Kwame Nkrumah University of

Science & Technology, Kumasi, Ghana

GE 362: Basis Principles of Geographic Information Systems “GIS”

Lecture 05 : Geographic phenomena and Data Models

Eric Kwabena Forkuo (PhD), Department of Geomatic Eng, KNUST, 2024

 Lecture overview

• Geographic phenomena

• Fields

• Objects

• Data Models

• Vector

• Raster

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 Geographic phenomena
• Defining a geographic phenomenon
– It can be named and described
– it can be georeferenced (it has a position in space)
– it is / was present during a certain time (interval)
• That is, Geographic phenomena have:
– a spatial (geometric) and
– temporal extent and
– possess thematic characteristics (attributes or properties)
• The spatial mode deals with variation from place to place

• The temporal mode deals with variation from time to time

• The thematic mode deals with variation from one characteristic to another

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 Geographic phenomena

• Different types of geographic phenomena

– a geographic phenomenon is either discrete ( objects) or continuous (fields)
• Geographic fields
– continuous phenomena are distributed continuously across space with
undetermined boundaries.

– They are distributions of single-value geographic variables (called fields).

– Such a field-based approach is frequently used in thematic mapping.

– Fields are continuous phenomena such as:
• elevation, temperature ,terrain, and soil type
• they exist everywhere (every point has an elevation or temperature) and
• they are not discrete entities

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 Geographic phenomena
• Geographic objects or features
– In contrast, discrete phenomena are spatially homogenous entities with distinct
locations and boundaries.
– They hold relatively permanent identities and are identified as individuals prior
to any recognition of their attributes.
– Many GIS researchers applied such a feature-based (or entity-based) approach to
handle geographic data.

– Objects are entities such as buildings, roads, pipes, power poles,

– they have distinct boundaries

– they are considered discrete entities.

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 Geographic objects

• Position in space is determined by one or a combination of:

– location,
– shape,
– size,
– Orientation

• Geographic object types

– Point feature
– Line feature
– Area feature
– (Volume feature)

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 Spatial Data Models
Kwame Nkrumah University of
Science & Technology, Kumasi, Ghana

• Conceptual Model – a set of concepts that describe a subject and w reasoning

about it

•Mathematical Model – a conceptual model expressed in symbols

and equations

•Data Model – a conceptual model expressed in a data structure (e.g. ascii files,
Excel tables, …..). The data model describes how we structure the data in a GIS

•Geographic Data Model – a conceptual model for describing and

reasoning about the world expressed in a GIS database

• A geographic data model defines the vocabulary for describing and reasoning
about the things that are located on the earth. Geographic data models serve as
the foundation on which all geographic information systems are built or
represented.
 Kwame Nkrumah University of
Science & Technology, Kumasi, Ghana

Computer Representation of Geographic Features

There are two geometric representations of geographic features (depending on data
sources and the input method):
• Raster representation
•

• Vector representation
1. Vector Data Model: Vector is a data structure, used to store spatial data.
• The approach used in the vector model is to precisely specify the position of the
points, lines and polygons used to represent features of interest.
1.1 Feature Representation
• All geographic features are based on vectors:
o Point representations
o Line representations
o Area representations

Polygon representation
Point representation Line representation
 Kwame Nkrumah University of
Science & Technology, Kumasi, Ghana

Computer Representation of Geographic Features

• Points representations - Each point can be represented by a single pair of co-
ordinates. They are used to represent wells, the location of a building location on a
small-scale map, etc.

• Lnes or arcs representation - lines defined by ordered sets of x.y coordinate pairs.
They are used to represent contours, street centrelines, or streams, etc
• Polygons representation- an area outlined by one or more arcs. Polygon or polyline
(curved or crooked line) requires a string of x,y co-ordinates. A polygon is similar to a
polyline, except that the last set of co-ordinates must be the same as the first to close
the polygon.
Each feature must also have a identifier which may be used to link the spatial feature
to attribute data using normal relational database techniques.
• Vector models boundaries of feature data and vector files are easily moved and
copied
1. 2 Sources of vector files
• Vector maps
• Existing digital vector data
 Kwame Nkrumah University of
Science & Technology, Kumasi, Ghana

Geographic Data Model

• Vector data example

• Points, lines and polygons (spatial data) associated with databases of attributes
(attribute data) are considered vector layer types.

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 Kwame Nkrumah University of
Science & Technology, Kumasi, Ghana

Raster Data Model

• This may be thought of analogous to superimposing a grid upon a map.

• If the feature falls within a particular cell (or pixel), the cell might be represented
in a data matrix by an identifier. If a cell does not contain any feature, the data
value might be 0.
• Location is determined by relative position within the grid.

2.1 Feature representation

• All geographic features are represented by grid cells

• points - single cells
• lines - linear series of connected cells
• areas - regions of contiguous grid cells
• Coordinates
• the location of a grid cell is found by knowing:
• the coordinates of the grid's origin
• the grid cells' resolution
 Kwame Nkrumah University of
Science & Technology, Kumasi, Ghana

Raster Data Model

• Attributes
• the position of the target cell in the grid every cell has an attribute value (or a
link into an attribute table)

• Grid resolution - the minimum linear dimension of the smallest unit of

geographic space sampled
• spatial resolution - the minimum linear dimension of the smallest
feature which can be identified in the image

• high resolution = small cell dimensions; more cells; better details

• low resolution = large cell dimensions; less detail; fewer cells

 Raster Data Model

Example of raster image

2. 2 Sources of raster files:

• Scanned maps (requires line following processing and/or raster-to-vector

conversion)

• Existing digital raster data

• Remote sensing data e.g. air photos, satellite imagery requires classification into
mapping categories.

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 Spatial data Models :Vector vs Raster

• Geographic Information Systems solve the problem of graphically representing a

map in two basic ways, either as a raster or a vector form

In a raster or cell-based system,

In a vector-based system, the map is represented by a
the line work is represented by geometric array of rectangular or
a set of straight-line segments called square cells, each with an
vectors. assigned value

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 Spatial data Model : Vector vs Raster
• Some GIS can handle both raster and vector data, but most tend to favour either
one or the other. Idrisi, for example, has some capabilities for handling vector
data, but it is primarily designed to handle raster data. ArcView, in contrast, has
some capabilities for handling raster data, but it is primarily designed to handle
vector data.
Vector data model

y y y code

code

code

x x x
Point Line Area
Raster data model
Row

Row
Row

Column Column Column

Key for the vector models: intemediate point
node
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 Vector vs. raster representations
► Vector vs. raster representations

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 Comparison: Vector and raster
• The advantages and disadvantages of Vector model is as illustrated in Table

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Comparison: Vector and raster

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 Comparison: Vector and raster

• The advantages and disadvantages of raster model is as illustrated in Table

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 Summary: Vector and raster
VECTOR RASTER
•Data stored as (x,y) coordinates •Data stored as cell values
•Define boundaries •No boundaries
•Feature
Sn shape is accurate Advantages
1 Highly accurate map output
2 Topological encoding is more difficult
3 Overlay of maps is easier •Feature shape is generalized
4 Simpler data structure
5 More compact data structure
6 Inefficient representation of high spatial variability
7 Input created by scanning
8 Better suited for satellite image data
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 Raster and Vector Data
Raster data are described by a cell grid, one value per cell

Vector Raster

Point

Line
Zone of cells

Polygon
 How do we combine these data?

Digital Elevation
Watersheds Streams Waterbodies
Models
An integrated
raster-vector
database