapping what is inside a specific area. For example, a
district attorney would monitor drug-related arrests to find out if an arrest is
within 1,000 feet of a school—if so, stiffer penalties apply

5) Mapping Change
Map the change in an area to anticipate future conditions,
decide on a course of action, or to evaluate the results of
an action or policy.
1) By mapping where and how things move over a period
of time, you can gain insight into how they behave.
For example, a meteorologist might study the paths of
hurricanes to predict where and when they might occur
in the future.

2) Map change to anticipate future needs. For example,

a police chief might study how crime patterns change from
month to month to help decide where officers should
be assigned.
3) Map conditions before and after an action or event to see the impact. A retail
analyst might map the change in store sales before and after a regional ad
campaign to see where the advertisements were most effective .

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Here we are seeking to find out what exists at
a particular location.
 A location can be described in many different

ways using, for example, place name, or

latitude and longitude coordinates

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Identifier: 565-88-221
Area: 108,900,245
Owner: John Morris
Address: 3233 Texas St.
Zoned land use: Industrial
Assessment: $950,000

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 Getting other types of information about a feature

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 Instead of identifying what exists at a
given location, you want to find a location
where certain conditions are satisfied.
For example, you wish to find a house
assessed at less than $200,000 with 4
bedrooms and made of wood.

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 Find features based on attributes they share

Map Result

4 Bedrooms Within a
certain price
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More than a certain area

This seeks to discover the
differences between an area
as the result of the passing
of time.

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City in 1950 City in 1990

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This seeks to discover what types of
patterns may exist in the newly
created data file that were not
visible before.
For example you may wish to know
where motor vehicle accidents
occur and at what times.

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What kinds of patterns exist for motor vehicle accidents?
Where do they occur and at what times?
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 GIS locates features with regards to their location
to each other:
◦ Features adjacent to…
◦ Features within a certain distance
◦ Features within a certain area
◦ Etc…

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  Looking for an apartment within 0.5 km from high
school

Apartments
Schools for sale
within
High School Apartments 0.5 km
forBysale
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Major Areas of Practical
Application of GIS Technology

Street Network-Based

 vehicle routing and

scheduling
 location analysis, site
selection
 development of
evacuation plans

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Major Areas of Practical
Application of GIS Technology

Facilities Management

• locating underground
pipes, cables
• balancing loads in
electrical networks
• planning facility
maintenance
• tracking energy use

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Major Areas of Practical
Application of GIS Technology

Land Parcel-Based

• zoning, subdivision plan review

• land acquisition
• environmental impact statement
• water quality management

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Major Areas of Practical
Application of GIS Technology

Natural Resource-Based

• forest management
• habitat, migration routes management
• wild and scenic rivers preservation
• recreation resources planning
• wetland preservation
• agricultural lands management
• groundwater modeling and
contamination tracking

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1.6. Data in GIS
Using Geographic Data
A GIS stores information about the world as a collection of themed layers that can be
used together. A layer can be anything that contains similar features such as
customers, buildings, streets, lakes, or postal codes.
This data contains either an explicit geographic reference, such as a latitude and
longitude coordinate, or an implicit reference such as an address, postal code, census
tract name, forest stand identifier, or road name.
To work, a GIS requires explicit references. A GIS can create these explicit references
from implicit references by an automated process called "geocoding," or tying
something like an address to a specific point on the earth.
Why is data important?
To create maps using GIS, you need good data. For example, if you are trying to see
the locations of your customers, you will use your database of customer addresses to
make that map. You need to ensure those addresses are correct for the map to be
useful.
Data Types and Models
Data for a GIS comes in three basic forms, all of which are demonstrated in the map to
the right:
• Vector data.
• Tabular data.
• Raster data.

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Basic Data Models (Graphics)
 There are two types of GIS Data Models:
(models used for graphic representation of geographic space)

1. Vector
2. Raster
Note: A database structure need seldom be made to suit a data
model. But a well prepared data model is vital for a
successful GIS analysis.

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 DATA MODEL OF RASTER AND VECTOR

1 2 3 4 5 6
REAL
7 8
WORLD
9
10

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10

GRID RASTER VECTOR 67

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Spatial Encoding - RASTER

POINT 0 0 0
0 1 0
0 0 0
5 5 3
AREA 1 3 3
1 1 2

LINE 1 0 0
0 1 0
0 0 1

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 Spatial Encoding - VECTOR
POINT - x, y * a single node
with NO area
LINE - x1, y1 * a connection of
(Arcs) - x2, y2 nodes (vertices)
. beginning with a
. “to” and ending
- xN, yN with a “from”

Area - x1, y1 * a series of arc(s)

(Polygons) - x2, y2 that close around
. a “label” point
.
- xN, yN (closure Point)
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 Raster Models
 Quantizes or divides space into discrete packets (cells),
each representing a part of the whole
 Cells are of equal size square, rectangular, hexagon,
triangles
 Loose the ability to represent exact locations (e.g., point
represented as single cell)
 Zero dimensional object rep. with 2D feature
 Lines represented as a series of connected cells
 Multiple cells joined at edges or corners, usually with
only 1 or 2 neighbors, 1D objects represented in 2D
 Areas represented as a series of connected cells
 2D objects represented in 2D, cells distort area and
shape - stairs-stepped appearance

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 Like the vector data model, the raster data model can represent discrete point, line and area features.

 A point feature is represented as a value in a single cell, a linear feature as a series of connected cells that portray length, and an area feature as a group of connected cells portraying shape.

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Generic structure for a grid

Grid extent

Grid
cell
Rows

Resolution

Columns

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 Because the raster data model is a regular grid, spatial relationships
are implicit. Therefore, explicitly storing spatial relationships is not
required as it is for the vector data model.

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 Vector Models
 Features represented in basically the same way as
an analog map, permits more precise representation
than raster model, permits "empty space”,
variations of the vector model
 Spaghetti models
 Simplest of vector data structures
 Does not explicitly store spatial relationships
(topology), essentially X,Y coordinates, and which
should be connected by lines
 Doesn’t really "know" if points and connected lines
form a line entity or poly entity
 Topological models
 Recognizes the concept of an entity
 Stores spatial relationship information explicitly
associated with each entity, most common in GIS
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Feature Geometry

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Vector Representation

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Vector to Raster

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Raster Representation

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Vector Vs. Raster

Vector Raster
Compact data greater storage needed
structure - little
storage space
Topology more easily Topology difficult
maintained (lines have
direction)
Arcs more Grids not very
aesthetically pleasing aesthetic
Data structure more Data structure more
complex simple
Better geographic Limited geographic
specificity specificity (due to
resolution)
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 PRO AND CONS OF RASTER MODEL
 pro
◦ raster data is more affordable
◦ simple data structure
◦ very efficient overlay operation
 cons
◦ topology relationship difficult to implement
◦ raster data requires large storage
◦ not all world phenomena related directly with
raster representation
◦ raster data mainly is obtained from satellite
images and scanning

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 PRO AND CONS OF VECTOR MODEL

 pro
◦ more efficient data storage
◦ topological encoding more efferent
◦ suitable for most usage and compatible with
data
◦ good graphic presentation
 cons
◦ overlay operation not efficient
◦ complex data structure

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Raster or Vector?
While any feature type can be represented using either model, discrete features,
such as customer locations, pole locations or others, and data summarized by
area such as postal code areas or lakes, are usually represented using the
vector model. Continuous categories, such as soil type, rainfall, or elevation,
are represented as either vector
or raster.
C. Tabular data
Tabular data is information describing a
map feature. For example, a map of
customer locations may be linked
to demographic information about those
Customers Tabular data for use in a GIS can
be purchased already packaged
with spatial data or it can be found in
your own organization.

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Attribute data
 The “I” in GIS
 GIS are often split into two components
◦ Coordinate information (describes object
geometry or spatial information)

◦ Attribute information (describes other non-spatial

properties associate with it)
 Often referred as tabular data as they are presented
in tabular form

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Databases - cont.

 GIS data components - spatial & non-spatial

Bolstad, 2005
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Attribute Information Presentation
 In GIS, attribute information are typically
entered, analyzed, and presented using a
database management system (DBMS)

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DBMS Functions
 DBMS incorporates a special set of software
tools to manage the GIS non-spatial tabular
data
◦ Efficient data storage
◦ Data retrieval
◦ Data indexing
◦ Data reporting

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Attribute Tables: Database in ArcGIS

Fields/Attributes

Records
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 1.7. Selecting the Right Data
As you search for data for your GIS, you will go through a process of making a wish
list and investigating data that meets your criteria. Following are the most
important issues you will need to consider to determine which data you need.

1- What do you want to do with the data?

Do you want to draw maps or do a certain type of analysis? Do you want to match
customers
to street addresses or to telephone exchange areas? Do you simply want to draw an
accurate
street map, or do you want to use the GIS software to develop delivery routes?
Consider carefully how you answer these questions because the answers will likely
govern
your answers to the following questions. Take into account your medium- or long-
term goals
as well as those you want to accomplish now.

2- What are the specific geographic features you need?

To gain the most understanding from your GIS, determine the level of detail required
from your data. For example, do you want all streets or major highways? If so, at
what level of generalization—major highways at a "local" scale, such as 1:24,000,
or at a "national" scale, such as 1:3,000,000. Even for a seemingly simple feature
such as streets, you may need to decide how you want them represented
(centerlines, double-lined streets, or connected routes).
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3- What attributes of those features do you need?
Using streets as an example, depending on your goals you will have to determine
whether you need none, some, or all of the following attributes: street name, route
number, road class, road surface class, address ranges, traffic volume, and under-
or overpass.
4- What is the geographic extent of your area of interest?
Data can be acquired for areas as small as a ZIP Code or census block or as large
as the entire world. You will need to determine the size of the area for which you
need data.
5- What is the level of geography you want to examine within your area of interest?
Your area of interest can often be broken down into smaller areas. Within a state,
for example, you may want to examine statistics by census tract, block group, ZIP
Code, or cable TV area.
6- How current must the data be?
For some applications, such as land use planning using remotely sensed imagery
or aerial photography, obtaining the latest data available is critical. For other
applications, data that was collected a year or two before may be adequate.
7- What GIS software will you be using?
The answer to this question may affect the data format you select.
8- When do you need the data?
Many "off-the-shelf" data sets can be acquired in a couple of business days, but if
you need customized data sets, plan ahead. Orders that require customization
may take up to several weeks to prepare and deliver.
9- Will you need periodic data updates and, if so, how frequently?
Determine if complete replacements of the data are preferred or if you require
transactional updates (changes only). By Dr. Mohamed Nour Eldien 89