Spatial Data

Dr. Charlie Wu
 Contents

1. What is Spatial Data?

2. Spatial database and application
3. Spatial Data Types and comparison
4. Vector Data
5. Raster Data
6. Examples
 What is Spatial Data?
Position, area, size, shape data or information of any
object on planet .
Represented by numerical values in geographic
coordinate system.
Such object can be surface features as building, lake,
land mass, oceans, or subsurface features as geologic
formation, petroleum reservoir, seismic anomalies,
etc.
The numerical values in multi-dimensional system
can be mapped manually or by computer software.
 Spatial database
Two-dimensional 2-D data examples
Geographical
Cartesian coordinates
Networks
Directions, locations
And more
Three-dimensional 3-D data examples
Geological and geophysical data
Cartesian coordinates (3-D)
Topology
Satellite images
And more
 Spatial data application

Three types of application

Manage/visualize spatial data
Analyze/output spatial data
Modeling/simulation utilization
A few examples of projects
Design gas transportation pipeline
Analyzing/model seismic attributes
Map geologic variables such as lithology, porosity, etc.
Map petroleum reserve distribution
Determine location of best petroleum prospects
 Two Spatial Data Types

vector: discrete boundaries, geometry of

points

lines

Polygons

raster: continuous data, geometry of

pixels (grid cells)

Photograph, satellite image,

horizon maps
 Vector vs Raster
Vector data

POINTS LINES POLYGONS

Raster data
 Text (Vector) vs jpg (Raster)
Vector image will always appear smooth when you zoom in. Text
is one of the most common types of vector image.
Basic file types: .drw, .pif, .ps, .eps, .svf, .ai, .ait, .art, .cdr, .cdrw,
.cdt, .dlg, .do, .odg, .pdf

Raster images bitmap images made of millions of tiny squares,

called pixels. If you zoom in enough, you will be able to see the
square outlines of each pixel.
Raster graphics typically have larger file sizes than their vector
counterparts. Higher DPI (dots per inch) and PPI (pixels per inch)
Basic raster files: .jpg, .gif, .png, .tiff, .tif, .psd, .pdf
 Vector Data

A vector feature is made up of

one or more interconnected
vertices. A vertex describe a
position in space using an x, y
and z axis.
Points
(nodes, vertices)
lines / routes
(nodes, vertices, arcs)
polygons / regions
(line+points, closed area)
 Vector Data
line #1
vertex vertex
vertex Node B
(x2, y2) (x3, y3) (x5, y5)
(x1, y1)
Node A (x4, y4)

Lines start and end at nodes (line #1 from node A to node B)

Vertices determine shape of line
Nodes and vertices are stored as coordinate pairs
(x1,y1) (x2, y2) (x3, y3) (x4, y4) (x5,y5)
Vector data Plus and Minus:

Accurately representing true shape, size and resolution.

Discrete object such as boundaries, channels,
reservoirs, petroleum prospect geometry, etc.
Location of each vertex needs to be stored explicitly.
Time and disk space consuming to convert vector data
into topographic structure map for effective analysis.
 Vector data formats available in ArcGIS

ESRI GeoDatabases (Environmental System Research

Institute)
ESRI shapefiles
ArcInfo coverages and libraries
CAD files (AutoCAD DWG, DXF; microstation DGN)
StreetMap files
Spatial Database Engine (SDE) data
ASCII point coordinate data
Linear measure (route) data
 Origin X axis
4 6 6 4 3 0 0 1 2 3 4 4
3 4 8 5 3 3 3 3 4 4 4 5
Raster Data (grid cells, pixels) 3 4 9 7 5 4 4 4 5 5 5 7
2 3 7 8 8 6 6 7 7 8 5 5
1 3 6 7 7 9 8 8 7 6 4 4
origin is set explicitly 2 4 7 6 5 7 8 6 5 5 4 4

Y axis
2 4 8 5 3 5 7 8 6 6 5 4
3 5 6 4 2 3 5 8 9 6 6 6
5 7 9 7 4 2 3 5 7 8 6 4
cell (grid) size is always known Cell
size
6 8 6 8 6 4 2 3 4 5 5 6

cell references (x/y, row/column locations) are

known
cell values (z dimension) tied to row/column
locations
Cell values represent certain variables such as
elevation, depth, temperature, porosity,
permeability, etc.
Raster data is a huge table of values.
Raster Data Plus and Minus:
Rectangular grid of square cells
Shape of discrete polygonal features generalized by cells
Continuous (surface) data simplified to grid cells.
No geographic coordinates are stored.
Easy to perform quantitative analysis, modeling or
mapping for multiple layers/attributes.
Grid cell system compatible with raster based
printer/plotter
Data resolution depends on cell size
High resolution, small cell size lead to huge data set causes
long time (and costly) to analyze or model the data.
 Modeling/Simulation of raster data

Well porosity simulation map Well porosity simulation map

SGEMS software

well porosity kriged map well porosity kriged map

EcoSSE software
 Raster resolution (time/cost)

10x10 cells,
40x40 cells
8 seconds
13 seconds

200x200 cells 1000x1000cells

60 seconds ~15 minutes
Tested in HP ENVY20 i3 3.3Ghz
Modeling of raster data using different
interpolation methods
Regularized Smoothing
Thiessen Spline

Spline(Topogrid)

Inverse Distance Weighted

Kriging TIN

17
Visualization of Spatial Data