The Data Model

A logical data model is how data are organized for use by the GIS.
GISs have traditionally used either raster or vector for maps.

Raster
The raster spatial data model is one of a family of spatial data models described as
tessellations.
In the raster world individual cells are used as the building blocks for creating
images of point, line, area, network and surface entities.
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.
Logically, raster data are organized into layers which are also called variously as
hands, themes, or overlays. Depending on the application objectives, a raster
geospatial database often contains multiple layers of data. Each of the layers
depicts a specific characteristic of Earth's surface, such as topography, soil type,
hydrology, vegetation cover, or land use. In each cell of a particular layer, there is
one and only one thematic attribute or value.
Raster layers are best used to represent continuous spatial phenomena such as
elevation, temperature and pollution concentration. Discrete spatial features such
as roads, rivers and lakes, land parcels, as land-use and land-cover types may be
represented

Points as Cells

Line as a Sequence of Cells

Polygon as a Zone of Cells

Cell Networks

Grid Zones

Value attribute table for

categorical (integer) grid data

Attributes of grid zones

Tessellation
Partition of space into mutually exclusive cells that together make up the
complete study space.
With each cell, some (thematic) value is associated to characterize that part
of space.
Also known as discrete model, spatial resolution model, tiling, or meshes
The size of the area that a raster cell represents is called the rasters
resolution.
It can be
Regular
Irregular
Regular tessellations provide simple structures with straightforward
algorithms. The cell boundaries are both artificial and fixed they may or
may not coincide with the boundaries of the phenomenon of interest

Tessellation

Regular

Square Cell

Hexagonal
Cell

Irregular

Triangular
Cell

Figure 1.5: Types of Tesellation

Quadtree

Cadastral
Zone

Thiessen
Polygon

Regular tessellations
In a regular tessellation, the cells are the same shape and size. The simplest
example is a rectangular raster of unit squares, represented in a computer in the
2D case as an array of n m elements.
All regular tessellations have in common that the cells are of the same shape
and size, and that the field attribute value assigned to a cell is associated with
the entire area occupied by the cell.
The square cell tessellation is by far the most commonly used, mainly because
georeferencing a cell is so straightforward. Square, regular tessellations are
known under various names in different GIS packages: raster or raster map.
The size of the area that a raster cell represents is called the rasters resolution.
Sometimes, the word grid is also used, but strictly speaking, a grid is an equally
spaced collection of points, which all have some attribute value assigned. They
are often used for discrete measurements that occur at regular intervals. Grid
points are often considered synonymous with raster cells.

Figure 1.6: Regular tessellations: (a) grid squares and (b)hexagonal cells
(c) triangular cells.

 Square grid: equal length sides

conceptually simplest
cells can be recursively divided
into cells of same shape
4-connected
neighborhood
(above, below, left, right) (rooks
case)
all neighboring cells are
equidistant
8-connected neighborhood (also
include diagonals) (queens
case)
all neighboring cells not
equidistant
center of cells on diagonal is
1.41 units away (square root
of 2)

rectangular
commonly
occurs
for
lat/long when projected
data collected at 1degree by
1 degree will be varying
sized rectangles
triangular
(3-sided)
and
hexagonal (6-sided)
all adjacent cells and points
are equidistant

 An important advantage of regular tessellations is that we a priori know

how they partition space, and we can make our computations specific to
this partitioning. This leads to fast algorithms.
An obvious disadvantage is that they are not adaptive to the spatial
phenomenon we want to represent. The cell boundaries are both artificial
and fixed: they may or may not coincide with the boundaries of the
phenomenon of interest. Adaptivity to the phenomenon to represent can pay
off. Suppose regular tessellations is used to represent elevation in a
perfectly flat area. Then, clearly we need as many cells as in a strongly
undulating terrain: the data structure does not adapt to the lack of relief. We
would, for instance, still use the mn cells for the raster, although the
elevation might be 1500 m above sea level everywhere.

Irregular tessellations
These are partitions of space into mutually disjoint cells, but the cells may
vary in size and shape, allowing them to adapt to the spatial phenomena
that they represent.
Irregular tessellations are more complex than the regular ones, but they are
also more adaptive, which typically leads to a reduction in the amount of
memory used to store the data.

Figure 1.7: Irregular tessellations: (a) cadastral zones and (b) Thiessen polygons

Raster Cell
Raster cells are sometimes referred to as picture elements or pixels, a term
that has its origin in digital processing.
The minimum linear dimension of the cell is expressed in terms of dots per
inch (dpi) in an image or as actual ground measurement, is known as
spatial resolution.
Spatial resolution determines the precision of spatial representation by
raster data. Obviously, the smaller the size of the cells. the higher the
resolution and the better the precision of spatial representation.

Cell dimension
Raster data sets have a cell dimension, defining the size of the cell.
The cells are usually oriented parallel to the x and y directions. Thus, if we
know the cell dimension and the coordinates of anyone cell e.g., the lower
left comer, we may calculate the coordinate of any other cell location.
Square raster cells have a
characteristic cell dimension or
cell. This cell dimension is the
edge length of each cell, and cell
dimension is typically constant for
a raster data layer. The cell
dimension is important because it
affects many properties of a raster
data set including coordinate data
volume.

 The volume of data required to cover a given area increases as the cell
dimension gets smaller. The number of cells increases by the square of the
reduction in cell dimension.
Cutting the cell dimension in half causes a factor of four increase in the
number of cells (Figure a and b).
Reducing the cell dimension by four causes a sixteenfold increase in the
number of cells (Figure a and c).
There is a trade-off between cell size and data volumes. Smaller cells may be
preferred because they provide greater spatial detail, but this detail comes at the
cost of larger data sets.

 The cell dimension also affects the spatial precision of the data set, and
hence positional accuracy. The cell coordinate is usually defined at a point
in the center of the cell. The coordinate applies to the entire area covered
by the cell. Positional accuracy is typically expected to be no better than
approximately one-half the cell size.

Definitions
Raster - A format for storing, processing, and displaying graphic data in
which graphic images are stored as values for uniform grid cells or pixels.
Pixels - Abbreviation for picture element, the smallest indivisible element
that makes up an image. In raster processing, data is represented spatially
on a matrix of grid cells, called pixels, which are assigned values for image
characteristics or attributes.
Resolution - A measure of the accuracy or detail of a graphic display,
expressed as dots per inch, pixels per line, lines per millimeter, etc.
Spatial Resolution - The accuracy associated with the capture of ground
information as reproduced in a digital format or graphic display. For
example, 10-foot pixels vs. 100-foot pixels.
Minimum Mapping Unit (MMU) - The smallest element we can uniquely
represent in our data.

Image Depth

The amount of computer memory space, expressed in terms of bits, that is used to store
the value of a raster cell is called image depth.
The minimum image depth is one bit, which allows a raster cell to be stored using only
two integer values: ones and zeros. These two values denote the presence or absence of a
particular spatial feature or phenomenon at the locations represented by the raster cells.
Binary scanning of black-and-white map separates generates raster data files containing
only ones and zeros. This type of raster data is displayed or printed as black-and-white
images.
Gray-scale scanning of maps and black-and-white aerial photographs is usually carried
out using eight bits of computer memory per cell to store the output data. The resulting
raster image, commonly referred to as an 8-bit image, has 256 levels of gray.
An 8- bit image may be displayed or printed in color by cross-referencing its cell values
to a color lookup table. Such colored images are called pseudo color images in order to
distinguish them from natural or true-color images. In color scanning and aerial
photography, each cell contains a value between 0 and 255 for each of the red, green,
and blue primary colors. These colors can be combined in different proportions to form
black, white, 254 levels of gray, and over 16 million intermediate colors. Therefore,
scanned colored maps and colored aerial photographs are 24-bit true-color images.

File Formats of Raster Data

In the computer, raster data can be stored in several ways that are formally
referred to as file formats. Different file formats have different characteristics,
depending on factors such as the sources of the data, the methods of
compression, and the design specifications of different raster GIS software
packages. Generally, raster file formats can be classified-into the following
categories:
Generic raster file formats
A generic raster file format is a simple format that is closest to the
conceptual raster model of data representation. There are two generic
raster file to:
the ASCII file format, which stores cell values by of ASCII
characters;
the binary file format which stores cell values using 32-bit numbers.

 Raster Data Interchange Format

The function of an interchange format is to facilitate the sharing of raster
data between different organizations and different GIS applications
Taqqed Image File Format (TIFF),
It is the most popular raster data interchange formal.
It is nonproprietary and device independent, therefore it is supported
by a wide range of scanners and image-processing applications,
making it a de facto raster standard for desktop publishing.
GeoTIFF
TIFF files that contain georeferencing information are called
GeoTIFF
Since 1995, the GeoTIFF specification has been extensively revised
and made openly available exchange format for georeferenced raster
data
The USGS is implementing GeoTIFF by offering Digital
Orthoquadrangle (DOQ) image data in this particular format

For more detail visit

http://www.gisdevelopment.net/technology/ip/mi03117pf.htm

 Raster Data Compression Formats

Data compression is an essential feature of raster geoprocessing because
digital image files are normally huge and require immense physical storage
resources, large memory space, and high-bandwidth networks. The objective
of data compression is to store large raster data files using a smaller amount
of computer memory space.
GIF, JPEG, MrSID (Multiresolution Seamless Image Database) ECW (ER
Mapper Compressed Wavelet)
Remote Sensing Image Formats
Remote sensing data such as those acquired by Landsat MSS, Landsat TM,
and SPOT are commonly stored using one of three binary formats. These
include
band sequential (BSQ), band inter-leaved by line (BIL) and band
interleaved by pixel (BIP)
Proprietary Raster Geospatial Data Formats
Proprietary raster data formats arc system-specific for-mats of GIS software
packages such as GRASS, Idrisi and the Spatial Analyst module of ArcGIS.
Being system specific. the characteristics of proprietary raster data formats
are hard to generalize