What are geographic data?

1.Place
Place, or location, is essential in a geographic information system. Locations are the basis for
many of the benefits of geographic information systems: the ability to map, to link different
kinds of information because they refer to the same place, and to measure distances and areas.
Without locations, data are said to be "aspatial" and have no value at all within a geographic
information system.
2.Time
Time is an optional element. Many aspects of the earth's surface are slow to change and can be
thought of as unchanging. Height above sea level changes slowly because of erosion and
movements of the earth's crust, but these processes operate on scales of hundreds or thousands
of years, and for most applications (except geophysics) we can safely omit time from the
representation of elevation. On the other hand, atmospheric temperature changes daily, and
dramatic changes sometimes occur in minutes with the passage of a cold front or thunderstorm,
so time is distinctly important.
3.Attributes
Attributes refer to descriptive information. The range of attributes in geographic information
is vast. Some attributes are physical or environmental in nature (e.g., atmospheric temperature
or elevation), while others are social or economic (e.g., population or income). There are five
main types of attributes: nominal, ordinal, interval, ratio, and cyclic.
Geographic Data and Geographic Information
Geographic data are a special type of data because of their geographic nature. The geographic
data are geographically referenced wherein we can locate and identify features by a spherical
coordinate system (latitude and longitude). They are made up of descriptive elements (which
tell what they are) and graphical elements (which tell what they look like, where they are found
and how they are spatially related to one another).
The descriptive elements are commonly referred to as non-spatial data while the graphical
elements are commonly referred to as spatial data. The geographic data are always pertinent
to features and resources of the Earth as well as human activities based on or associated with
these features and resources.
The primary purpose of collection of geographical data and their utilisation is for problem
solving and decision making associated with geography, i.e. location, distribution and spatial
relationships within a particular geographical framework.
On the other hand, processing of geographic data give the geographic information. The
geographic information are useful to improve the user’s knowledge about the geography of the
Earth’s features and resources as well as human activities associated with these features and
resources. It enables the user’s to develop spatial intelligence for problem solving and decision-
making concerning the occurrence, utilisation and conservation of the Earth’s features and
resources as well as impacts and consequences of human activities associated with them.
Spatial nature and characteristics of geographic data, generic concepts of information
organisation and data structure cannot be applied directly to them.
Geographic data have three dimensions which are given below:
a) temporal (e.g., 26th December, 2004)
b) thematic (e.g., occurrence of tsunami in Indian ocean), and
c) spatial (e.g., affected area including southeastern coast of India).
GIS emphasises the use of spatial dimension for turning data into information which assist our
understanding of geographic phenomena.

Types of Geographic Data base

Database is primarily of two types:
 spatial, and
 non-spatial data.
Spatial Data: It includes location, shape, size and orientation information of features or
objects. For example, a particular square in which its centre (the intersection of its diagonals)
specifies its location; its shape is a square; length of one of its sides specifies its size and angle
its diagonals e.g., the x-axis specifies its orientation. Spatial data includes spatial relationships,
for example, the arrangement of three stumps in a cricket ground.
Non-spatial Data: It is also known attribute or characteristic data. It consists of the
characteristics of spatial features which are independent of all geometric considerations. Let us
illustrate this with the help of an example. The non-spatial data of town comprise of name of
the town, its population, settlement type, means of transportation and communication,
administration set-up, education institutions, occupations and facilities. It is important to note
that all the above-mentioned data of town are not dependent on their location identities. Hence,
non-spatial data is independent from location information.