Principles of Geographic

Information Systems

Dr. Nabil Moustafa

GIS Data Acquisition

Chapter Five
 Agenda

• Introduction
• Existing GIS Data
• Metadata
• Conversion of Existing Data
• Creating New Data
 Data Collection

• Data collection is a time consuming, tedious, and

expensive GIS activity.
– Typically it accounts for 15–50% of the total cost of a
GIS project.
– If staff costs are excluded from a GIS budget, then in
cash expenditure terms data collection can be as much
as 60–85% of costs.
• The processes of data collection are also referred
to as data capture, data automation, data
conversion, data transfer, data translation, and
digitizing.
 Data Collection

• Many diverse sources

• Two main types of data sources are:
– Primary data sources : those collected in digital format specifically
for use in a GIS project.
– Secondary data sources: digital and analog datasets that were
originally captured for another purpose and need to be converted
into a suitable digital format for use in a GIS project.
Types of Data Sources

Raster Vector

Primary Digital remote GPS

sensing images measurements
Digital aerial Survey
photographs measurements
Secondary Scanned maps Topographic
surveys
DEMs from maps Taxonomy data
sets from atlases
Dr. Khalid Eldrandaly
 Data collection workflow

• Planning includes establishing user requirements,

garnering resources, and developing a project plan.
• Preparation involves obtaining data, redrafting poor-quality
map sources, editing scanned map images, removing
noise, and setting up appropriate GIS hardware and
software systems to accept data.
• Digitizing and transfer are the stages where the majority
of the effort will be expended.
• Editing and improvement covers many techniques
designed to validate data, as well as correct errors and
improve quality.
• Evaluation is the process of identifying project successes
and failures.
Stages in Data Collection Projects

Planning

Preparation
Evaluation

Editing / Improvement Digitizing / Transfer

 Agenda

• Introduction
• Existing GIS Data
• Metadata
• Conversion of Existing Data
• Creating New Data
Existing GIS Data

• Clearinghouse-geoportal
– Data.gov
– INspire
 Agenda

• Introduction
• Existing GIS Data
• Metadata
• Conversion of Existing Data
• Creating New Data
Metadata
• Metadata provide information about geospatial data.
• Metadata are an integral part of GIS data and are usually
prepared and entered during the data production process.
• Metadata are important to anyone who plans to use public
data for a GIS project
Metadata
• To assist in entering metadata, many metadata tools have
been developed for different operating system.

• Some tools are free and some are designed for specific GIS
packages. For example, ArcGIS has a metadata tool for
creating and updating metadata,
 Agenda

• Introduction
• Existing GIS Data
• Metadata
• Conversion of Existing Data
• Creating New Data
Conversion of Existing Data
• Public data are delivered in a variety of formats.
• Unless the data format is compatible with the GIS package in
use, we must first convert the data.
• Data conversion is defines as a mechanism for converting
GIS data from one format to another.
• Data conversion may be easy or difficult, depending on the
specificity of data format.
• Conversion
– Direct translation
– Neutral Format
Conversion of Existing Data
• Direct Translation:
– Direct translation uses a translator in a GIS package to directly
convert geospatial data from one format to another.
– Many users prefer direct translation because it is easier to use than
other methods.
– ArcToolbox in ArcGIS, for example, can translate AutoCAD’s DXF
and DWG files, and MapInfo files into shapefiles or geobatabases.
– GeoMedia can access and integrate data from ArcGIS, AutoCAD, and
MapInfo.
Figure 5.1
The MIF to Shapefile tool in ArcGIS converts a MapInfo
file to a shapefile.
Conversion of Existing Data
• Neutral Format
– A neutral format is a public format for data exchange.
– The spatial data transfer standard (SDTS) is a neutral format
approved by the Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS)
Program in 1992.
– Several federal agencies have converted some or all of their data to
SDTS format.
– GIS vendors such as ESRI, Intergraph, and MapInfo provide
translators in their software packages for importing SDTS data.
– Recently, KML
 Agenda

• Introduction
• Existing GIS Data
• Metadata
• Conversion of Existing Data
• Creating New Data
Creating New Data
• Different data sources can be used for creating new
geospatial data
– Remotely sensed data
– Field data
– Text files with x,y coordinates
– Digitizing using digitizing table
– Scanning
– On-screen digitizing
 Creating New Data

• Remotely sensed data

– Satellite images can be digitally processed to produce a wide variety
of thematic data for a GIS project.
– Land use/land cover data are typically derived from satellite images,
and other types of data include vegetation types, crop health, eroded
soils, geologic features, the composition and depth of water bodies,
and even snowpack.
– Satellite images provide timely data and, if collected at regular
intervals, they can also provide temporal data valuable for recording
and monitoring changes in the terrestrial and aquatic environments.
– EX: DOQ image
Creating New Data
• Field Data
– Two important types of field data are survey data and global
positioning system (GPS) data.
– Survey data consist primarily of distances, directions, and elevations.
– Distances can be measured in feet or meters.
Creating New Data
– In GIS, field survey typically provides data for determining parcel
boundaries, an angle and a distance can define a parcel boundary
between two points.
– Coordinate geometry (COGO) is a study of geometry and algebra,
provides the methods for creating geospatial data of point, lines, and
polygons from survey data.

– Using GPS satellites in space as reference points, a GPS reciever

can determine its precise position on the earth’s surface.
– A collection of GPS positions along a line can determine a line
feature, and a series of lines measured by GPS can determine an
area feature.
Figure 5.6
A portable GPS receiver.
Figure 5.7
Elevation readings from a GPS receiver are
measured from the surface of the geoid rather than
the spheroid.
Creating New Data
• Text files with x,y coordinates
– Geospatial data can be generated from a text file that contains x,y
coordinates, either geographic or projected.
– Each pair of x,y coordinates creates a point, therefore we can create spatial
data from a file with recorded locations of weather stations or a hurricane
track.
Spatial Data Input from Hardcopy Sources

The Two Main Types of Data Input are:

•Manual digitizing,

•Automatic map scanning,

Creating New Data
• Digitizing using a digitizing table
– Digitizing is the process of converting data from analog to digital format.
– Manual digitizing uses a digitizing table with a built in electronic mesh , which
can sense the position of the cursor.
– To transmit the x,y coordinates of a point to the connected computer, the
operator simply clicks on a button on the cursor.
Manual Digitizing
Tracing the location
of “important”
coordinates

Done from an image

or map source
A large digitizing table and a cursor with a 16-button keypad.)
Manual Digitizing Process:

1. Fix map to digitizer table

2. Digitize control points (tics,
reference points, etc.) of known
location
3. Digitize feature boundaries
4. Proof, edit linework
5. Transform or register to known
system (may also be done at start)
6. Re-edit, as necessary
Creating New Data
– Many GIS package have a built in digitizing module for manual
digitizing.
– The module have commands that can help move or snap feature (i.e.,
a point or line) to a precise location.
– Digitizing usually begins with a set of control points (also called tics),
which are later are used for converting the digitized map to real world
coordinates.
– Digitizing point features is simple; each point is clicked once to record
its location.
– Digitizing line feature can follow either point mode or stream mode.
– Digitizing save time for different layers with the same boundaries and
will ensure concideent (soil, vegetation types, and land use with
shared boundaries will be digitized only once)
Manual Digitizing
Advantages:

•Can be performed on inexpensive equipment

•Doesn’t need high quality maps
•Requires little training

Disadvantages:
•Tedious
•Time consuming
 Manual Digitizing
common errors that require editing

Dr. Khalid Eldrandaly

Scanning
• Scanning is a
digitizing method that
converts an analog
map into a scanned
file, which is then
converted back to
vector format through
Vectorization
Creating New Data
• Scanning
– Scanning uses a scanner to convert an analog map into a scanned
file in raster format, which is then converted back to vector format.
– The simplest type of map to be scanned is a black-and-white map,
black lines represent map features, and white areas represent the
background.
– The scanned map is binary, each pixel has a value of either 1 (map
feature) or 0 (background).
– Map features are shown as raster lines represent a thin inked line on
the source map may have a width of 5 to 7 pixels
– The pixel size depends on the scanning resolution, which is often set
at 300 dpi.
Creating New Data
– Color maps, including historical maps, can also be scanned by a
scanner that can recognize colors.
– To complete the digitizing process, a scanned file must be vectorized.
– Vectorization turns raster lines in a process called tracing.
– Tracing can be semiautomatic or manual.
– In semiautomatic mode, the user selects a starting point on the image
map and lets the computer trace all the connecting raster lines.
– In manual mode, the user determines the raster line to be traced and
the direction of tracing.
Figure 5.14
Semiautomatic tracing starts at a point (shown
with an arrow) and traces all lines connected to
the point.
Scanning advantages:
• Is easily performed
• Provides rapid compilation

Scanning disadvantages:
• Raster data files are large and consumed memory
space
• Raster data lack intelligence and hence can be used
only as bases for drawing
• Expert person are required
• Clean maps are required
• Relatively expensive equipment is required.
Creating New Data
• On-screen digitizing
– Also called heads-up-digitizing, it is a manual digitizing on the
computer monitor using a data source.
– On-screen digitizing is an efficient method for editing or updating an
existing layer such as adding new roads .
– We can use the method to update new clear cuts or burned areas in a
vegetation layer.
– More comfortable than tablet digitizing