Geographical Information System (GIS)

Introduction
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.

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
ways in which planners, engineers, managers etc. conduct the database management and
analysis.

Answers GIS can give

Till now GIS has been described in two ways:

1. Through formal definitions, and

2. Through technology's ability to carry out spatial operations, linking data sets
together.

However there is another way to describe GIS by listing the type of questions the
technology can (or should be able to) answer. Location, Condition, Trends, patterns,
Modelling, Aspatial questions, Spatial questions. There are five type of questions that a
sophisticated GIS can answer:

Location What is at………….?

The first of these questions seeks to find out what exists at a particular location. A
location can be described in many ways, using, for example place name, post code, or
geographic reference such as longitude/latitude or x/y.

Condition Where is it………….?

The second question is the converse of the first and requires spatial data to answer.
Instead of identifying what exists at a given location, one may wish to find location(s)
where certain conditions are satisfied (e.g., an unforested section of at-least 2000 square
meters in size, within 100 meters of road, and with soils suitable for supporting buildings)
Trends What has changed since…………..?
The third question might involve both the first two and seeks to find the differences (e.g.
in land use or elevation) over time.
Patterns What spatial patterns exists…………..?
This question is more sophisticated. One might ask this question to determine whether
landslides are mostly occurring near streams. It might be just as important to know how
many anomalies there are that do not fit the pattern and where they are located.

Modelling What if……………..?

"What if…" questions are posed to determine what happens, for example, if a new road is
added to a network or if a toxic substance seeps into the local ground water supply.
Answering this type of question requires both geographic and other information (as well
as specific models). GIS permits spatial operation.

Aspatial Questions
"What's the average number of people working with GIS in each location?" is an aspatial
question - the answer to which does not require the stored value of latitude and longitude;
nor does it describe where the places are in relation with each other.

Spatial Questions
" How many people work with GIS in the major centres of Delhi" OR " Which centres lie
within 10 Kms. of each other? ", OR " What is the shortest route passing through all these
centres". These are spatial questions that can only be answered using latitude and
longitude data and other information such as the radius of earth. Geographic Information
Systems can answer such questions.

Need of GIS?
Many professionals, such as foresters, urban planners, and geologists, have recognized
the importance of spatial dimensions in organising & analysing information. Whether a
discipline is concerned with the very practical aspects of business, or is concerned with
purely academic research, geographic information system can introduce a perspective,
which can provide valuable insights as

1. 70% of the information has geographic location as it's denominator making spatial
analysis an essential tool.
2. Ability to assimilate divergent sources of data both spatial and non-spatial
(attribute data).
3. Visualization Impact
4. Analytical Capability
5. Sharing of Information

Components of GIS
GIS constitutes of five key components:

Hardware

Software

Data

People

Method

Hardware
It consists of the computer system on which the GIS software will run. The choice of
hardware system range from 300MHz Personal Computers to Super Computers having
capability in Tera FLOPS. The computer forms the backbone of the GIS hardware, which
gets it's input through the Scanner or a digitizer board. Scanner converts a picture into a
digital image for further processing. The output of scanner can be stored in many formats
e.g. TIFF, BMP, JPG etc. A digitizer board is flat board used for vectorisation of a given
map objects. Printers and plotters are the most common output devices for a GIS
hardware setup.

Software
GIS software provides the functions and tools needed to store, analyze, and display
geographic information. GIS softwares in use are MapInfo, ARC/Info, AutoCAD Map,
etc. The software available can be said to be application specific. When the low cost GIS
work is to be carried out desktop MapInfo is the suitable option. It is easy to use and
supports many GIS feature. If the user intends to carry out extensive analysis on GIS,
ARC/Info is the preferred option. For the people using AutoCAD and willing to step into
GIS, AutoCAD Map is a good option.

Data
Geographic data and related tabular data can be collected in-house or purchased from a
commercial data provider. The digital map forms the basic data input for GIS. Tabular
data related to the map objects can also be attached to the digital data. A GIS will
integrate spatial data with other data resources and can even use a DBMS, used by most
organization to maintain their data, to manage spatial data.

People
GIS users range from technical specialists who design and maintain the system to those
who use it to help them perform their everyday work. The people who useGIS can be
broadly classified into two classes. The CAD/GIS operator, whose work is to vectorise
the map objects. The use of this vectorised data to perform query, analysis or any other
work is the responsibility of a GIS engineer/user.

Method
And above all a successful GIS operates according to a well-designed plan and business
rules, which are the models and operating practices unique to each organization. There
are various techniques used for map creation and further usage for any project. The map
creation can either be automated raster to vector creator or it can be manually vectorised
using the scanned images. The source of these digital maps can be either map prepared by
any survey agency or satellite imagery.

Data in GIS:
Spatial and Non-spatial data
Geographic data are organized in a geographic database. This database can be considered
as a collection of spatially referenced data that acts as a model of reality. There are two
important components of this geographic database: its geographic position and its
attributes or properties. In other words, spatial data (where is it?) and attribute data (what
is it?)

Geographic or Spatial Data Types

GIS data represents real world objects (roads, land use, elevation) with digital data. Real
world objects can be divided into two abstractions: discrete objects (a house) and
continuous fields (rain fall amount or elevation). There are two broad methods used to
store data in a GIS for both abstractions: Raster and Vector.

Raster:

Raster data type consists of rows and columns of cells, with each cell storing a single
value. Raster data can be images (raster images) with each pixel (or cell) containing a
color value. Additional values recorded for each cell may be a discrete value, such as
land use, a continuous value, such as temperature, or a null value if no data is available.
While a raster cell stores a single value, it can be extended by using raster bands to
represent RGB (red, green, blue) colors, color maps (a mapping between a thematic code
and RGB value), or an extended attribute table with one row for each unique cell value.
The resolution of the raster data set is its cell width in ground units.

Raster data is stored in various formats; from a standard file-based structure of TIF,
JPEG, etc. to binary large object (BLOB) data stored directly in a relational database
management system (RDBMS) similar to other vector-based feature classes. Database
storage, when properly indexed, typically allows for quicker retrieval of the raster data
but can require storage of millions of significantly-sized records.

Vector:
Geographic object can be shown by FOUR type of representation viz., points, lines,
areas, and continuous surfaces.

Point Data
Points are the simplest type of spatial data. They are-zero dimensional objects with only a
position in space but no length.

Line Data
Lines (also termed segments or arcs) are one-dimensional spatial objects. Besides having
a position in space, they also have a length.

Area or Polygon Data

Areas (also termed polygons) are two-dimensional spatial objects with not only a position
in space and a length but also a width (in other words they have an area).

Continuous Surface
Continuous surfaces are three-dimensional spatial objects with not only a position in
space, a length and a width, but also a depth or height (in other words they have a
volume). These spatial objects have not been discussed further because most GIS do not
include real volumetric spatial data.

Advantages and disadvantages

There are advantages and disadvantages to using a raster or vector data model to
represent reality. Raster datasets record a value for all points in the area covered which
may require more storage space than representing data in a vector format that can store
data only where needed. Raster data also allows easy implementation of overlay
operations, which are more difficult with vector data. Vector data can be displayed as
vector graphics used on traditional maps, whereas raster data will appear as an image
that, depending on the resolution of the raster file, may have a blocky appearance for
object boundaries. Vector data can be easier to register, scale, and re-project. This can
simplify combining vector layers from different sources. Vector data is more compatible
with relational database environments. They can be part of a relational table as a normal
column and processed using a multitude of operators.

The file size for vector data is usually much smaller for storage and sharing than raster
data. Image or raster data can be 10 to 100 times larger than vector data depending on the
resolution. Another advantage of vector data is that it is easy to update and maintain. For
example, a new highway is added. The raster image will have to be completely
reproduced, but the vector data, "roads," can be easily updated by adding the missing
road segment. In addition, vector data allows much more analysis capability, especially
for "networks" such as roads, power, rail, telecommunications, etc. For example, with
vector data attributed with the characteristics of roads, ports, and airfields, allows the
analyst to query for the best route or method of transportation. In the vector data, the
analyst can query the data for the largest port with an airfield within 60 miles and a
connecting road that is at least two lane highway. Raster data will not have all the
characteristics of the features it displays.
Attribute or Non-spatial Data

Additional non-spatial data can also be stored along with the spatial data represented by
the coordinates of a vector geometry or the position of a raster cell. In vector data, the
additional data contains attributes of the feature. For example, a forest inventory polygon
may also have an identifier value and information about tree species. In raster data the
cell value can store attribute information, but it can also be used as an identifier that can
relate to records in another table.

There is also software being developed to support spatial and non-spatial decision-
making. In this software, the solutions to spatial problems are integrated with solutions to
non-spatial problems. The end result it is hoped with these Flexible Spatial Decision-
Making Support Systems (FSDSS) will be that non experts can use GIS and spatial
criteria with their other non spatial criteria to view solutions to multi-criteria problems
that will support decision making. Example of non-spatial data is shown in table below:

District Name Area Population

Noida 395 sq. Km. 6,75,341
Ghaziabad 385 sq. Km. 2,57,086
Mirzapur 119 sq. Km. 1,72,952

Projections, coordinate systems and registration

A property ownership map and a soils map might show data at different scales. Map
information in a GIS must be manipulated so that it registers, or fits, with information
gathered from other maps. Before the digital data can be analyzed, they may have to
undergo other manipulations—projection and coordinate conversions, for example—that
integrate them into a GIS.

The earth can be represented by various models, each of which may provide a different
set of coordinates (e.g., latitude, longitude, elevation) for any given point on the earth's
surface. The simplest model is to assume the earth is a perfect sphere. As more
measurements of the earth have accumulated, the models of the earth have become more
sophisticated and more accurate. In fact, there are models that apply to different areas of
the earth to provide increased accuracy (e.g., North American Datum, 1927 - NAD27 -
works well in North America, but not in Europe).

Projection is a fundamental component of map making. A projection is a mathematical

means of transferring information from a model of the Earth, which represents a three-
dimensional curved surface, to a two-dimensional medium—paper or a computer screen.
Different projections are used for different types of maps because each projection
particularly suits certain uses. For example, a projection that accurately represents the
shapes of the continents will distort their relative sizes.

Since much of the information in a GIS comes from existing maps, a GIS uses the
processing power of the computer to transform digital information, gathered from sources
with different projections and/or different coordinate systems, to a common projection
and coordinate system. For images, this process is called rectification.

Data modeling

It is difficult to relate wetlands maps to rainfall amounts recorded at different points such
as airports, television stations, and high schools. A GIS, however, can be used to depict
two- and three-dimensional characteristics of the Earth's surface, subsurface, and
atmosphere from information points. For example, a GIS can quickly generate a map
with isopleth or contour lines that indicate differing amounts of rainfall.

Such a map can be thought of as a rainfall contour map. Many sophisticated methods can
estimate the characteristics of surfaces from a limited number of point measurements. A
two-dimensional contour map created from the surface modeling of rainfall point
measurements may be overlaid and analyzed with any other map in a GIS covering the
same area.

Additionally, from a series of three-dimensional points, or digital elevation model,

isopleth lines representing elevation contours can be generated, along with slope analysis,
shaded relief, and other elevation products. Watersheds can be easily defined for any
given reach, by computing all of the areas contiguous and uphill from any given point of
interest.

Networks

If all the factories near a wetland were accidentally to release chemicals into the river at
the same time, how long would it take for a damaging amount of pollutant to enter the
wetland reserve? A GIS can simulate the routing of materials along a linear network.
Values such as slope, speed limit, or pipe diameter can be incorporated into network
modeling in order to represent the flow of the phenomenon more accurately. Network
modelling is commonly employed in transportation planning, hydrology modeling, and
infrastructure modeling.

An example of use of layers in a GIS application. In this example, the forest cover layer
(light green) is at the bottom, with the topographic layer over it. Next up is the stream
layer, then the boundary layer, then the road layer. The order is very important in order to
properly display the final result. Note that the pond layer was located just below the
stream layer, so that a stream line can be seen overlying one of the ponds.

Map overlay
The combination of several spatial datasets (points, lines or polygons) creates a new
output vector dataset, visually similar to stacking several maps of the same region. These
overlays are similar to mathematical Venn diagram overlays. A union overlay combines
the geographic features and attribute tables of both inputs into a single new output. An
intersect overlay defines the area where both inputs overlap and retains a set of attribute
fields for each. A symmetric difference overlay defines an output area that includes the
total area of both inputs except for the overlapping area.

Data extraction is a GIS process similar to vector overlay, though it can be used in either
vector or raster data analysis. Rather than combining the properties and features of both
datasets, data extraction involves using a "clip" or "mask" to extract the features of one
data set that fall within the spatial extent of another dataset.

In raster data analysis, the overlay of datasets is accomplished through a process known
as "local operation on multiple rasters" or "map algebra," through a function that
combines the values of each raster's matrix. This function may weigh some inputs more
than others through use of an "index model" that reflects the influence of various factors
upon a geographic phenomenon.

GIS Applications
Computerized mapping and spatial analysis have been developed simultaneously in
several related fields. The present status would not have been achieved without close
interaction between various fields such as utility networks, cadastral mapping,
topographic mapping, thematic cartography, surveying and photogrammetery remote
sensing, image processing, computer science, rural and urban planning, earth science, and
geography.

The GIS technology is rapidly becoming a standard tool for management of natural
resources. The effective use of large spatial data volumes is dependent upon the existence
of an efficient geographic handling and processing system to transform this data into
usable information.

The GIS technology is used to assist decision-makers by indicating various alternatives in

development and conservation planning and by modelling the potential outcomes of a
series of scenarios. It should be noted that any task begins and ends with the real world.
Data are collected about the real world. Of necessity, the product is an abstraction; it is
not possible (and not desired) to handle every last detail. After the data are analysed,
information is compiled for decision-makers. Based on this information, actions are taken
and plans implemented in the real world.

Major areas of application


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, acquifers, forests, and wildlife.

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.