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GEOGRAPHIC
INFORMATION SYSTEMS
LECTURE 1.
WHAT & WHY are GIS?
Keith Clarke
Getting Started with GIS; ch.1; pp. 1 - 34
What & Why are GIS ?
? Lecture outline:
? Why Geographic Information Systems?
? What are Geographic Information Systems?
? CAD, LIS, GPS.
? A Step at a time.
Why Geographic Information
Systems ?
?A simple plan to manage natural resources
will require enormous amounts of data
gathering, compilation, evaluation, analysis
and modeling.
? Thus, you have to develop
A computerized system for the
management and analysis of geographic
information - a GIS.
? Canadian Department of Forestry and Rural
development in the 1960s
How GIS Works ?
? A GIS stores spatial information about the world as
a collection of thematic layers that can be linked
together.
In GIS Graphics and Data
Combined Together
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But Why GIS?
- GIS is about finding patterns.
- Lots of data coming from different sources. You
will want to consider all of It to make better
decisions.
- Answer the questions of location such as where,
why, and how.
- Solve problems, analyze and make decisions.
- See patterns and trends that spreadsheets alone
wont portray
Measuring and Integrating the Parts...
Social Factors
Economic Factors
Engineering
Land Use
Environmental
Considerations
Figure 1.1 Two databases. A database contains columns (attributes) and rows (records). The bicycle
parts list on the left is not spatial. The parts could be located anywhere. The list of crimes on the right
is spatial because one of the attributes, the street address, locates the crimes on a map. This list could
be used in a GIS.
Definition 1: A GIS is a toolbox
"a powerful set of tools for storing and retrieving
at will, transforming and displaying spatial data
from the real world for a particular set of
purposes"
(Burrough, 1986, p. 6).
A FUNCTIONAL DEFINITION:
"automated systems for the capture, storage,
retrieval, analysis, and display of spatial data."
(Clarke, 1995, p. 13).
Definition 2: A GIS is an
information system
"An information system that is designed to
work with data referenced by spatial or
geographic coordinates. In other words, a
GIS is both a database system with specific
capabilities for spatially-referenced data, as
well as a set of operations for working with
the data" (Star and Estes, 1990, p. 2).
Duecker's definition has
survived the test of time.
"A geographic information system is a special case
of information systems where the database
consists of observations on spatially distributed
features, activities or events, which are definable
in space as points, lines, or areas. A geographic
information system manipulates data about these
points, lines, and areas to retrieve data for
queries and analyses" (Duecker, 1979, p 106).
Definition 3: GIS is an
approach to science
? Geographic Information Science is research both
on and with GIS.
"the generic issues that surround the use of GIS
technology, impede its successful implementation,
or emerge from an understanding of its potential
capabilities." (Goodchild, 1992)