Levels of measurement

© Donald Boyes, Department of Geography and Planning, University of Toronto 1
 Distinctive regional ecological 
factors, including climate, 
physiography, vegetation, soil, 
water, and fauna 

http://sis.agr.gc.ca/cansis/nsdb/ecostrat/gis_data.html

Ecoregions

© Donald Boyes, Department of Geography and Planning, University of Toronto 2
 Nominal data

Mackenzie Delta
Mackenzie Mountains
Mackenzie River Plain
Maguse River Upland
Manitoulin‐Lake Simcoe
Maritime Barrens
Maritime Lowlands
Mecatina Plateau
Mecatina River
Melville Peninsula Plateau
Meta Incognita Peninsula
Mid‐Boreal Lowland
Mid‐Boreal Uplands

Ecoregion names

© Donald Boyes, Department of Geography and Planning, University of Toronto 3
 Ordinal data

Average Annual Sunshine
Low
Medium
High
No data

Sunshine

© Donald Boyes, Department of Geography and Planning, University of Toronto 4
 Interval data

Mean annual temp. (°C)
‐19.45 to ‐11.85
‐11.84 to ‐6.35
‐6.34 to ‐0.89
‐0.88 to 4.19
4.20 to 10.00

Temperature (°C)

© Donald Boyes, Department of Geography and Planning, University of Toronto 5
 Ratio data

Pop. Density
(pop./sq. km)
0.000
0.001 ‐ 0.012
0.013 ‐ 0.031
0.032 ‐ 0.063
0.064 ‐ 0.163
0.164 ‐ 0.472
0.473 ‐ 1.403
1.404 ‐ 4.947
4.948 ‐ 13.019
13.020 ‐ 550.698
No data

Population density

© Donald Boyes, Department of Geography and Planning, University of Toronto 6
Levels of measurement
Nominal: quality or name
Ordinal: ranking
Interval: meaningful difference, arbitrary zero
Ratio: meaningful difference, natural zero
Stored as real number
or integer?

© Donald Boyes, Department of Geography and Planning, University of Toronto 7
Colour models: RGB

© Donald Boyes, Department of Geography and Planning, University of Toronto 8
Same colour, different colour models to describe it

ArcGIS colour models

© Donald Boyes, Department of Geography and Planning, University of Toronto 9
 Red Blue
Magenta

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:RGB.svg
White
Yellow Cyan

Green

RGB colour model

© Donald Boyes, Department of Geography and Planning, University of Toronto 10
 255, 0, 0

255, 255, 255

0, 0, 0

0, 255, 255 RGB colour model

© Donald Boyes, Department of Geography and Planning, University of Toronto 11
 RGB colour model

© Donald Boyes, Department of Geography and Planning, University of Toronto 12
 RGB colour model

© Donald Boyes, Department of Geography and Planning, University of Toronto 13
Colour models: HSV

© Donald Boyes, Department of Geography and Planning, University of Toronto 14
Hue, saturation, and value

© Donald Boyes, Department of Geography and Planning, University of Toronto 15
 http://www.cs.rit.edu/~ncs/color/a_spaces.html

Colour model comparison

© Donald Boyes, Department of Geography and Planning, University of Toronto 16
Hue, value, and saturation
Hue
 Dominant wavelength; what we think of as “color”
 Different hues for different categories of data

Saturation
 Range from white to “pure” colour
 Higher saturation, more importance

Value
 Brightness: how light or dark a color is with same hue
 Darker: more important or greater magnitude

© Donald Boyes, Department of Geography and Planning, University of Toronto 17
 Qualitative (nominal) data
Hue Urban Crop Forest Water Grass

Quantitative (ordinal, interval, ratio) data
Saturation 5 10 15 20 25

Quantitative (ordinal, interval, ratio) data
Value 5 10 15 20 25

Hue, value, and saturation

© Donald Boyes, Department of Geography and Planning, University of Toronto 18
 Density (pop./sq. km)
66 ‐ 2,933
2,934 ‐ 4,637
4,638 ‐ 6,530
6,531 ‐ 9,258
9,259 ‐ 63,765
Unpopulated

Saturation

© Donald Boyes, Department of Geography and Planning, University of Toronto 19
 Density (pop./sq. km)
66 ‐ 2,933
2,934 ‐ 4,637
4,638 ‐ 6,530
6,531 ‐ 9,258
9,259 ‐ 63,765
Unpopulated

Value

© Donald Boyes, Department of Geography and Planning, University of Toronto 20
 Density (pop./sq. km)
66 ‐ 2,933
2,934 ‐ 4,637
4,638 ‐ 6,530
6,531 ‐ 9,258
9,259 ‐ 63,765
Unpopulated

Persons/sq. km
0 - 4,644
4,645 - 8,981
8,982 - 17,548
17,549 - 33,824
33,825 - 60,915

Hue

© Donald Boyes, Department of Geography and Planning, University of Toronto 21
Colour models: CMYK

© Donald Boyes, Department of Geography and Planning, University of Toronto 22
 Cyan Blue Magenta

Black
Green Red

Yellow

CMYK colour model

© Donald Boyes, Department of Geography and Planning, University of Toronto 23
Choropleth maps

© Donald Boyes, Department of Geography and Planning, University of Toronto 24
Choropleth
 Word based on Greek:
choros: space
pleth: value

 Note: choropleth, not chloropleth

© Donald Boyes, Department of Geography and Planning, University of Toronto 25
 3,786 ‐ 4,856
4,857 ‐ 7,822
7,823 ‐ 9,349
9,350 ‐ 10,606
10,607 ‐ 13,609

Intensity of colour or shade is proportional to values 

(adapted from Slocum et al., 2009)

Choropleth map

© Donald Boyes, Department of Geography and Planning, University of Toronto 26
Toronto census tracts

© Donald Boyes, Department of Geography and Planning, University of Toronto 27
Is this a useful map?

Population
156 ‐ 3394
3395 ‐ 4218
4219 ‐ 5111
5112 ‐ 6130
6131 ‐ 22724
Unpopulated

Choropleth map

© Donald Boyes, Department of Geography and Planning, University of Toronto 28
 Pop./sq.km
66.41 ‐ 2928
2929 ‐ 4552
4553 ‐ 6531
6532 ‐ 9183
9184 ‐ 64660
Unpopulated

Population density

© Donald Boyes, Department of Geography and Planning, University of Toronto 29
Total population Population density

Comparison

© Donald Boyes, Department of Geography and Planning, University of Toronto 30
 16
0 16
0 16
0 16
0 16 16 16 16
64 64
16
0 16
0 16
0 16
0 16 16 16 16 Total acres
Size (acres)
16
0 16
0 16
0 16
0 16 16 16 16
64 64
harvested
16
0 16
0 16
0 16
0 16 16 16 16

Same amount harvested, but  Total acres
shown as different colours 
harvested

More  Same amount harvested, and  Harvested Area

representative shown as same colour Total Acres
(adapted from Slocum et al., 2009)

© Donald Boyes, Department of Geography and Planning, University of Toronto 31
 Census
Population
tracts in the Toronto CMA
within 5% of each other
Population: 12,909
As population choropleth, 
CT’s would be the same color,  Pop/Km2: 167
indicating they’re the same.

Density of one is 19 times 
higher than the other

Population: 13,530
Which comparison 
makes more sense?
Pop/Km2: 3,232

© Donald Boyes, Department of Geography and Planning, University of Toronto 32
Total vs. Derived Values
Totals:
 Not usually used for choropleth
• e.g., total population per CT
Derived values
 Ratios involving area
• e.g., population density per CT 
 Ratios independent of area
• e.g., per capita income in each CT.

© Donald Boyes, Department of Geography and Planning, University of Toronto 33
 Male/Female Ratio
Age 20-24
0.77 ‐ 0.83
0.84 ‐ 0.90
0.91 ‐ 0.97
0.98 ‐ 1.03
1.04 ‐ 1.10
1.11 ‐ 1.17
1.18 ‐ 1.23

Ratio independent of area

© Donald Boyes, Department of Geography and Planning, University of Toronto 34
Appropriate data for choropleth
 Statistical or political boundaries
 e.g., population per census division
 Usually not continuous data
 Distribution of data not related to boundaries
 e.g., average rainfall per census division.

© Donald Boyes, Department of Geography and Planning, University of Toronto 35
Toronto neighbourhoods

© Donald Boyes, Department of Geography and Planning, University of Toronto 36
 Elevation
(m asl)
High : 211

Low : 71

Toronto elevation

© Donald Boyes, Department of Geography and Planning, University of Toronto 37
 Mean elevation
(m asl)
78 ‐ 91
92 ‐ 105
106 ‐ 123
124 ‐ 138
139 ‐ 152
153 ‐ 163
164 ‐ 175
176 ‐ 193

Mean elevation per neighbourhood

© Donald Boyes, Department of Geography and Planning, University of Toronto 38
 Choropleth of continuous data: 
implies flat surfaces, with cliffs at edges

Mean Elevation (m)
77 - 91
92 - 105
106 - 121
122 - 135
136 - 150
151 - 163
164 - 175
176 - 193

© Donald Boyes, Department of Geography and Planning, University of Toronto 39
 Data varies continuously  
inside each neighbourhood

© Donald Boyes, Department of Geography and Planning, University of Toronto 40
Choropleth vs. Continuous Data

© Donald Boyes, Department of Geography and Planning, University of Toronto 41
Data classification for mapping

© Donald Boyes, Department of Geography and Planning, University of Toronto 42
 3,786 ‐ 4,856
4,857 ‐ 7,822
7,823 ‐ 9,349
9,350 ‐ 10,606
10,607 ‐ 13,609

 Data values are grouped into classes
 Different methods can be used to classify data.
(adapted from Slocum et al., 2009)

Data classification

© Donald Boyes, Department of Geography and Planning, University of Toronto 43
 Census tract

Census tracts

© Donald Boyes, Department of Geography and Planning, University of Toronto 44
 Equal Intervals Quantiles Natural Breaks

Same income data, different classifications

© Donald Boyes, Department of Geography and Planning, University of Toronto 45
 Equal Intervals Quantiles Natural Breaks

Same density data, different classifications

© Donald Boyes, Department of Geography and Planning, University of Toronto 46
Classification methods

© Donald Boyes, Department of Geography and Planning, University of Toronto 47
© Donald Boyes, Department of Geography and Planning, University of Toronto 48
Data classification methods

© Donald Boyes, Department of Geography and Planning, University of Toronto 49
Equal interval
 Equal ranges
 Good for non‐technical 
audience
 If values clustered on 
histogram, may have 
many features in one 
class and none in 
another

© Donald Boyes, Department of Geography and Planning, University of Toronto 50
Quantiles
 Equal number of features 
in each class
 Emphasizes relative position
 Features with similar values 
may be in different classes, 
exaggerating differences
 Reverse can also happen: 
wide range of values in same 
class, minimizing differences.

© Donald Boyes, Department of Geography and Planning, University of Toronto 51
Number of
Quantiles Name
2 Median
3 Tertile
4 Quartile
5 Quintile
10 Decile
100 Percentile

What do I call it?

© Donald Boyes, Department of Geography and Planning, University of Toronto 52
Natural breaks
 Based on natural groupings 
of data values
 Good if values not evenly 
distributed on histogram
 Can be difficult to choose 
optimum number of classes, 
especially if data are evenly 
distributed

© Donald Boyes, Department of Geography and Planning, University of Toronto 53
 Mean
Median Income
Standard Deviations
 < ‐2.5
‐2.5 to ‐1.5
‐1.5 to ‐0.50
1 SD
‐0.50 to 0.50
0.50 to 1.5
1.5 to 2.5
 > 2.5
1 SD 1 SD 1 SD 1 SD 1 SD 1 SD 1 SD Unpopulated

Standard deviation

© Donald Boyes, Department of Geography and Planning, University of Toronto 54
 Median Income
Standard Deviations
 < ‐2.5
‐2.5 to ‐1.5
‐1.5 to ‐0.50
‐0.50 to 0.50
0.50 to 1.5
1.5 to 2.5
 > 2.5
Unpopulated

Standard deviation

© Donald Boyes, Department of Geography and Planning, University of Toronto 55
Standard deviation
 Amount feature varies from 
mean
 Good for seeing which 
features are above or below 
average
 Data should have a normal 
distribution
 Map doesn’t show actual 
values, only how far values 
are from the mean
 Outliers can skew the mean.

© Donald Boyes, Department of Geography and Planning, University of Toronto 56
Median income Standard deviation

Comparison

© Donald Boyes, Department of Geography and Planning, University of Toronto 57
Equal Intervals Natural Breaks

Quantiles Standard Deviation

© Donald Boyes, Department of Geography and Planning, University of Toronto 58
Mean vs. median

© Donald Boyes, Department of Geography and Planning, University of Toronto 59
 Avg. Household Income
0 ‐ 25,517
25,518 ‐ 29,156
29,157 ‐ 36,169
36,170 ‐ 46,846
46,847 ‐ 314,107
Unpopulated

Household income

© Donald Boyes, Department of Geography and Planning, University of Toronto 60
 Median: 5 
Outlier
2 3 5 7 8 13 53
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14

Mean: 5 
Mean: 6  Mean: 14 

Effect of outliers on an average

© Donald Boyes, Department of Geography and Planning, University of Toronto 61
Median Mean

Mean vs. Median

© Donald Boyes, Department of Geography and Planning, University of Toronto 62
 Mean vs. Median

© Donald Boyes, Department of Geography and Planning, University of Toronto 63
Zero values on a map

© Donald Boyes, Department of Geography and Planning, University of Toronto 64
 Zero values

© Donald Boyes, Department of Geography and Planning, University of Toronto 65
 Median Household
Income ($CDN)
12,000 ‐ 18,000
18,001 ‐ 24,000
Median 24,001 ‐ 38,000
38,001 ‐ 52,000
52,001 ‐ 66,000
Unpopulated

Median household income

© Donald Boyes, Department of Geography and Planning, University of Toronto 66
Joining tables

© Donald Boyes, Department of Geography and Planning, University of Toronto 67
Objective
 Make a map showing the population density of 
each province in Canada

© Donald Boyes, Department of Geography and Planning, University of Toronto 68
 “Provinces” file

© Donald Boyes, Department of Geography and Planning, University of Toronto 69
 Record

Field

Terminology

© Donald Boyes, Department of Geography and Planning, University of Toronto 70
 Prov_Pop File

© Donald Boyes, Department of Geography and Planning, University of Toronto 71
GIS file Non‐GIS file

GIS vs. Non-GIS files

© Donald Boyes, Department of Geography and Planning, University of Toronto 72
 Primary Key Foreign Key

Join

Target table Join table

How can we “link” these tables?

© Donald Boyes, Department of Geography and Planning, University of Toronto 73
 Primary Key Foreign Key

Join

Target table Join table

Joining tables

© Donald Boyes, Department of Geography and Planning, University of Toronto 74
Provinces Prov_Pop

Join is dynamic

Join stored in map document

Joined tables

© Donald Boyes, Department of Geography and Planning, University of Toronto 75
Can access joined fields

© Donald Boyes, Department of Geography and Planning, University of Toronto 76
 Relational 
database

Population
by Province and Territory
31,906 ‐ 140,204
140,205 ‐ 751,171
751,172 ‐ 1,208,268
1,208,269 ‐ 7,903,001
7,903,002 ‐ 12,851,821

Mapping tabular, non-GIS data

© Donald Boyes, Department of Geography and Planning, University of Toronto 77
Do not use OBJECTID to join tables!

© Donald Boyes, Department of Geography and Planning, University of Toronto 78
Field calculations

© Donald Boyes, Department of Geography and Planning, University of Toronto 79
 Population
by Province and Territory
31,906 ‐ 140,204
140,205 ‐ 751,171
751,172 ‐ 1,208,268
1,208,269 ‐ 7,903,001
7,903,002 ‐ 12,851,821

Calculation of new attribute

© Donald Boyes, Department of Geography and Planning, University of Toronto 80
Field data types
Short Integer:  No decimal; ‐32768 to 32,767
Long Integer: No decimal; ‐2,147,483,648 to 2,147,483,647
Float: Up to 7 significant digits
Double: Up to 15 significant digits
Text: Characters
Date:  Dates, times

© Donald Boyes, Department of Geography and Planning, University of Toronto 81
© Donald Boyes, Department of Geography and Planning, University of Toronto 82
Calculate geometry

© Donald Boyes, Department of Geography and Planning, University of Toronto 83
Normalizing in symbology

© Donald Boyes, Department of Geography and Planning, University of Toronto 84
 Population/sq.km
0.02 ‐ 0.07
0.08 ‐ 1.86
1.87 ‐ 5.50
5.51 ‐ 16.58
16.59 ‐ 23.79

Population density

© Donald Boyes, Department of Geography and Planning, University of Toronto 85
 Field Calculator

© Donald Boyes, Department of Geography and Planning, University of Toronto 86
 Population/sq.km
0.02 ‐ 0.07
0.08 ‐ 1.86
1.87 ‐ 5.50
5.51 ‐ 16.58
16.59 ‐ 23.79

Population density

© Donald Boyes, Department of Geography and Planning, University of Toronto 87