Geographical Information Systems

IS311
Lecture 2
Dr. Soha Abd-El Moamen Mohamed
[email protected]
 Chapter 2
Data Models
 Data in a GIS
• Data include information on the spatial location and extent of the entities,
and information on their nonspatial properties.
• Each entity is represented by a spatial feature or cartographic object in the
GIS, and so there is an entity–object correspondence.
 A spatial data model
• A spatial data model may be defined as the objects in a spatial database plus
the relationships among them.
• Data model consists of two parts:
1. The first part is a set of polygons (closed areas) recording the edges of
distinct land uses,
2. The second part is a set of numbers or letters associated with each polygon.
 Coordinates
• Coordinates are used to define the spatial location and extent of geographic
objects.
• A coordinate most often consists of a pair or triplet of numbers that specify
location in relation to a point of origin.
• The coordinates quantify the distance from the origin when measured along
standard directions.
• Single or groups of coordinates are organized to represent the shapes and
boundaries that define the objects.
 Attribute data
• Attribute data complement coordinate
data to define cartographic objects.
• Attribute data are collected and
referenced to each object.
• These attribute data record the non-spatial
components of an object, such as a name,
color, pH, or cash value.
• Keys, labels, or other indices are used so
that the coordinate and attribute data may
be viewed, related, and manipulated
together.
 Layers
• Most conceptualizations view the world as a set
of layers.
• Each layer organizes the spatial and attribute
data for a given set of cartographic objects in the
region of interest. These are often referred to as
thematic layers.
 Attribute Data and Types
• Attribute data are used to record the nonspatial characteristics of an
entity.
• Attributes, also called items or variables, may be envisioned as a list of
characteristics that describe the features we represent in a GIS.
• Nominal attributes are variables that provide descriptive information
about an object.
• Ordinal attributes imply a ranking or order by their values. An ordinal
attribute may be descriptive, such as high, mid, or low, or it may be
numeric.
• Interval/ratio attributes are used for numeric items where both rank
order and absolute difference in magnitudes are represented.
 Common Spatial Data Models
• Spatial data models begin with a conceptualization.
• There are two main conceptualizations used for digital spatial data:
1. The first conceptualization defines discrete objects using a vector data model.
Vector data models use discrete elements such as points, lines, and polygons to
represent the geometry of realworld entities.
2. The second common conceptualization identifies and represents grid cells for a
given region of interest. This conceptualization employs a raster data model.
Raster cells are arrayed in a row and column pattern to provide “wall-to-wall”
coverage of a study region.
 Vector Data Models
• A vector data model uses sets of coordinates and associated attribute data to define
discrete objects.
• Groups of coordinates define the location and boundaries of discrete objects, and
these coordinate data plus their associated attributes are used to create vector
objects representing the real-world entities.
• There are three basic types of vector objects:
1. points,
2. lines,
3. and polygons
 Vector Data Models
• Attribute data are attached to each point, and these attribute data record the important nonspatial characteristics of the
point entities.
• Linear features, often referred to as lines or arcs, are represented as lines when using vector data models.
• Lines are most often represented as an ordered set of coordinate pairs. Each line is made up of line segments that run
between adjacent coordinates in the ordered set.
• A long, straight line may be represented by two coordinate pairs, one at the start and one at the end of the line.
• Curved linear entities are most often represented as a collection of short, straight, line segments, although curved lines are
at times represented by a mathematical equation describing a geometric shape.
• Lines typically have a starting point, an ending point, and intermediate points to represent the shape of the linear entity.
• Starting points and ending points for a line are sometimes referred to as nodes, while intermediate points in a line are
referred to as vertices.
• Attributes may be attached to the whole line, line segments, or to nodes and vertices along the lines.
 Vector Data Models
• Area entities are most often represented by closed polygons. These polygons
are formed by a set of connected lines, either one line with an ending point
that connects back to the starting point, or as a set of lines connected
start-to-end. Polygons have an interior region and may entirely enclose other
polygons in this region.
• Polygons may be adjacent to other polygons and thus share “bordering” or
“edge” lines with other polygons. Attribute data such as area, perimeter,
landcover type, or county name may be linked to each polygon.
 Vector Topology
• Vector data often contain vector topology, enforcing strict connectivity and
recording adjacency and planarity.
 Spaghetti data model
• In Spaghetti data model, lines may not intersect when they should, and may
overlap without connecting. The spaghetti model severely limits spatial data
analysis and is little used except for very basic data entry or translation.
 Topological models
• Topological models create an intersection and place a node at each line
crossing, record connectivity and adjacency, and maintain information on the
relationships between and among points, lines, and polygons in spatial data.
This greatly improves the speed, accuracy, and utility of many spatial data
operations.
• Polygon adjacency is an example of a topologically invariant property,
because the list of neighbors for any given polygon does not change during
geometric stretching or bending.
 Raster Data Models
• Raster data models define the world as a regular set of cells in a grid pattern.
Typically these cells are square and evenly spaced in the x and y directions.
The phenomena or entities of interest are represented by attribute values
associated with each cell location.
• Raster data models are the natural means to represent “continuous” spatial
features or phenomena. Elevation, precipitation, slope, and pollutant
concentration are examples of continuous spatial variables. These variables
characteristically show significant changes in value over broad areas.
Raster Data Models
 Raster Data Models
• Raster data sets have a cell dimension, defining the edge length for each
square cell. For example, the cell dimension may be specified as a square 30
meters on each side. The cells are usually oriented parallel to the x and y
directions, and the coordinates of a corner location are specified.
 Raster Data Models
• When the cells are square and aligned with the coordinate axes, the
calculation of a cell location is a simple process of counting and
multiplication. A cell location may be calculated from the cell size, known
corner coordinates, and cell row and column number.
• Ncell = Nlower-left + row * cell size
• Ecell = Elower-left + column * cell size
 Raster Data Models
• A raster data model may also be used to represent discrete data (Figure 2-33),
for example, to represent land cover in an area. Raster cells typically hold
numeric or single letter alphabetic characters. A coding scheme defines what
land cover type the discrete values signify. Each code may be found at many
raster cells.
Raster Data Models
Raster Features and Attribute Tables
A Comparison of Raster and Vector Data
Models