Geographic Information System (GIS) &

Global Positioning System (GPS)

RE21
.
Week 4 Tutorial 4 : Data Capture

PNGUNRE
Vudal Camps

2025 Semester One (1)

Mr Rohan Bola
 Objective
Learn how to create and edit vector and
attribute data.

Keywords:
Editing, data capture, heads-up, ta- ble,
database
 Data Capture
Overview
• In the previous two topics we looked at vector data.
We saw that there are two key concepts to vector data,
namely: geometry and attributes. The geometry of a
vector feature describes its shape and position, while
the attributes of a vector feature describe its
properties (colour, size, age etc.).
• In this section we will look more closely at the
process of creating and editing vector data - both the
geometry and attributes of vector features.
 How does GIS digital data get stored?
Word processors, spreadsheets and graphics packages are all
programs that let you create and edit digital data. Each type of
application saves its data into a particular file format. For example, a
graphics program will let you save your drawing as a ’.jpg’ JPEG
image, word processors let you save your document as an ’.odt’
OpenDocument or ’.doc’ Word Document, and so on.
Just like these other applications, GIS Applications can store their
data in files on the computer hard disk. There are a number of
different file formats for GIS data, but the most common one is
probably the ’shape file’. The name is a little odd in that although we
call it a shape file (singular), it actually consists of at least three
different files that work together to store your digital vector data, as
shown in Table 9.
 How does GIS digital data get stored?
Table 9: The basic files that together make up a ’shapefile’.
Extension Description
.shp The geometry of vector features are stored in this file.
.dbf The attributes of vector features are stored in this file.
.shx This file is an index that helps the GIS Application to find features more
quickly.

When you look at the files that make up a shapefile on the computer
hard disk, you will see something like Figure 32. If you want to share
vector data stored in shapefiles with another person, it is important to
give them all of the files for that layer. So in the case of the trees
layer shown in 32, you would need to give the person trees.shp,
trees.shx, trees.dbf, trees.prj and trees.qml.
How does GIS digital data get stored?

Figure 32: The files that make up a ’trees’ shapefile as seen in the
computer’s file manager
 How does GIS digital data get stored?

• Many GIS Applications are also able to store digital

data inside a database. In general storing GIS
data in a database is a good solution because the
database can store large amounts of data
efficiently and can provide data to the GIS
Application quickly. Using a database also allows
many people to work with the same vector data
layers at the same time. Setting up a database to
store GIS data is more complicated than using
shapefiles, so for this topic we will focus on creating
and editing shapefiles.
 Planning before you begin

Before you can create a new vector layer (which will be

stored in a shapefile), you need know what the geometry
of that layer will be (point, polyline or polygon), and you
need to know what the attributes of that layer will be.
Let’s look at a few examples and it will become clearer
how to go about doing this.
 Planning before you begin
Example 1: Creating a tourism map

Imagine that you want to create a nice tourism map for your local area. Your vision of
the final map is a 1:50 000 toposheet with markers overlaid for sites of interest to
tourists. First, let’s think about the geometry. We know that we can represent a vector
layer using point, polyline or polygon features. Which one makes the most sense for
our tourism map? We could use points if we wanted to mark specific locations such as
look out points, memorials, battle sites and so on. If we wanted to take tourists along a
route, such as a scenic oute through a mountain pass, it might make sense to use
polylines. If we have whole areas that are of tourism interest, such as a nature reserve
or a cultural village, polygons might make a good choice.
As you can see it’s often not easy to know what type of geometry you will need. One
common approach to this problem is to make one layer for each geometry type you
need. So, for example, if you look at digital data provided by the Chief Directorate :
Surveys and Mapping, South Africa, they provide a river areas (polygons) layer and a
rivers polyline layer. They use the river areas (polygons) to represent river stretches
that are wide, and they use river polylines to represent narrow stretches of river. In
Figure 33 we can see how our tourism layers might look on a map if we used all three
geometry types.
Planning before you begin
Figure 33: A map with tourism layers. We have used three different geometry types
for tourism data so that we can properly represent the different kinds of features
needed for our visitors, giving them all the information they need
 Planning before you begin
Example 2: Creating a map of pollution levels along a river

If you wanted to measure pollution levels along the course of a river you
would typically travel along the river in a boat or walk along its banks. At
regular intervals you would stop and take various measurements such as
Dissolved Oxygen (DO) levels, Coliform Bacteria (CB) counts, Turbidity
levels and pH. You would also need to make a map reading of your
position or obtain your position using a GPS receiver.
To store the data collected from an exercise like this in a GIS Application,
you would probably create a GIS layer with a point geometry. Using point
geometry makes sense here because each sample taken represents the
conditions at a very specific place.
For the attributes we would want a field for each thing that describes the
sample site. So we may end up with an attribute table that looks
something like Table 10.
 Planning before you begin
Table 10: Drawing a table like this before you create your vector layer will let
you decide what attribute fields (columns) you will need. Note that the geometry
(positions where samples were taken) is not shown in the attribute table - the
GIS Application stores it separately!

SampleNo pH DO CB Turbidity Collector Date

1 7 6 N Low Patience 12/01/2009

2 6.8 5 Y Medium Thabo 12/01/2009

3 6.9 6 Y High Victor 12/01/2009

Create an empty shape (.shp) file
• Once you have planned what features you want to capture into the GIS, and
the geometry type and attributes that each feature should have, you can
move on to the next step of creating an empty shapefile.
• The process usually starts with choosing the ’new vector layer’ option in
your GIS Application and then selecting a geometry type (see Figure 34). As
we covered in an earlier topic, this means choosing either point, polyline or
polygon for the geometry.
• Next you will add fields to the attribute table. Normally we give field names
that are short, have no spaces and indicate what type of information is being
stored in that field. Example field names may be ’pH’, ’RoofColour’,
’RoadType’ and so on. As well as choosing a name for each field, you need to
indicate how the information should be stored in that field - i.e. is it a number,
a word or a sentence, or a date?
• Computer programs usually call information that is made up of words or
sentences ’strings’, so if you need to store something like a street name or
the name of a river, you should use string for the field type.
 Create an empty shape (.shp) file
Figure 34: Creating a new vector layer is as simple as filling in a few details in a
form. First you choose the geometry type, and then you add the attribute fields
 Create an empty shape (.shp) file
• The shapefile format allows you to store the numeric field information
as either a whole number (integer) or a decimal number (floating point)
- so you need to think before hand whether the numeric data you are
going to capture will have decimal places or not.
• The final step (as shown in Figure 35) for creating a shapefile is to give
it a name and a place on the computer hard disk where it should be
created. Once again it is a good idea to give the shapefile a short and
meaningful name. Good examples are ’rivers’, ’watersamples’ and so on.
• Let’s recap the process again quickly. To create a shapefile you first say
what kind of geometry it will hold, then you create one or more fields for
the attribute table, and then you save the shapefile to the hard disk using
an easy to recognise name. Easy as 1-2-3!
Create an empty shape (.shp) file
Figure 35: After defining our new layer’s geometry and attributes, we need
to save it to disk. It is important to give a short but meaningful name to your
shapefile
 Adding data to shape (.shp) file
• So far we have only created an empty shapefile. Now
we need to enable editing in the shapefile using the
’enable editing’ menu option or tool bar icon in the GIS
Application. Shapefiles are not enabled for editing by
default to prevent accidentally changing or deleting the
data they contain. Next we need to start adding data.
• There are two steps we need to complete for each
record we add to the shapefile:

• Capturing geometry
• Entering attributes
 Adding data to shape (.shp) file
The process of capturing geometry is different for points, polylines and
polygons.

To capture a point, you first use the map pan and zoom tools to get to
the correct geographical area that you are going to be recording data
for. Next you will need to enable the point capture tool. Having done
that, the next place you click with the left mouse button in the map
view, is where you want your new point geometry to appear. After you
click on the map, a window will appear and you can enter all of the
attribute data for that point (see Figure 36). If you are unsure of the
data for a given field you can usually leave it blank, but be aware that if
you leave a lot of fields blank it will be hard to make a useful map from
your data!
 Adding data to shape (.shp) file
Figure 36: After you have captured the point geometry, you will be asked to
describe its attributes. The attribute form is based on the fields you specified when
you created the vector layer
 Adding data to shape (.shp) file
• To capture a polyline the process is similar to that of a point,
in that you need to first use the pan and zoom tools to move
the map in the map view to the correct geographical area. You
should be zoomed in enough so that your new vector polyline
feature will have an appropriate scale (see Topic 2: Working
with Vector Data for more details on scale issues).
• When you are ready, you can click the polyline capture icon in
the tool bar and then start drawing your line by clicking on the
map. After you make your first click, you will notice that the line
stretches like an elastic band to follow the mouse cursor
around as you move it. Each time you click with the left mouse
button, a new vertex will be added to the map. This process is
shown in Figure 37.
 Adding data to shape (.shp) file
• When you have finished defining your line, use the right mouse
button to tell the GIS Application that you have completed your edits.
As with the procedure for capturing a point feature, you will then be
asked to enter in the attribute data for your new polyline feature.
• The process for capturing a polygon is almost the same as
capturing a polyline except that you need to use the polygon capture
tool in the tool bar. Also, you will notice that when you draw your
geometry on the screen, the GIS Application always creates an
enclosed area.
• To add a new feature after you have created your first one, you can
simply click again on the map with the point, polyline or polygon
capture tool active and start to draw your next feature.
• When you have no more features to add, always be sure to click the
’allow editing’ icon to toggle it off. The GIS Application will then save
your newly created layer to the hard disk.
 Adding data to shape (.shp) file
Figure 37: Capturing lines for a tourism map. When editing a line layer, the
vertices are shown with circular markers which you can move about with the
mouse to adjust the line’s geometry. When adding a new line (shown in red), each
click of the mouse will add a new vertex
 Heads-up digitizing
• As you have probably discovered by now if you followed the
steps above, it is pretty hard to draw the features so that
they are spatially correct if you do not have other features
that you can use as a point of reference.
• One common solution to this problem is to use a raster
layer (such as an aerial photograph or a satellite image) as
a backdrop layer. You can then use this layer as a reference
map, or even trace the features off the raster layer into your
vector layer if they are visible. This process is known as
’heads-up digitizing’ and is shown in Figure 38.
 Heads-up digitizing
Figure 38: Heads-up digitizing using a satellite image as a backdrop. The image
is used as a reference for capturing polyline features by tracing over them
 Digitizing using a digitizing table
• Another method of capturing vector data is to use a digitizing
table. This approach is less commonly used except by GIS
professionals, and it requires expensive equipment. The
process of using a digitizing table, is to place a paper map on
the table. The paper map is held securely in place using clips.
• Then a special device called a ’puck’ is used to trace features
from the map. Tiny cross-hairs in the puck are used to ensure
that lines and points are drawn accurately. The puck is
connected to a computer and each feature that is captured
using the puck gets stored in the computer’s memory. You can
see what a digitizing puck looks like in Figure 39.
Digitizing using a digitizing table
Figure 39: A digitizing table and puck are used by GIS professionals when
they want to digitize features from existing maps
After the features are digitized
Once your features are digitized, you can use
the techniques you learned in the previous Topic
to set the symbology for your layer. Choosing an
appropriate symbology will allow you to better
understand the data you have captured when
you look at the map.
Common problems/things to be aware of
If you are digitizing using a backdrop raster layer
such as an aerial photograph or satellite image, it
is very important that the raster layer is properly
georeferenced. A layer that is georeferenced
properly displays in the correct position in the map
view based on the GIS Application’s internal model
of the earth. We can see the effect of a poorly
georeferenced image in Figure 40.
 Common problems/things to be aware of
Figure 40: The importance of using properly georeferenced raster images for heads-up
digitizing. On the left we can see the image is properly geo-registered and the road
features (in orange) overlap perfectly. If the image is poorly georeferenced (as shown on
the right) the features will not be well aligned. Worse still, if the image on the right is used
as a reference when capturing new features, the newly captured data will be inaccurate
Common problems/things to be aware of

• Also remember that it is important that you are zoomed

in to an appropriate scale so that the vector features you
create are useful. As we saw in the previous topic on
vector geometry, it is a bad idea to digitize your data
when you are zoomed out to a scale of 1:1000 000 if you
intend to use the data you capture at a scale of 1:50 000
later.
 What have we learnt
Let’s wrap up what we covered in this worksheet:

Digitizing is the process of capturing knowledge of a feature’s

geometry and attributes into a digital format stored on the
computer’s disk.
• GIS Data can be stored in a database or as files.
• One commonly used file format is the shapefile which is
actually a group of three or more files (.shp, .dbf and .shx).
• Before you create a new vector layer you need to plan
both what geometry type and attribute fields it will
contain.
• Geometry can be point, polyline or polygon.
• Attributes can be integers (whole numbers), floating
points (decimal numbers), strings (words) or dates.
 What have we learnt
• The digitizing process consists of drawing the geometry in the
map view and then entering its attributes. This is repeated for
each feature.
• Heads-up digitizing is often used to provide orientation
during digitizing by using a raster image in the background.
• Professional GIS users sometimes use a digitizing table to
capture information from paper maps.
 Further reading to think about!
Here are some ideas for you to try with your learners:

• Draw up a list of features in this imagery that you think would be

interesting to capture. For example: the road, the position of fire of
these imagery of Kokopo township, and so on. Try to use a mix of
different geometry types. Now split your learners into groups and
assign each group a few features to capture. Have them symbolize
their layers so that they are more meaningful to look at. Combine
the layers from all the groups to create a nice map of Kokopo
township and its surroundings!
 Something to think about!
Something to think about

If you don’t have a computer available, you can follow the same
process by using transparency sheets and a notebook. Use an aerial
photo, ortho-sheet or satellite image printout as your background
layer. Draw columns down the page in your notebook and write in
the column headings for each attribute field you want to store
information about. Now trace the geometry of features onto the
transparency sheet, writing a number next to each feature so that it
can be identified. Now write the same number in the first column in
your table in your notebook, and then fill in all the additional
information you want to record.
 Further reading
Website:

http://www.k12science.org/curriculum/waterproj/S00project/miami2000/miamiriverfina
l.html

A school project to assess water quality in their local river.

The QGIS User Guide also has more detailed information on digitizing vector
data in QGIS.

What’s next?

In the section that follows we will take a closer look at raster data to learn all
about how image data can be used in a GIS.