Center for Modeling & Simulation

 Introduction to GIS ◦ General Definitions ◦ Concept of space and time ◦ History ◦ Components ◦ Objectives / why use GIS

 IT can be a physical entity like a solar system or a conceptual entity like a democratic political system  All the systems have following characteristics 1.Constructed to achieve certain basic objectives or functions 2.Their continuing existence depends on the ability to satisfy the intended objectives 3.Composed of many interrelated parts, which may be operational systems themselves 4.They operate individually and interact with one another according to certain rules

 It is a special class of systems  Collection of data and tools for working with those data which are in analog or digital format about the phenomenon in the real world  Has specific objectives of collecting, storing, analyzing and presenting information in a specific manner What is an Information System

 It is a special class of Information system  Word Geographic has two implications as “earth” and “Geographic space” “Earth” implying all the data are pertinent to earth’s features and resources including human activities associated with these features “Geographic space” relates to the system developed to solve the geography i.e location distribution, pattern and relationship within a specific geographical framework reference  This makes it a unique system as it focuses on geographic data and their applications for spatial problems GIS as an Information System

Information System Spatial Geographic Information Systems Other Geographic information systems Socioeconomic information system Biophysical Information system Land Information systems Other spatial information systems Eg CAD/CAM Nonspatial accounting/ banking etc

Data: collection of facts or figures relating to places, people, things, events and concepts represented as numerical values, alphanumeric characters, symbols and signals Information: data transferred in a form meaningful to the user through structuring, formatting, conversion and modeling Knowledge: Using the Knowledge the user transfers the data into information to aid the decision making Intelligence: When the user deploys the knowledge to formulate principles and perceive relationships

special form of spatial data characterized by Reference Geographic space i.e data registered to coordinate system Representation at geographic scale i.e data are normally recorded at relatively small scales

Kingston Centre for GIS9 Place name Grid co-ordinate Post code Distance & bearing Description Latitude / Longitude

 A system of hardware, software and procedures designed to support the capture, management, manipulation, analysis, modeling and display of spatially referenced data for solving complex planning and management problems (Rhind, 1989).  A computer system capable of assembling, storing, manipulating and displaying geographically referenced information (USGS, 1997)  A set of computer based systems for managing geographic data and using this data to solve spatial problems.

 Spatial information is always related to geographic space and time  Geographic space is the space of topography, landuse/landcover, climatic, cadastral and other features of the topographic world.  Geographic time is the time whose effects can be observed in this geographic space  Thus GIS data consists of spatio-temporal data that can be described, measured and stored in the information system

Dates back to 1960s Initially developed by US Bureau of Census, USGS, ESRI, Canadian Geographic Information systems and notable organizations in U.K. In early 1970’s table data structures to store and analyze map data became dominant creating topology in GIS

During 1980’s the minicomputers and workstations become dominant and the relational database became standard for the spatial data structures 1990’s recognition of geoinformatics as a professional activity Commercial agencies like ESRI, Intergraph, Laserscan, Autodesk etc started developing the commercial products

History Stage of development Formative yearsMaturing technologyGI infrastructure Time Frame mid.1990sMid.1990s-present Technical environment Mainframe computers Proprietary software Proprietary data structures Mainly raster-based Mainframe and minicomputers Geo-relational data structure Graphical user interface GPS, redefinition of datum remote sensing Workstations and PCs Network/Internet Open system design Multimedia Data integration Enterprise computing Object related data model Major users Government Universities Military Government Universities Utilities Business Military Government Universities Utilities Business Military General public Major application areas Land and resource management Census Surveying and mapping Land and resource management Census Surveying and mapping Facilities mapping Market analysis Land and resource management Census Surveying and mapping Facilities mapping Market analysis Utilities Geographic data browsing

HardwareSoftwaredata People Hardware Platforms Personal computers workstations Minicomputers Mainframe Input device Scanners Digitizers Tapes / CD’s Keyboard / Monitors Output device Printers Plotters

Software Input modules editing Analysis module Modeling capability HardwareSoftware DataPeople

Data Attribute data Spatial Data Remote Sensing data Global database GPS HardwareSoftware data People

Hardware Software dataPeople GIS specialist Geographic Information viewers Traffic and weather condition Property assessment I Locate business and services education General GIS users Engineers/planners Scientist Facility managers Resource planners Land administrators Lawyers Database administration Application programming System analysis and design Project management

 Point data  Vector data  Raster data  Attribute data

e.g. wells, sample sites, huts, schools, clinics

Simple Complex Curve Network

Attached to Points Lines Polygons

Maximise the efficiency of planning and decision making Provides efficient means for data distribution and handling Elimination of redundant data base – minimise duplication Capacity of integrate information from many sources Complex analysis/query involving geographical referenced data to generate new information

What Exists at a particular location --- Location Identifies locations where certain conditions exist --- Condition What has changed since --- Trends What spatial pattern exists --- Patterns What if ……? --- Modeling