Professional Documents
Culture Documents
1 Intro - Overview
1 Intro - Overview
1 Intro - Overview
• GIS definitions_
Why use a GIS?
• Generically
– Find features with known properties but unknown
location
(“Where is a particular feature on the landscape?”)
(“Where are features with specific properties?”)
– Identify properties of features with known location
(“What type of features are at a specific location?”)
– Analyze the relationship between/among features
and location
(“Is there a reason these features are found at this
location?”)_
What can a GIS do?
• Specifically
– Estimate economic effects of land-use regulation
(Spotted owl, salmon)
– Determine the optimal locations of new
businesses
(demographics, transportation)
– Generate optimal routing and scheduling delivery
and repair services
(network & routing)
– Determine the ground area covered by a new
cellular phone network
(visibility and line-of-sight analysis)_
What can a GIS do?
• Specifically
– Delineate watershed boundaries for estimates of
sedimentation effects on fish-bearing streams
– Predict vegetation types based on elevation,
slope, and aspect
– Predict landslide hazard for forest harvest units
– Calculate the correlation between demographics
and HIV infection rates
– Locate natural areas that need protection
– Make communicative, colorful, and interesting
maps_
Examples of what a GIS can do
Example 1: Where is a given feature or set of features?
“Where are forest stands greater than 100 years of age?”
location is shown
Examples of what a GIS can do
• Example 2: What features are at a given location?
“What is the age of the forest near the 1050 Road?”
1st step:
select road
Examples of what a GIS can do
• Example 2: What features are at a given location?
“What is the age of the forest near the 1050 Road?”
2nd step:
3rd step:
select adjacent
examine records
stands
of adjacent
Examples of what a GIS can do
• Example 3: Where are areas that meet a given
complex set of criteria?
detailed
topographic maps
Examples of GIS maps
orthophoto
image maps
good for
validating other
data
Examples of GIS maps
surface drapes & 3-D modeling
Examples of GIS maps
classified (thematic) maps
and
• hardware,
• software,
• data,
• people, and
• methods