Chapter 1

Getting Introduced to GIS

Objectives of chapter 1
Be able to tell what GIS is about Think how GIS can be used in your technical specialization Get familiar with the GIS software to be used

Notions to be grasped for Lesson 1

Understand what spatio-temporal phenomena are and how they are modelled in a GIS Describe the basic three phases of spatiotemporal data handling (data preparation and handling; data analysis; data presentation) Defining GIS Understanding the difference between spatial data and information Grasping the definition of error and accuracy Data, databases and their relation to GIS

Learning activities
Watch the video lecture Get familiar with the software by attending the demos and completing the exercises during the practical sessions

Geographic phenomena
Events that take place in geographic space, and time.
A geographic phenomenon can be man-made (e.g., the Chinese Wall, the pyramids, powerlines, water dams, phone booths) Natural (e.g., geologic units, montaneforests, rivers, foreshores, meteor impacts, weather systems) a mix of both (e.g., water pollution, production forests, managed farming fields)

Geographic Information System

A computerized system that allows us to study the geographic phenomenon(or phenomena) that we are interested in, through a computer representation for each phenomenon. To this end, the GIS will allow us to perform three fundamental stages of work: Data entry: early stage in which data about the studied phenomena is entered into the GIS, and representations are built Data analysis: middle stage in which representations are manipulated and studied to gain (new) insight Data presentation: final stage in which the results of analyses are presented (in maps or otherwise).

A GIS defined
A geographic information system as a computerized system that facilitates the phases of data entry, data analysis and data presentation Data information Data = representations that can be operated upon by a computer Information = data that has been interpreted by a human being When sharing data amongst users we need data about data also called metadata Importance of data quality depends on the use of the data Traditionally errors, in paper maps are considered in terms of:
Attribute errors Location or positional errors

Spatial data and geo-information

In a GIS a wider view of quality is important because:
Errors are introduced when data is put into the GIS Unlike a conventional map, which is a single end product, a GIS contains data from various sources Unlike topographic or cadastral databases, natural resource databases contain uncertaindata. Most GIS analysis will introduce errors.

The International Cartographic Associations commission on Spatial Data Quality, identified:

Lineage (history of the dataset) Temporal accuracy (precision of time measurement when did the survey take place) Completeness Logical consistency

Modeling
Model is a representation of the real world Static models and Dynamic models Maps and database are examples of a static model. Dynamic models or process models address changes.
Maps disadvantages
Restricted to 2-D Always displayed in a given scale

Database
Allows multiple (concurrent) use Offers a number of techniques for storing data Imposes rules (integrity) Query facility Query optimization

GIS, databases and maps

Spatial databases
Store representations of geographic phenomena in the real world to be used in a GIS. Spatial database is not the same as GIS, database stores data, the GIS focuses on operating on spatial data Spatial data can be multiscale A seamless database does not show map sheet boundaries

In the narrow sense:

GIS : a system to perform spatial analysis and present the results database : a system good at storing and manipulating large data sets map : a product of GIS usage

Many GISs have a storage subsystem, but a database has more functions.