Review Questions

• Give 4 examples of operations that can be carried out

using GIS in geographical analysis
• What is the unique attribute of GIS that separate it
from other information system platform?
• What is spatial/geographical data?
• What is the difference between data and information?
• Why do you think it is necessary to use GIS in spatial
analysis?
• Identify 5 capabilities of GIS
• Explain the differences between GIScience, GISystem
and GIStudies
GIS: Questions, Model and
Subsystem
 GIS What?
 Links databases and maps
 Manages information about places
 Helps answer questions such as:
 Where is it?
 What else is nearby?
 Where is the highest concentration of‘X’?
 Where can I find things with characteristic‘Y’?
 Where is the closest‘Z’ to my location?
 Questions that can be answered using a GIS?
 Location:What is existing at a particular location?

 Condition:Where can we find a location satisfying certain conditions?

 Trends:What has changed at a particular location over time?Where can we find
locations with given changes in conditions? Seeks to find the differences within an
area over time.
 Patterns:What are the spatial patterns that exist? E.g. How many schools are
there within certain radius of a town?
 Modelling:What happens if some change takes place? Eg. A new road is
• added to a highway or a dam is located across a catchment area.
Working with GIS

A number of data layers can represent the many

geographies of the real world
 The GIS Data Model: Purpose
 Allows the geographic features in real world
locations to be digitally represented and stored in a
database so that they can be abstractly presented in
map (analogue or digital) form, and can also be
worked with and manipulated to address some
problem
 Integrate it…

Data integration
 A GIS makes it possible to
link, or integrate,
information that is difficult
to associate through any
other means.
 The GIS Data Model: Implementation
Geographic Integration of Information

Utilities

Zoning
Buildings
Parcels
Hydrography
Streets

Digital Orthophoto

•Data is organized by layers, coverages or themes (synonomous

concepts), with each layer representing a common fe ature.
• Layers are integrated using explicit location on the earth's
surface, thus geographic location is the organizing principal .
 The GIS Model: example
Here we have three layers or themes:
/ --roads '
/ roads --hyd rology (water),
--topog raphy (land elevation)
longitud e They ca n be related because prec ise geographic
coordinates are recorded for each theme.

ayers are comprised of two data types

•Spatial data which describes location (where)
•Attribute data specifing what, how much,when
longitude
Layers may be represented in two ways:
•in vector format as poin ts and lines
•in raster(or image) format as pixels
All geographic data has 4 properties:
longitud e orientation, scale, accuracy and resolution
 How does a GIS
work?...
Relating information from different
sources

 Ability to relate different information in a spatial

context and to reach a conclusion about this
relationship.
 E.g. rainfall information can be modelled with
compared with other information, such as the location
of areas that are prone to flooding across the
landscape.
 Flood Risk Map:
 Probability of areas getting flooded during rainy
seasons
 This inference can help us make the most
appropriate decisions development and activities
in such area (DRM, Land use planning etc.
 How does a GIS work?...
Projection and registration
 Map information in a GIS must be
manipulated so that it registers, or fits, with
information gathered from other maps.
 A GIS uses the processing power of the
computer to transform digital information,
gathered from sources with different
projections, to a common projection.
GIS Subsystems
 Data acquisition subsystem: which includes all the hardware,
software, procedure and expertise used to acquire spatial data for
GIS implementation.

 Database management and analysis subsystem : includes all

the hardware, software, the procedure and expertise used for the
storage, manipulation, analysis and retrieval of the spatial data
acquired with the first subsystem.

 Information presentation & Geovisualisation subsystem:

includes the hardware, software, procedure and expertise for the
presentation & visualisation of information derived from the second
subsystem
 GIS
Subsystems… Information
Data Presentation &
Acquisition Visualisation
GPS and other Statistics
survey methods
Database
management and
analysis maps
Enquiries /
social surveys
management
Photogrammetry/
input output Reports
Remote Sensing

Existing Analysis multimedia

maps

Other Other
databases databases
 Review Questions

1. Using an example each describe 3 classes of questions that

can be answered using GIS
2. What is the difference between spatial and attribute data
layers in GIS
3. Name the two ways GIS layers/data can be represented
4. Identify the 4 properties of geographic data
5. Illustrate the linkage among the components of GIS subsystem