GEODESY
the science of measuring the shape of
the Earth
MAP PROJECTIONS
• the transformation of
coordinate locations from
the Earth’s curved surface
onto flat maps.
• transfer the spherical
Earth onto a two-
dimensional surface.
A flat map must distort geometry in
some way because the Earth is
curved. When we plot latitude and
longitude coordinates on a Cartesian
system, “straight” lines will appear
bent, and polygons will be distorted.
these values are only “unique” to the
location for a specified set of
measurements and time.
1. The coordinates depend on
how we translate points from
a curved Earth to a flat map
surface.
2. The estimate we use for the
real shape of the Earth.
3. and what set of
measurements we reference
our coordinates to.
We may, and often do, address these
three factors in a number of different
ways, and the coordinates for the
same point will be different for these
different choices.
ERATOSTHENES
• a Greek scholar in Egypt,
performed one of the earliest
well-founded measurements
of the Earth’s circumference.
• He noticed that on the
summer solstice the sun at
noon shone to the bottom of
a deep well in Syene, near
Tropic of
ELLIPSOID a sphere that was slightly
Cancer, so that the sun would
flattened at the poles. the ellipsoid
be exactly overhead during
the summer solstice. has two characteristic dimensions.
• deduced that the Earth must
These are the semi-major axis, the
be 805 multiplied by 50, or
about 40,250 kilometers in radius a in the equatorial direction,
circumference.
and the semi- minor axis, the radius b
in the polar direction.
POSIDONIUS
• another Greek scholar, made
an independent estimate of EQUATORIAL RADIUS
the size of the Earth by
always greater than the polar radius
measuring angles from local
for the Earth ellipsoid.
• Approximated the Earth’s
radius by simultaneous
measurement of zenith
GEOID
angles at two points.
• calculated the difference in • undulating shape
the zenith angles at Canopus • measured and interpolated
as about 1/48th of a circle surface, and not a
between Rhodes and mathematically defined
Alexandria. surface.
ZENITH ANGLE
GEODESISTS
• The angle between a plumb
line and a
Defined the geoid as the three-
star location. dimensional surface along which the
• Can be measured pull of gravity is a specified constant.
simultaneously at two
Measurements based on South
locations on Earth, and the
American surveys yielded a different
difference between the two
“best” ellipsoid than those in Europe.
zenith angles can be used to
calculate the circumference
of the Earth.
ELEVATION
is typically defined as the distance
CANOPUS above a geoid.
• was on the horizon at
Rhodes, meaning the zenith
ORTHOMETRIC HEIGHT
angle at Rhodes was 90
degrees. elevation above a geoid
• was above the horizon aat
Alexandria, meaning the
zenith angle was less than 90 The difference between the
degrees. ellipsoidal height and geoidal height
at any location, shown in as N, has
various names, including geoidal
height and geoidal separation.
GEOIDAL HEIGHT
quite small relative to the polar and
equatorial radii.
PLUMB BOB
weight suspended by a string that
indicates the direction of gravity, and
horizontal and vertical distance
measurements, and later with various
types of gravimeters devices that
measure the gravitational force.
These well-surveyed points allow us
to specify a reference frame,
including an origin or starting point.
GEODETIC DATUM
reference surface
A geodetic datum consists of two
major components.
1. an ellipsoid with a spherical or
three-dimensional Cartesian
coordinate system and an
origin.
Some authors define the datum as a
specified reference surface, and a
realization of a datum as that surface
plus a physical network of precisely
measured points. In this
nomenclature, the measured points
describe a Terrestrial Reference
Frame.
BENCHMARKS
Precisely surveyed points
TRIANGULATION SURVEY
• commonly used prior to
satellite positioning.
• utilize a network of
interlocking triangles to
determine positions at survey
stations.
CARTOGRAPHER
produces a map
TOPOLOGY
an underlying geometric structure is
created which allows the user to
describe the relationships between
features.
METHODS OF SPATIAL REFERENCING
1. Geographic co-ordinate
systems.
2. Rectangular co-ordinate
systems.
3. Non-co-ordinate systems.
GEOGRAPHIC CO-ORDINATE SYSTEMS
The only true geographic co-
ordinates are latitude and longitude.
RECTANGULAR CO-ORDINATE
SYSTEMS
At present, most of the spatial data
available for use in GIS exist in two-
dimensional form. In order to make
use of these data a referencing
system that uses rectangular co-
ordinates is required. To obtain these
a map graticule, or grid, is placed on
top of the map.
GRATICULE
obtained by projecting the lines of
latitude or longitude from our
representation of the world as a
globe onto a flat surface using a map
projection.
NON-CO-ORDINATE SYSTEMS
Non-co-ordinate systems provide
spatial references using a descriptive
code rather than a co- ordinate.
CYLINDRICAL PROJECTION (LIGHT IN
A CIRCULAR ROOM ANALOGY)
• Continuous picture of the Earth
• Countries near the equator in
true relative positions
• Distance increases between
countries located towards top
and bottom of image
• The view of the poles is very
distorted
• Area for the most part is
preserved
AZIMUTHAL PROJECTION (LIGHT IN A
SQUARE ROOM WITH FLAT WALLS
ANALOGY)
• Only a part of the Earth's surface is
visible
• The view will be of half the globe or
less
• Distortion will occur at all four
edges
• Distance for the most part is
preserved
CONIC PROJECTION (LIGHT IN A
TEPEE ANALOGY)
• Area is distorted
• Distance is very distorted
towards
• the bottom of the image
 • Scale for the most part is
preserved
HARDCOPY FORMS
any drawn, written, or printed
documents, including hand-drawn
maps, manually measured survey
data, legal records, and coordinate
lists with associated tabular data.
Much data was created from
hardcopy sources in the early years of
GIS via digitizing, the process of
collecting digital coordinates.
DIGITIZING
common data entry method today,
although primarily from satellite and
aerial images.
DIGITAL MAPS
electronic, graphic depiction of spatial
data, are by far the most common
map form today.
DATA AREA OR PANE
occupies the largest part of the map,
and contains most of the depicted
spatial data.
NEATLINE
Often included to provide a frame
around all map elements, and insets
may contain additional map
elements. Scalebars, legends, titles,
and other graphic elements such as a
north arrow are often included.
MAP TYPES
1. Feature maps
2. Choropleth maps
3. Dot-density
4. Isopleth maps
FEATURE MAPS
among the simplest, because they
map points, lines, or areas and
provide nominal information. A road
may be plotted with a symbol
defining the type of road or a point
may be plotted indicating the location
of a city center, but the width of the
road or number of city dwellers are
not provided in the shading or other
symbology on the map.
CHOROPLETH MAPS
depict quantitative information for
areas. A mapped variable such as
population density may be
represented in the map. Polygons
define area boundaries, such as
countries, states, census tracts, or
other standard administrative units.
Each polygon is given a color, shading,
or pattern corresponding to values for
a mapped variable.
DOT-DENSITY MAPS
another map form commonly used to
show quantitative data. Dots or other
point symbols are plotted to
represent values. Dots are placed in
the polygon such that the number of
dots equals the total value for the
polygon. Note that the dots are
typically placed randomly within the
polygon area.
ISOPLETH MAPS
known as contour maps, display lines
of equal value. Isopleth maps are
used to represent continuous
surfaces. Rainfall, elevation, and
temperature are features that are
commonly represented using isopleth
maps. A line on the isopleth map
represents a specified value, for
example, a 10 o C
ISOPLETH
defines the position on the landscape
that is at that temperature. Lines
typically do not cross, in that there
cannot be two different temperatures
at the same location. However,
isopleth maps are commonly used to
depict elevation, and cliffs or
overhanging terrain do have multiple
elevations at the same location.
Note: Lines on isopleth maps typically
do not cross. However, as shown at
the arrow in this image, lines may
coincide when there is a common
value. Here cliffs or overhangs result
in converging isopleth lines.
MAP SCALE
All maps have a scale, a relationship
between a distance on the map and a
corresponding distance projected on
Earth.
CARTOGRAPHY
• the art and techniques of
making maps. It encompasses
both mapmaking tools and
 how these tools may be
combined to communicate
spatial information.
• an important aspect of GIS,
because we often
communicate spatial
information through maps.
DIGITAL DATA
the data in some electronic form
DIGITAL DATA OUTPUT
often consists of recording or
converting data into one of these file
formats.
METADATA
• information about spatial
data.
• describe the content, source,
lineage, methods, developer,
coordinate system, extent,
structure, spatial accuracy,
attributes, and responsible
organization for spatial data.
• the “data about data.”
• describe the content, origin,
form, coordinate system,
spatial and attribute data
characteristics, and other
• relevant information about
spatial data.
Most governments have or are in the
process of establishing standard
methods for reporting metadata. In
the United States, the Federal
Geographic Data Committee (FGDC)
has defined a Content Standard for
Digital Geospatial Metadata
(CSDGM) to specify the content and
format for metadata.
There are 10 basic types of
information in the CSDGM:
1) Identification, describing the data
set,
2) Data quality,
3) Spatial data organization,
4) Spatial reference coordinate
system,
5) Entity and attribute,
6) Distribution and options for
obtaining the data set,
7) Currency of metadata and
responsible party,
8) Citation,
9) Time period information, used
with other sections to provide
temporal information, and
10) Contact organization or person
SPATIAL DATA ENTRY
common activity for
many GIS users
MAPS
• used for spatial data entry
due to several unique
characteristics.
• usually converted to digital
data through a manual
digitization process, whereby
a human analyst traces and
records the location of
important features. Maps
may also be digitized via a
scanning device.
Snapping, smoothing, vertex
thinning, and other tools may be
used to improve the quality and
utility of digitized data. These
methods are used to ensure
positional data are captured
efficiently and at the proper level of
detail.
LABORATORY: Familiarization with QGIS and Spatial Data

The different parts of the interface are the following:

Menu Bar - There are twelve (12) default menus found in this portion of the interface. Explore each menu
and you can access different tools through drop-down selections.
Toolbars - There are several toolbars displayed on the interface and can be found below the Menu Bar and
beside the Table of Contents window. These toolbars contain icons with their corresponding functions.
These are equivalent icons of the functions under each menu. Hover the mouse cursor and inspect the
names of the icons. You can drag these toolbars anywhere by clicking on the left most part (the space
with vertical dotted lines). A white crosshair will appear prompting you to drag the toolbar.
Layers Panel - The Layers Panel serves as Table of Contents (TOC) window that contains your datasets
that are loaded into QGIS.
Data Frame and Status Bar - This part of the interface contains the data frame properties of your input
data such as coordinate system, scale, and rotation values. The rendering or displaying option for your
data is also included in this portion.
Map View - This is the large window that displays
the input data. You can view and select
layers/features in this window if the layers are
enabled in the Layers Panel.
Zooming tools - The zoom tools are useful for
focusing and looking at the spatial aspect of your
geographic data. Inspect the different Zoom
tools.
The 19 properties included are the following:
Information, Source, Symbology, Labels,
Diagram, 3D view, Source Fields, Attributes Form
Joins, Auxiliary Storage, Actions, Display,
Rendering, Variables, Metadata, Dependencies,
Legend, QGIS Server, and Digitizing.