3103-450

Spatial data analysis with

Geographical Information
Systems (GIS)
Thilo Streck
Joachim Ingwersen
Sebastian Gayler
Teaching assistants

Detailed schedule I
Day

Date

14.00 - 15.30

Room

16.00 - 18.15

Room

Mon,
04.04.16

Introduction
(Ingwersen)

HS8

Working with GIS

(Ingwersen, Gayler)

HS14,
PC1

Tue,
05.04.16

Remote sensing basics

(Streck)

HS8

Working with GIS

(Ingwersen, Gayler)

HS14,
PC1

Wed,
06.04.16

Landcover mapping
(Streck)

HS8

Working with GIS

(Ingwersen, Gayler)

HS14,
PC1

Thu,
07.04.16

Landcover mapping
(Streck)

HS8

Working with GIS

(Ingwersen, Gayler)

HS14,
PC1

Fri,
08.04.16

Digital terrain analysis

(Streck)

HS8

Map projections
(Streck)

HS8

Mon,
11.04.16

Spatial data and data bases

(Streck)

HS8

Working with GIS

(Ingwersen, Gayler)

HS14,
PC1

Tue
12.04.16

Correlation and time series

analysis (Streck)

HS8

Working with GIS

(Ingwersen, Gayler)

HS14,
PC1

Wed,
13.04.16

Spatial data analysis and

interpolation (Streck)

HS8

Working with GIS

(Ingwersen, Gayler)

HS14,
PC1

Thu,
14.04.16

Spatial data analysis and

interpolation (Streck)

HS8

Working with GIS

(Ingwersen, Gayler)

HS14,
PC1

10

Fri,
15.04.16

Spatial data analysis and

interpolation (Streck)

HS8

Working with GIS

(Ingwersen, Gayler)

HS14,
PC1

Detailed schedule II
Day

Date

14.00 - 15.30

Room

16.00 - 18.15

Room

11

Mon,
18.04.16

Working with GIS

(Ingwersen, Gayler)

HS14,
PC1

Working with GIS

(Ingwersen, Gayler)

HS14,
PC1

12

Tue,
19.04.16

Working with GIS

(Ingwersen, Gayler)

HS14,
PC1

Working with GIS

(Ingwersen, Gayler)

HS14,
PC1

13

Wed,
20.04.16

GIS project work

(Ingwersen, Gayler)

HS14,
PC1

GIS project work

(Ingwersen, Gayler)

HS14,
PC1

14

Thu,
21.04.16

GIS project work

(Ingwersen, Gayler)

HS14,
PC1

GIS project work

(Ingwersen, Gayler)

HS14,
PC1

15

Fri,
22.04.16

GIS project work

(Ingwersen, Gayler)

HS14,
PC1

GIS project work

(Ingwersen, Gayler)

HS14,
PC1

20

Fri,
29.04.16

Written exam
(14.00-16.00)

HS9

Computer exercises

(4.00Computer
- 5.30+ pm,
computer
rooms
rooms
HS14
and PC1/2)
PC1

PC1
HS14

Example exam questions

Explain the differences between vector and raster data models.

Describe the Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM) projection.
Explain and compare the techniques of "Thiessen polygons",
"Inverse Distance Weighting" and "Kriging".
What ist the difference between supervised and unsupervised
classification schemes in land cover mapping?
How is a classification error matrix set up and interpreted?
In the GIS project "Greenvalley" you digitized a scanned image
of the planned Historic park. What have you done before you
started digitizing? Explain shortly how you did it.

Find a mock exam on the ilias website!

Recommended reading
Burrough, P.A., McDonnell, R.A. (2006). Principles of

Geographical Information Systems. Oxford University

Press, Oxford, UK.

Chang, K.-T. (2010). Introduction to Geographic Information Systems. McGraw-Hill, Boston, MA, USA.

Lillesand, T.M., Kiefer, R.W., Chipman, J.W. (2004, 2015).

Remote sensing and image interpretation. Wiley, NY, USA.

Isaaks, H.I., Srivastava, R.M. (1989). Applied geostatistics.

Oxford University Press, NY, USA.

Introduction
Objectives of this introductory lesson
In this lesson, you will learn:

what the five components of a GIS are

what spatial data consist of
how spatial data are organized in a GIS
how real-world objects are represented in a GIS
which six operations a GIS should be able to perform

Introduction
What is a GIS?
Geographic Information Systems are tools that allow for the
processing of spatial data into information (and knowledge),
DeMers, M.N. (1997)
In a GIS data about real-world objects is stored in a database
and dynamically linked to an onscreen map, which displays
graphics representing real-world objects
ESRI

Introduction
What are GIS used for?
GIS provide a useful set of tools for planning, decisionmaking, operations management and inventory. GIS are now
being employed in a wide range of applications including

Natural resource management

Land use planning
Demographic research
Fleet management
Environmental research, assessment and planning

and many more...

What are the five components of a GIS?

A full GIS, or geographic information system, requires
hardware, software, data, trained users, and sound analysis
methods for interpreting the results generated by the GIS.
A GIS has five components. They are:
Users
Hardware
Software
Data, and
Procedures (Analysis methods)

What are the five components of a GIS?

GIS Users
For the operation of a GIS the user needs to

know how to handle a GIS (technical knowledge)

have an advanced scientific knowledge of the subject to be
explored

What are the five components of a GIS?

GIS Software

ArcGIS (ESRI)
MapInfo Professional (MapInfo)
ERDAS Imagine (Leica Geosystems)
ILWIS (ITC)
QuantumGIS(QGIS)/GRASS
- free GIS software under GPL

for Linux, Mac OS X and Windows

and others

What are the five components of a GIS?

Hardware of a GIS
Digitizing tablet

Scanner

Others

Bussystem
Computer with monitor,

Network

keyboard and mouse

Bussystem
Storage

Printer/Plotter

Others

What are the five components of a GIS?

Spatial data
There are four main components of spatial data:

Geometry represents the geographic features (points, lines,

polylines, or polygons (areas)) associated with real-world
locations.

Attributes are descriptive characteristics of the geographic

features.

Topology represents spatial relationships. Connectivity and

adjacency are two examples.

Behavior means that geographic features can be made to

allow certain types of editing, display, or analysis, depending
on circumstances that the user defines.

What are the five components of a GIS?

Spatial data - Example
Here, city streets are being represented
in a GIS.
Their geometry is lines.
Each street can be described by its
name, which is an attribute.
A spatial relationship (topology)
between two streets may be that they
are crossing.
You can also specify rules for the
streets. For example, you could add
behavior that says that the streets
cannot have more than four lanes.

How are spatial data organized in a GIS?

A geographic database is the core of a GIS. The database is a
collection of the spatial and descriptive attributes of real-world
objects.
Real-world entities can be abstracted into three primary shapes:
points, lines, and polygons (areas). These shapes are often called
geometric objects, geometric features, feature types, or feature
classes.

How are spatial data organized in a GIS?

How are spatial data organized in a GIS?

Linking features and attributes
Each feature has a record in the table. A unique identifier links
a feature with its attributes.

How are spatial data organized in a GIS?

A GIS organizes and stores

information about the world as a
collection of thematic layers that can
be linked by geography. Each layer
contains features having similar
attributes, like streets or cities, that
are located within the same
geographic extent.

How are spatial data organized in a GIS?

Storing abstracted objects
There are two basic models for storing geographic data: the
vector and raster data models.
The vector data model stores
positional coordinates for each
shape.
The raster format uses a grid of
square cells to represent real-world
entities.

How are spatial data organized in a GIS?

Vector and Raster model

How are spatial data organized in a GIS?

Storing raster data
Raster display

Raster cell values

Raster ASCII file

Value attribute table (VAT)

Cell value

Attribute
1



Wheat
2



Potato
3



Sugar beet

How are spatial data organized in a GIS?

Storing vector data

How are spatial data organized in a GIS?

Raster data structure
Benefits
1. Neighbourhood locations can be easily analysed
2. Processing algorithms are easier than for vector data sets
Disadvantages
1. Size of cells limits the resolution
2. Higher need of storage space compared to vector data
structure

How are spatial data organized in a GIS?

Vector data structure
Benefits
1. Less storage space is needed because many pixels need not be
stored for homogeneous areas
2. It is easier to associate a variety of descriptive resource data with
a single resource feature
3. Vector data set graphics tend to be of a higher resolution
(quality)
Disadvantages
1. Processing algorithms are complex and need advanced
knowledge
2. Vectorizing of scanned data (i.e. satellite pictures) needs high
computational power

How are spatial data organized in a GIS?

Data about data: Metadata

Metadata give descriptive information about data.

Metadata for spatial data include information such as date,
creator, geographic extent, and coordinate system.

Metadata give spatial data credibility and, in many situations,

spatial data cannot be interpreted or used without metadata.

What operations should a GIS be able to

perform?
Any geographic information system should be capable of
performing six fundamental operations in order to be useful
for finding solutions to real-world problems. A GIS should
be able to:
Capture data
2. Store data
1.

3.

Query data

Analyze data
5. Display data
4.

6.

Output data

What operations should a GIS be able to

perform?
Capturing data
A GIS must provide
methods for entering
geographic
(coordinate) and
tabular (attribute)
data. The more input
methods available, the
more versatile the GIS.

What operations should a GIS be able to

perform?
Querying data
A GIS must provide tools for finding specific features based on
their location or attributes. Queries, which are often created as
logical statements or expressions, are used to select features on
the map and their records in the database.

What operations should a GIS be able to

perform?
Querying data
Suppose you wanted to find landlocked countries with a
population greater than 20 million.You would create a query
expression with those criteria. When the GIS finds features
that meet the query's criteria, it highlights them on the map.

What operations should a GIS be able to

perform?
Analyzing data
Example:
Proximity analysis uses the distance between features to
answer questions like:

How many houses lie within 100 meters of this water main?
What is the total number of potential customers within 10
kilometers of this store?

What proportion of the alfalfa crop is within 500 meters of

the well?
GIS technology often uses
a process called buffering
to determine the proximity
relationship between features.

What operations should a GIS be able to

perform?
Overlay analysis
The integration of different data layers involves a process called
overlay. For example, overlay analysis could be used to
integrate data on soils, slope, and vegetation or land ownership
data with tax assessment data.

What operations should a GIS be able to

perform?
Geostatistical analysis
In environmental and agricultural sciences we often collect point
data. To transfer point data to areal data we need geostatistical
interpolation techniques such as inverse distance weighting, kriging
and others.
Example:
Interpolation
of ground
water level
data

Point data

Areal data

Interpolation

What operations should a GIS be able to

perform?
Outputting data
GIS displays, like this map, can be output and distributed in a
variety of ways. The more output options a GIS can offer, the
greater the potential for reaching the right audience with the
right information.

Summary I

Geographic Information Systems (GIS) are tools that help
to process spatial data to gain knowledge.

A Geographic Information System stores data about realworld objects in a database and dynamically links it to an
onscreen map, which displays the real-world objects.

A GIS has five components: users, hardware, software,
data, and procedures.

The four components of spatial data are geometry,
attributes, topology, and behavior.

Real-world entities are abstracted into three primary
shapes: points, lines, and polygons. These shapes are called
feature classes.

Summary II

Metadata give descriptive information about data.Geographic

phenomena can be represented using raster or vector
models.

The raster data model represents geographic features

using cells, while the vector data model uses points, lines,
and polygons.

A GIS organizes and stores information about the world as

a collection of thematic layers that can be linked through
geography.

Any GIS should be able to perform six fundamental

operations: It should be able to capture, store, query,
analyze, display, and output data.