DIGITAL GEOGRAPHY TRAINING

ome@phaseone.com

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TASK

• Design location of 3 landmarks separated by a long distance (100 km)

• Draw, from scratch, your own map showing the locations of the landmarks
• Verify the locations do not intervene with existing infrastructure (under and over ground)
• Verify the locations do not intervene with privet land

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 CHALLENGES

1. The earthen is not flat – where do we mark the landmark - A or B?

B A

A B

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CHALLENGES

1. To which reference do we measure the height of the landmarks?

• To a virtual 2 D plan?
• What is it’s origin?
• What are its axis directions?

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CHALLENGES

1. To which reference do we measure the height of the landmarks?

• To a spheroid?
• Which one
• What are its parameters?

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CHALLENGES

• Assuming we found a way to overcome the challenges and create our “map”
• How do we reference this map to existing maps showing infrastructures?
• How to we reference this map to existing maps showing privet land?

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GOAL

• Understand basic concept in mapping and cartography

• Provide tools to understand the professional language
• Provide leads for further “digging” where needed

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OUTLINE

• Earth models
• Geoid
• Ellipsoid
• Map projections
• Common map projections
• Coordinate systems
• Geographic Datums
• Digital elevation model
• GIS data formats

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EARTH MODELS

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GEOID

• The shape that the ocean surface would take under the influence of the gravity and
rotation of Earth alone, extended through the continents.
• A smooth but irregular surface whose shape results from the uneven distribution of mass
within and on the surface of Earth.
• The equipotential surface of the Earth's gravity field which best fits, in a least squares sense,
global mean sea level.
• Known only through extensive gravitational measurements and calculations. Described, first, by
Gauss, but has been defined to high precision only since advances in satellite geodesy in the late
20th century.
• The force of gravity acts everywhere perpendicular to the geoid, meaning that plumb lines
point perpendicular and water levels parallel to the geoid if only gravity and rotational
acceleration were at work.
• When traveling by ship, the local vertical (plumb line) is always perpendicular to the geoid and
the local horizon tangential to it.

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GEOID (CONT’)

Geoid undulation in false color, shaded relief

and vertical exaggeration (10000 scale
factor).

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SPHERE AND ELLIPSOID

• Assuming that the earth is a perfect sphere greatly simplifies mathematical calculations and
works well for small-area maps
• When working at larger areas, high accuracy project an ellipsoid representation is needed.
• An ellipsoid is defined by two radii: the semi-major axis (the equatorial radius) and the semi-
minor axis (the polar radius).
• Equatorial axis is 21.385 km longer than the Polar axis.
• The semi-major axis is 6,378,137 meters and the semi-minor axis is 6,356,752 meters.

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ELLIPSOID

• Ellipsoid of revolution, minor axis (shorter diameter) connects the geographical North Pole and
South Pole, approximately aligned with the Earth's axis of rotation.
• A mathematical figure approximating the Earth's form, used as a reference frame for
computations in geodesy, astronomy, and the geosciences.
• Ellipsoid definition:
• The semi-major axis of the ellipse, a, the equatorial radius of the ellipsoid
• The semi-minor axis of the ellipse, b, the distance from the center to either pole.
• In geodesy - common to specify the semi-major axis (equatorial radius) a and the flattening f,
𝑎−𝑏
defined as 𝑓 =
𝑎
• f is the amount of flattening at each pole, relative to the radius at the equator.
• Often expressed as a fraction 1/m; m = 1/f then being the "inverse flattening".

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ELLIPSOID (CONT’)

• Various different ellipsoids have been used as approximations.

• Bessel ellipsoid of 1841,
• International Hayford ellipsoid of 1924,
• WGS84 ellipsoid – used by GPS

• Ellipsoid WGS-84,
• f ~ to 1/300 (1/298.257223563, by definition), corresponding to a difference of the major and
minor semi-axes of approximately 21 km (13 miles) (21.3846858 km)

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VARIOUS ELLIPSOIDS
Name a b f Used at

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 RELATION BETWEEN ELLIPSOID AND GEOID

1. Ocean
2. Reference ellipsoid
3. Local plumb line
4. Continent
5. Geoid

The surface of the geoid is higher than the reference ellipsoid wherever there is a positive gravity anomaly (mass
excess) and lower than the reference ellipsoid wherever there is a negative gravity anomaly (mass deficit).[

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EARTH MODELS - SUMMARY

• Various spheroid ways to define the zero line of earth surface.

• Tape line altitude can be:
• Orthometric Hight – plumb line height above the geoid
• Ellipsoidal height – height above a reference ellipsoid
• Local mean see level – height above the local mean see level

• GPS uses the WGS84 ellipsoid model with EGM96 Geoid and MSL

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MAP PROJECTIONS

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MAP PROJECTIONS

• Maps are 2-dimensional (2D) representations of a 3-dimensional (3D) Earth.

• In a small area, Earth is essentially flat, so a flat map is accurate.
• To represent a larger portion of Earth, map makers must use some type of projection to collapse
the third dimension onto a flat surface.
• A projection is a way to represent the Earth’s curved surface on flat plan (“paper”).
• Two basic methods for making projections:
• The map maker “slices” the sphere in some way and unfolds it to make a flat map, like flattening out
an orange peel.
• The map maker looks at the sphere from a certain point (inside the sphere) and then projects this
view onto a geometric shape that can ne unfolded to a plan without distortions (cylinder, cone flat
plan).
• Projection selection is driven by:
• Compatibility of different data sets
• Amount of tolerable metric distortions

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PROJECTION SURFACES

• The goal is to project the mapped area on a surface that can be transformed onto a plan without
stretching, tearing, or shrinking (an applicable surface).
• Earth sphere or ellipsoid are not applicable with a plane surface.
• A surface that can be unfolded or unrolled into a flat plane without stretching, tearing or
shrinking is called a ‘developable surface’.
• Cylinder, Cone and Plane are developable surfaces
• They can be unfolded into a flat sheet without distorting the projected image
• The original projection of the earth’s surface on the cylinder or cone would be distorted.

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ORIENTATION OF THE PROJECTION

• Orientation deals with how a cylinder or a cone is “placed” on the earth

• The orientation of the projection surface can be:
• Normal - inline with the earth’s axis,
• Transverse - at right angles to the earth’s axis
• Oblique - any angle in between.
• These surfaces may also be either Tangent or Secant to the sphere or ellipsoid
(if you see both a 1st and 2nd parallel on a projected map then the projection must be secant).

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CHOOSING A MODEL FOR THE SHAPE OF THE EARTH

• The projection is affected by how the shape of the earth is approximated.

• Ellipsoidal model is commonly used to construct maps.
• Geoid (accurate representation of the global mean sea level surface) not used for mapping due
to its complexity

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PROJECTION CATEGORIES
• Projection classification is based on type of projection surface that is used.
• Cylindrical (e.g. Mercator projection)
• Conic (e.g. Albers projection)
• Azimuthal or plane (polar region projections)

• Different types of projections aim to accomplish different goals while sacrificing data in other
areas through distortion.
• Area preserving projection – equal area or equivalent projection
• Shape preserving – conformal, orthomorphic
• Direction preserving – conformal, orthomorphic, azimuthal (only from a central point)
• Distance preserving – equidistant (shows the true distance between points)
• It is impossible to construct a map projection that is both equal area and conformal.
• Conformal map projection is one in which every angle between two curves that cross each other
on Earth is preserved in the image of the projection, i.e. the projection is a conformal map in the
mathematical sense.

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CYLINDRICAL MAP PROJECTIONS

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CYLINDRICAL MAP PROJECTIONS

• Straight coordinate lines with horizontal parallels crossing meridians at right angles.
• All meridians are equally spaced, and the scale is consistent along each parallel.
• Different cylindrical map projections use different scale when spacing the parallel lines on the
map.
• Downsides
• severely distorted at the poles.
• the parallels and meridians being straight lines don’t allow for the curvature of the Earth to be taken
into consideration.
• useful for teaching and visualizing, but aren’t accurate way of visualizing

• Examples: Mercator projection, Cassini, Gauss-Kruger, Miller, Behrmann, Hobo-Dyer, and Gall-
Peters.

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CYLINDRICAL MAP PROJECTIONS

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CONIC MAP PROJECTIONS

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CONIC MAP PROJECTIONS

• Defined by the cone constant, which dictates the angular distance between meridians.
• Parallels that cross the meridians at right angles with a constant measure of distortion
throughout.
• Meridians are equidistant and straight lines which converge in locations along the projection
regardless of if there’s a pole or not.
• Standard parallels are where the cone touches or slices through the globe.
• The central meridian is opposite the edge where the cone is sliced open.
• Best suited for regional or hemispheric maps, but rarely for a complete world map.
• Used for aviation, visualizing temperate regions, weather maps, climate projections, etc.
• Examples: equidistant conic projection, the Lambert conformal conic, and Albers conic.

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CONIC MAP PROJECTIONS

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AZIMUTHAL PROJECTIONS

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AZIMUTHAL PROJECTIONS

• Touch the earth to a plane at one tangent point:

• Angles from that tangent point are preserved.
• Distances from that point are computed by a function independent of the angle.
• Straight meridian lines, radiating out from a central point.
• Parallels that are circular around the central point, and equidistant parallel spacing.
• Azimuthal equidistant projection is used by amateur radio operators to know the direction to
point their antennas toward a point and see the distance to it. Distance from the tangent point
on the map is equal to surface distance on the earth.
• Azimuthal equal-area projection: distance from the tangent point on the map is equal to
straight-line distance through the earth.
• Azimuthal conformal projection is the same as stereographic projection.
• Azimuthal orthographic projection maps each point on the earth to the closest point on the
plane.

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AZIMUTHAL PROJECTIONS

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CONFORMAL PROJECTIONS

• Preserve angles.
• Mercator projection wraps a cylinder around the earth
• The distance from the equator on the map is being geographical latitude, on a scale where the
earth’s radius is 1.

• Stereographic projection touches a plane to the earth and projects each point in a straight line
from the antipode of the tangent.

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EQUAL-AREA PROJECTIONS

• These projections preserve area.

• Gall-Peters projection wraps a cylinder around the earth and maps each point on the earth to
the nearest point on the cylinder.

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TRANSVERSE MERCATOR PROJECTION

• Conformal projection (angles between curves on map are identical on to the angles on earth)
• Used for mapping areas smaller than a few degrees longitudinally, such as a state or county.
• A revision to the standard Mercator projection
• The cylinder is longitudinally along a meridian instead of the equator.
• Does not maintain true direction (especially evident at large scales) but this distortion can be
minimized by placing the central meridian at the region of interest;
• Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM) coordinate system uses “zones” that each have their own
central meridian.
• Commonly used on topographic maps, geological maps, and U.S. Geological Survey maps.

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 TRANSVERSAL MERCATOR PROJECTION

MAP CENTER IS AT 0°E, 0°N.

LEFT BORDER IS NEAR 85°W, RIGHT BORDER IS NEAR
85°E.
SOURCE: LARS H. ROHWEDDER.

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LAMBERT CONFORMAL CONIC (LCC)

• Used for middle latitudes

• Used for aeronautical charts, aviators, maps with wide east-west extents.
• Conformal conical projection with two reference parallels secant lines
• Help to minimizes distortion
• There is no distortion along the standard parallels
• Distortion increases further from the chosen parallel.

SOURCE: USGS

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SPACE OBLIQUE MERCATOR-SOM

• developed for the specific purpose of mapping of imagery from an orbiting satellite around the
ellipsoidal Earth
• completely free of distortion along the path of the satellite.
• can be used for any satellite in a circular or elliptical orbit around the Earth.

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LIST OF MAP PROJECTIONS

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_map_projections

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COORDINATE SYSTEMS

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GEOGRAPHIC COORDINATE SYSTEM
• A reference system for identifying locations on the curved surface of the earth.
• Locations are measured in angular units from the center of the earth relative to two planes:
• Plane defined by the equator (latitude)
• Plane defined by the prime meridian which crosses Greenwich England (longitude)
• A location is defined by two values: a latitudinal and a longitudinal.
• In GIS systems - North and East are assigned a positive (+) sign and South and West are assigned
a negative (-)
• A GCS is defined by an ellipsoid, geoid and datum.

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EARTH-CENTERED, EARTH-FIXED - ECEF

• Rotates with the Earth and has its origin at the

center of the Earth.
• Right-handed coordinate system :
• The origin at the center of mass of the Earth, a point
close to the Earth's center of figure
• Z axis on the line between the North and South
Poles, positive values increasing northward (but does
not exactly coincide with the Earth's rotational axis)
• X and Y axes in the plane of the Equator
• X axis passing through extending from 180 degrees
longitude at the Equator (negative) to 0 degrees
longitude (prime meridian) at the Equator (positive)
• Y axis passing through extending from 90 degrees
west longitude at the Equator (negative) to 90
degrees east longitude at the Equator (positive)

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PLANAR COORDINATE SYSTEMS

• The geographic system (latitude-longitude), which is based on angles measured on a sphere, is

not valid for measurements on a plane.
• A Cartesian coordinate system is used, where the origin (0, 0) is toward the lower left of the
planar section.
• The true origin point (0, 0) may or may not be in the proximity of the map data you are using.
• Coordinates in the GIS are measured from the origin point. However, false eastings and false
northings are frequently used, which effectively offset the origin to a different place on the
coordinate plane.
• Offsetting origin reasons:
• Minimize the possibility of using negative coordinate values
• Lower the absolute value of the coordinates

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UNIVERSAL TRANSVERSE MERCATOR (UTM) SYSTEM

• Define both projections and coordinate system

• Based on a series of 60 transverse Mercator projections
• The globe is divided into 60 zones between 84° S and 84° N
• Different areas of the earth fall into different 6-degree zones.
• X-Northing and Y-Easting coordinates are in meters by convention
• Within each zone, a local coordinate system is defined
• The X-origin is located 500,000 m west of the central meridian,
• The Y-origin is the south pole or the equator, depending on the hemisphere.
• For zones in the northern hemisphere, the X-origin is a place 500,000 m west of the central
meridian, and the Y-origin is the Equator. The false easting is used to eliminate negative
coordinates.
• For zones in the southern hemisphere, the X origin is also 500,000 m west of the central
meridian, but the gets 10,000 km value at the equator going down to the south pole.

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UTM ZONES

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US STATE PLAN

• Different projections for each state, and frequently different projections for different areas
within each state.
• Three conformal projections :
• Lambert Conformal Conic for states that are longer in the east-west direction, such as Washington,
Tennessee, and Kentucky,
• Transverse Mercator projection for states that are longer in the north-south direction, such as
Illinois and Vermont,
• Oblique Mercator projection for the panhandle of Alaska, because it is neither predominantly north
nor south, but at an oblique angle.
• To maintain an accuracy of 1 part in 10,000, it was necessary to divide many states into multiple
zones. Each zone has its own central meridian and standard parallels to maintain the desired
level of accuracy. The origin is located south of the zone boundary, and false eastings are applied
so that all coordinates within the zone will have positive X and Y values. The boundaries of these
zones follow county boundaries. Smaller states such as Connecticut require only one zone,
whereas Alaska is composed of ten zones and uses all three projections.

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US STATE PLAN

Washington is divided into 2 zones, a north zone and a south zone.

Projection parameters for each zone:

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DATUM

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WHAT IS DATUM?

• A geodetic reference datum is a known and constant surface which is used to describe the
location of unknown points on the Earth.
• Reference datums can have different radii and different center points
• Datums are always based on ellipsoids that best represent the geoid within the region the datum
is going to be used for.
• Each ellipsoid has a distinct major and minor axis
• Different controls (modifications) are added to the ellipsoid in order to construct the datum,
which is specialized and used for specific geographic regions (such as the North American
Datum).
• Geoid is used for control purposes in the construction of geographic datums by adding
irregularities to the ellipsoid in order to better match the Earth’s actual shape

• Hundreds of locally developed reference datums around the world

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LOCAL DATUM

• Defines local alignment of the ellipsoid to the geoid

• The choice of datum is largely driven by the location of interest.

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GEOCENTRIC DATUM
• The ellipsoid is aligned with the center of the earth
• A geocentric datum couples a geoid with the ellipsoid at each
element’s center of mass.

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HORIZONTAL DATUM PARAMETERS

For Horizontal Geodetic Datum - the model used to measure positions on the Earth:
• ɸ0=astronomic latitude of the origin point
• Λ0=astronomic longitude of the origin point
• h0=ellipsoid height of the origin point
• H0=elevation of the origin point
• α0=azimuth to another point from the origin point
• Α =semi-major axis of the ellipsoid of choice
• 1/f = reciprocal of flattening of the ellipsoid of choice
• ξ 0=deflection of gravity in the plan of the meridian of the point
• η 0=deflection of gravity in the prime vertical of the point

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VERTICAL DATUM PARAMETERS

A vertical datum is a reference surface for vertical positions, such as the elevations of Earth
features including terrain, bathymetry, water level, and man-made structures.
Common types of vertical datums include:

• The surface of the datum ellipsoid, resulting in an ellipsoidal height

• The mean sea level as described by the gravity geoid, yielding the orthometric height
• Three-dimensional geodetic coordinates or geographic coordinates for a location
• latitude ɸ
• longitude λ
• height h

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DATUM EXAMPLES

• The North American Datum of 1927 (NAD 27) is "the horizontal control datum for the United
States that was defined by a location and azimuth on the Clarke spheroid of 1866, with origin at
(the survey station) Meades Ranch (Kansas)." ... The geoidal height at Meades Ranch was
assumed to be zero, as sufficient gravity data was not available, and this was needed to relate
surface measurements to the datum. "Geodetic positions on the North American Datum of 1927
were derived from the (coordinates of and an azimuth at Meades Ranch) through a
readjustment of the triangulation of the entire network in which Laplace azimuths were
introduced, and the Bowie method was used."
• The North American Datum of 1983 (NAD 83) is "The horizontal control datum for the United
States, Canada, Mexico, and Central America, based on a geocentric origin and the Geodetic
Reference System 1980 (GRS80). "This datum, designated as NAD 83 ...is based on the
adjustment of 250,000 points including 600 satellite Doppler stations which constrain the system
to a geocentric origin." NAD83 may be considered a local referencing system.

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DATUM EXAMPLES

• WGS 84 is the World Geodetic System of 1984. It is the reference frame used by the U.S.
Department of Defense (DoD) and is defined by the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency
(NGA)
• WGS 84 is used by DoD for all its mapping, charting, surveying, and navigation needs, including
its GPS "broadcast" and "precise" orbits. WGS 84 was defined in January 1987 using Doppler
satellite surveying techniques. It was used as the reference frame for broadcast GPS
Ephemerides (orbits) beginning January 23, 1987. WGS 84 (G873) was adopted as the reference
frame for broadcast orbits on January 29, 1997.
• The WGS 84 datum, within two meters of the NAD83 datum used in North America, is the only
world referencing system in place today.

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DIGITAL TERRAIN MODEL

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DIGITAL ELEVATION MODEL - DEM

• Three – dimensional representation of a terrain surface consisting of X, Y, Z coordinates stored in

digital form.
• Represent the land or "bare earth" (no trees, buildings, etc.) referenced to a common vertical
datum.
• Elevation data at a fixed grid interval. The intervals between each of the grid points will always
be referenced to some geographical coordinate system (latitude and longitude or UTM
(Universal Transverse Mercator) coordinate systems (Easting and Northing).
• DEMs are files that contain either points (vector) or pixels (raster), with each point or pixel
having an elevation value.
• A variety of file formats, from .csv to .dem to .txt
• GeoTIFF (.tif), USGS DEM (.dem). Floating Point Raster File (.flt). ASCII Grid (.txt), Comma-
separated Values (.csv or .txt), HGT (.hgt), Grid (.grd), NetCDF (.nc)

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DTED FORMAT

• DTED (Digital Terrain Elevation Data) is a standard of digital datasets which consists of a matrix of
terrain elevation values, i.e., a Digital Elevation Model.
• Originally developed in the 1970s to support aircraft radar simulation and prediction.
• Terrain elevations are described as the height above the Earth Gravitational Model 1996
(EGM96) geoid, not the WGS84 reference ellipsoid.
• The DTED format for level 0, 1 and 2 is described in U.S. Military Specification Digital Terrain
Elevation Data (DTED) MIL-PRF-89020B, and amongst other parameters describes the resolution
for each level:
• Level 0 - post spacing of approximately 900 meters.
• Level 1 - post spacing of approximately 90 meters.
• Level 2 - post spacing of approximately 30 meters.
• Three more levels (3, 4 and 5) at increasing resolution for military use only

• DTED data is stored in a big endian format where negative numbers are signed magnitude.

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SPACE SHUTTLE RADAR TOPOGRAPHY MISSION (SRTM)

• Generated by NASA Space Shuttle Endeavour

• 1-arc second global digital elevation model
• Spatial resolution of about 30 meters.
• Absolute vertical height accuracy of less than 16m.

• SRTM DEM data is being housed on the USGS Earth Explorer.

• https://earthexplorer.usgs.gov/fgdc/8360/SRTM1N22W016V3/
• https://www.usgs.gov/centers/eros/science/usgs-eros-archive-landsat-archives-landsat-8-oli-
operational-land-imager-and?qt-science_center_objects=0#qt-science_center_objects

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OTHER DEM SOURCES

• https://gisgeography.com/free-global-dem-data-sources/

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COMMON GIS FILE FORMATS

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FILE FORMAT GROUPS

1. Vector GIS File Formats:

• Vector graphics are comprised of vertices and paths.
• The three basic symbol types for vector data are points, lines and polygons (areas).

2. Raster GIS File Formats

• Raster data is made up of pixels (also referred to as grid cells). They are usually regularly-spaced and
square but they don’t have to be.
• Rasters have pixel that are associated with a value (continuous) or class (discrete).

3. Compressed Raster GIS Formats

• Lossy GIS compression reduces file size by permanently eliminating certain information, especially
redundant information (even though the user may not notice it).
• These lossy compression algorithms often result in greater reductions of file size.

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FILE FORMAT GROUPS

4. Geographic Database File Formats

• Geographic databases allow the storage of location information with attributes

5. LiDAR File Formats

• lidar points 3d dense point cloud coordinates with elevation values and other LiDAR data

6. CAD File Formats

• GIS imports design models that were likely built in Autodesk or Bentley Systems MicroStation.

7. Elevation File Formats

• Elevation file formats are specific to digital elevation model products.
• USGS DEM and Canadian CDED capture regularly-spaced elevation values in a raster grid.

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FILE FORMAT GROUPS

8. Web File Formats

• Built specifically to serve and display geographic features over the internet.

9. GIS Software Project File Formats

• Used in GIS applications. Store layers in a hierarchical manner and then display them in a layout.
• Retain symbology, queries, labeling and other properties for building maps.

10. GIS Software Project File Formats

• Used in GIS applications. Store layers in a hierarchical manner and then display them in a layout.
• Retain symbology, queries, labeling and other properties for building maps.
11. Cartographic File Formats
• Standardize map creation with a set of symbols, labels or feature display.
• Do not hold any of the physical data.
• Contain the symbology to stylize your map features.

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FILE FORMAT GROUPS

12. 3D File Formats

• Give XYZ locations of features.
• Graphic representations of objects in the real world developed in 3D modelling software.
13. Interchange File Formats
• Transfer files between different software systems.
• Generally, non-native formats specifically designed for interoperability and data transfer.

14. Other GIS File Formats

• Do not belong in any specific group.
• Geographic in nature and perform a specific function related to the analysis, management or display
of geographic information.

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VECTOR GIS FILE FORMATS
Extension File Type Description
industry standard.
A complete set of three files are mandatory to make up a shapefile.
•SHP is the feature geometry.
•SHX is the shape index position.
.SHP, •DBF is the attribute data.
Esri Shapefile .DBF,
.SHX optionally include.
•PRJ is the projection system metadata.
•XML is the associated metadata.
•SBN is the spatial index for optimizing queries.
•SBX optimizes loading times.

mostly for web-based mapping.

GeoJSON stores coordinates as text in JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) form. This
includes vector points, lines and polygons as well as tabular information.
Geographic
GeoJSON store objects within curly braces {} and in general have less markup
JavaScript Object .GEOJSON
overhead (compared to GML). GeoJSON has straightforward syntax that you can
Notation .JSON
modify in any text editor.
(GeoJSON)
Webmaps browsers understand JavaScript so by default GeoJSON is a common web
format. But JavaScript only understands binary objects. Fortunately, JavaScript can
convert JSON to binary.

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VECTOR GIS FILE FORMATS

GML allows for the use of geographic coordinates extension of XML.

Xtensible Markup Language (XML) is both human-readable and machine-
readable.
Geography
GML stores geographic entities (features) in the form of text.
Markup
.GML Similar to GeoJSON, GML can be updated in any text editor.
Language
Each feature has a list of properties, geometry (points, lines, curves, surfaces and
(GML)
polygons) and spatial reference system.
There is generally more overhead when compare GML with GeoJSON because
GML results in more data for the same amount of information.
KML -Keyhole Markup Language. XML-based
Primarily used for Google Earth. Was developed by Keyhole Inc which was later
acquired by Google.
Google Keyhole KMZ (KML-Zipped) replaced KML as being the default Google Earth geospatial
.KML
Markup Language format because it is a compressed version of the file. KML/KMZ became an
.KMZ
(KML/KMZ)
international standard of the Open Geospatial Consortium in 2008.
The longitude, latitude components (decimal degrees) are as defined by the
World Geodetic System of 1984 (WGS84). The vertical component (altitude) is
measured in meters from the WGS84 EGM96 Geoid vertical datum.

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 VECTOR GIS FILE FORMATS
GPS Exchange format is an XML schema that describes waypoints, tracks and routes captured from a GPS receiver. Because GPX is an exchange format, you can
GPS eXchange Format openly transfer GPS data from one program to another based on its description properties.
.GPX
(GPX) The minimum requirement for GPX are latitude and longitude coordinates. In addition, GPX files optionally stores location properties including time, elevation
and geoid height as tags.
IDRISI vector data files have a VCT extension along with an associated vector documentation file with a VDC extension.
.VCT VCT format are limited to points, lines, polygons, text and photos. Upon the creation of an IDRISI vector file, it automatically creates a documentation file for
IDRISI Vector
.VDC building metadata.
Attributes are stored directly in the vector files. But you can optionally use independent data tables and value files.
MapInfo TAB files are a proprietary format for Pitney Bowes MapInfo software. Similar to shapefiles, they require a set of files to represent geographic
.TAB information and attributes.
.DAT •TAB files are ASCII format that link the associated ID, DAT, MAP and IND files.
MapInfo TAB .ID •DAT files contain the tabular data associated as a dBase DBF file.
.MAP •ID files are index files that link graphical objects to database information.
.IND •MAP files are the map objects that store geographic information.
•IND files are index files for the tabular data.
OSM files are the native file for OpenStreetMap which had become the largest crowdsourcing GIS data project in the world. These files are a collection of vector
features from crowd-sourced contributions from the open community.
OpenStreetMap OSM
.OSM The GIS format OSM is OpenStreetMap’s XML-based file format. The more efficient, smaller PBF Format (“Protocolbuffer Binary Format”) is an alternative to the
XML
XML-based format.
The data interoperability in QGIS can load native OSM files. The OpenStreetMap plugin can convert PBF to OSM, which then can be used in QGIS.
Digital Line Graph (DLG) files are vector in nature that were generated on traditional paper topographic maps. For example, this includes township & ranges,
Digital Line Graph (DLG) .DLG contour lines, rivers, lakes, roads, railroads and towns.
Much of the U.S. Bureau of Census Topologically Integrated Geographic Encoding and Referencing (TIGER) data were generated using the standard DLG format.
The GPF-DIME file format was developed by the US Census Bureau in the late 1960s as one of the first GIS data formats to exist. It was used to store the US road
Geographic Base File-
network for major urban areas, which is a key factor in census information.
Dual Independent Mask
GPF-DIME supports choropleth mapping and also assisted in removing error for digitizing features. DIME was a key component to the current TIGER
Encoding (GBF-DIME)
(Topologically Integrated Geographic Encoding and Referencing) system, which was produced by the US Census Bureau.
ArcInfo Coverages are a set of folders containing points, arcs, polygons or annotation. Tics are geographic control points and help define the extent of the
coverage.
ArcInfo Coverage Attributes are stored in the ADF or INFOb tables. Each feature is identified with a unique number. These feature numbers are a way to link attribute data with
each spatial feature.
Coverages were the standard format during the floppy disk era. But over time, this GIS format has become obsolete and mostly unsupported in GIS software.

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RASTER GIS FILE FORMATS

An industry image standard file for GIS and satellite remote sensing applications.

.TIF GeoTIFFs may be accompanied by other files:

GeoTIFF .TIFF •TFW - world file that is required to give your raster geolocation.
.OVR •XML - optionally accompany GeoTIFFs and are your metadata.
•AUX - auxiliary files store projections and other information.
•OVR - pyramid files improves performance for raster display.

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RASTER GIS FILE FORMATS
Extension File Type Description

ERDAS Imagine IMG files is a proprietary file format developed by Hexagon Geospatial. IMG files are commonly used for
raster data to store single and multiple bands of satellite data.
IMG files use a hierarchical format (HFA) that are optional to store basic information about the file. For example, this can
ERDAS Imagine (IMG) .IMG
include file information, ground control points and sensor type.
Each raster layer as part of an IMG file contains information about its data values. For example, this includes projection,
statistics, attributes, pyramids and whether or not it’s a continuous or discrete type of raster.
ASCII uses a set of numbers (including floats) between 0 and 255 for information storage and processing. They also contain
American Standard
header information with a set of keywords.
Code for Information .ASC
In their native form, ASCII text files store GIS data in a delimited format. This could be comma, space or tab-delimited
Interchange ASCII Grid
format. Going from non-spatial to spatial data, you can run a conversion process tool like ASCII to raster.
IDRISI assigns RST extensions to all raster layers. They consist of numeric grid cell values as integers, real numbers, bytes and
.RST RGB24.
IDRISI Raster
.RDC The raster documentation file (RDC) is a companion text file for RST files. They assign the number of columns and rows to
RST files. Further to this, they record the file type, coordinate system, reference units and positional error.
Band Interleaved files are a raster storage extension for single/multi-band aerial and satellite imagery.
.BIL •Band Interleaved for Line (BIL) stores pixel information based on rows for all bands in an image.
Envi RAW Raster .BIP •Whereas Band interleaved by pixel (BIP) assigns pixel values for each band by rows.
.BSQ •Finally, Band sequential format (BSQ) stores separate bands by rows.
BIL files consist of a header file (HDR) that describes the number of columns, rows, bands, bit depth and layout in an image.
PIX files are raster storage layers developed by PCI Geomatics. It’s a flexible file type that stores all image and auxiliary data
PCI Geomatics called “segments” in a self-contained file. For example, segments can include image channels, training site and histogram
Database File .PIX information.
(PCIDSK) As a database file, PIX files can hold raster channels with varying bit depths. They can also store projections, attribute
information, metadata and imagery/vectors.
Grid files are a proprietary format developed by Esri. Grids have no extension and are unique because they can hold
attribute data in a raster file. But the catch is that you can only add attributes to integer grids.
Attributes are stored in a value attribute tables (VAT) – one record for each unique value in the grid, and the count
Esri Grid representing the number of cells.
The two types of Esri Grid files are integer and floating point grids. Land cover would be an example of a discrete grid. Each
class has a unique integer cell value. Elevation data is an example of a floating point grid. Each cell represents an elevation
floating value.
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COMPRESSED RASTER FILE FORMATS

ECW is a compressed image format typically for aerial and satellite imagery.
ER Mapper
This GIS file type is known for its high compression ratios while still
Enhanced
.ECW maintaining quality contrast in images.
Compression
ECW format was developed by ER Mapper, but it’s now owned by Hexagon
Wavelet
Geospatial.
JPEG 2000 typically have a JP2 file extension. They are a wavelet
Joint compression with the latest JPG format giving an option for lossy or lossless
Photographic compression.
Experts .JP2 JPEG 2000 GIS formats require a world file which gives your raster
Group geolocation. They are an optimal choice for background imagery because of
JPEG2000 its lossy compression. JPEG 2000 can achieve a compression ratio of 20:1
which is similar to MrSID format.
LizardTech LizardTech’s proprietary MrSID format is commonly used for orthoimages in
Multiresoluti need of compression. MrSID images have an extension of SID and are
on Seamless .SID accompanied with a world file with the file extension SDW.
Image .SDW MrSIDs have impressive compression ratios. Color images can be
Database compressed at a ratio of over 20:1. LizardTech’s GeoExpress is the software
MrSID package capable of reading and writing MrSID format.

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ELEVATION FILE FORMATS
ASCII files specifically developed by the USGS to capture digital elevation
models.
A single file containing 3 record types.
USGS DEM, •Record A stores general characteristics of the DEM such as descriptive
.DEM
Canadian CDED name, elevation minimum and maximum, extent boundaries and number
of B records.
•Record B contains a header and elevation profile.
•Record C stores the accuracy of the data and is optional.

Digital Terrain Elevation Data (DTED) is a standard format created by the

National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency.
Terrain elevation values
Digital Terrain .DT0
User-defined attributes are assigned through TAB files.
Elevation Data .DT1
The 3 levels of resolutions contain various cell-spacing resolution:
(DTED) .DT2
•Level 0 spacing is 30 arc second spacing (nominally one kilometer)
•Level 1 spacing is 3 arc seconds (approximately 100 meters)
•Level 2 spacing is 1 arc second (approximately 30 meters)

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MORE FILE FORMATS

• https://gisgeography.com/gis-formats/
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GIS_file_formats

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 WHERE DID WE START? WHAT DID WE LEARN?

• Define map projection, coordinate system and Datum

• Get reference data from old maps and convert to current datum
• Match data layers
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DENMARK COORDINATE SYSTEM

• EPSG:2198 ETRS89 / Kp2000 Bornholm

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SUMMARY

• Earth models
• Geoid
• Ellipsoid
• Map projections
• Common map projections
• Coordinate systems
• Geographic Datums
• Digital elevation model
• GIS data formats

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