Title: GE3502GE5502 Geographic and Land Information Systems
1GE3502/GE5502Geographic and LandInformation
Systems
Subject Co-ordinator James Moloney Room TG
234 Phone 4781 6900 Email james.moloney_at_jcu.edu.
au
SCHOOL OF TROPICAL ENVIRONMENT STUDIES AND
GEOGRAPHY
2Course Objectives
- Provide overview of the application of GIS
technology. - Knowledge of spatial models and databases
- Organisation of geographic and land information
into systems for natural resource management and
land allocation - Application of spatial analysis methods to human
and natural environment research and management - Participants are expected to use computer-based
GIS to demonstrate their understanding of
geographic theory and the principles of spatial
analysis.
3Course Objectives II
- On completion of this course you will acquire an
overview that will provide - an informed understanding of the principles of
spatial analysis - an appreciation of the process of GIS and LIS
development - the application of spatial analysis procedures
to problem-solving in research and management
situations.
4Lecture and Practical Times and Locations
Lectures Mon 9 11.50 am (TG018) Practica
ls Tues 11 2 pm (TG108) Tues 2 5 pm
(TG108) (Repeat) Attendance required at all
lectures and labs.
5Important Dates
Week beginning 24 February Practicals
commence 26 March Comprehension exercise 1
due 30 April Lab Assignment 1 due 28 May
Lab Assignment 2 due 28 May 5502 Essay due
6GE3502 Assessment
- Comprehension Exercise (10)
- Laboratory Assignments (40)
- Assignment 1 (20)
- Assignment 2 (20)
- Examination (50)
7GE5502 Assessment
- Comprehension Exercise (10)
- Laboratory Assignments (40)
- Assignment 2 (20)
- Assignment 3 (20)
- 5502 Essay (10)
- Examination (40)
8Recommended Texts
- Longley, P.A., Goodchild, M.F., Maguire, D.J. and
Rhind, D.W. 2001. Geographic Information Systems
and Science. Wiley, Chichester, 454 pp. - Burrough, P.A., McDonnell, R.A. 1998. Principles
of Geographic Information Systems. Oxford
University Press, Oxford. - DeMers, M.N. 2000. Fundamentals of Geographic
Information Systems. Wiley, NY. - Other selected readings (closed reserve).
- Useful for general theory and principles, but
assignments require the use of PRIMARY
literature, i.e. research articles. Use current
contents and other literature search engines
9Lectures
- First 8 describe spatial data structures and
basic spatial operations - 9 to 16 relate to specific issues and techniques
- 17-22 look at
- GIS applications
- GIS Issues and development
Ill take most of the nuts-and-bolts lectures
early on, and we may get guest lectures to talk
about their areas of speciality
10Practicals
- Sign up for pracs on door of TG108.
- 15 computers in lab
- You should assist each other on some assignments
but you MUST produce independent pieces of work. - First 4 weeks - intense learning curve. Youll
learn the basics of data management, display and
analyses in ArcGIS. Work through the first 5
chapters of the laboratory workbook and ESRI
online tutorials. - Comprehension excercise is due on March 26 (10)
- Subsequent labs will focus on the lab assignments
(details in Practical Workbook).
11Other Resources
- Course Website
- www.jcu.tesag.jcu.edu.au/subjects/ge3502t/index.ht
ml - Links to assessment criteria, lab workbook,
assignment details and lectures.
12Lecture 1 Plan
- 1. Representation of objects in space
- 2. What is GIS?
- 3. Why do we use GIS?
- 4. Types of geographic information
131. Entities in Space
- Spatial analysis is nothing new - from the
earliest civilisations - Locations of resources. eg. waterholes (points)
- Distances to resources (arcs)
- Hunting territories (polygons)
- Development of maps
- Navigation
- Surveying
14Most early maps were general Land tenure, land
masses, rivers etc.
- An example of generalized maps is the topographic
map. - Shows a range of data types
- Good for presentation
- Can become very cluttered
- Quantitative analysis difficult, as features of
one type are overlapped by features of another
type
- New types of information (attributes) became
available - Scientific enquiry led to need for maps of
specific entities or types of entities.
15Thematic Maps
- Definition A map containing selected types of
information relating to specific themes. - A theme may include basic information such as
soil type, land use etc., or may be a derived
variable such as sugar cane suitability.
e.g. Digital Elevation Model
16GIS and Spatial Analysis
- Spatial theory evolved in the 19th 20th
centuries with mathematical developments, but we
had no means to put these ideas into practice. - GIS has evolved due to a need for powerful tools
to test spatial theory and apply this in
practice. - 2. The power of GIS has allowed us to further
model spatial - relationships between entities in ways
previously impossible.
172. What is GIS?
- A technology that stores and analyses geographic
information (it is NOT simply a mapping tool). - A system of hardware, software, data, people,
organisations and institutional arrangements for
collecting, storing, analysing and disseminating
information about different areas of the earth - Very simply, a GIS combines hardware, software
and data to reference geographical information
spatially. - An information system that is designed to work
with data reference by spatial (or geographic)
coordinates. It is both a database system with
specific capabilities for spatially-referenced
data, as well as a set of operations for working
with the data.
183. Why do we use GIS?
- Automated mapping
- Simple query
- Spatial analysis
- Spatial modelling
- (A hierarchy of complexity)
193. Why do we use GIS?
a. Automated Mapping
Using digitally stored information to create
thematic or topographic maps quickly, relatively
simply, and flexibly
b. Simple Query
Drawing out information in a spatial
database. e.g. How much of a particular
vegetation type is found in the study area, and
where is it?
203. Why do we use GIS?
c. Spatial Analysis
Quantitative analysis of one or more geographic
themes e.g. the calculation of a range of
spatial variables in a fragmented landscape.
d. Spatial Modelling
More complex examination of processes which allow
predictions based on quantitative analysis. e.g.
examining what environmental variables
determine rainforest types in the Wet Tropics,
and using these models to extrapolate over
unsampled areas.
21Integration of different data sources to create
new variables
22The value of GIS?
- It lets us do a range of tasks a lot better and
quicker than we could do manually. - It allows a range of tasks that could not be
achieved manually - We can repeat tasks and update information
rapidly and inexpensively
23GIS represents the real world through the use of
models
How GIS represents information
- These models use
- location
- scale
- geometry
- attributes
- relationship
24Wide range of uses
- Ecology e.g. species-habitat modelling
- Forestry Management planning e.g. harvesting,
roads, inventory - Land resource assessment / soil survey /
geological survey - Engineering eg landslide protection, most
direct route for roads - Pollution evaluation and monitoring often in
conjunction with remote sensing - Emergency services, e.g. how to best get to a
fire etc. - Socioeconomic analyses analyses of demograpic
movements and developments. This type of
analyses is performed for the Australian
electoral commission. - Market analysis
- Real estate, land valuation
- Epidemiology spread of a disease through a
community
25e.g. Ecology
(imagine youre a botanist)
- Where does a plant community exist?
- Where is plant community A in relation to plant
community B? - How is plant community A distributed in relation
to Factors X, Y, Z? e.g. distribution of
rainforest in the Wet Tropics. Rainfall?
Temperature? Altitude? Aspect? - Spatial analysis can help us model relationships,
and infer ecological processes, i.e. what factors
determine where it is, or should be distributed.
264. Types of Geographic Information
- i) Human Geography
- This includes things such as infrastructure
(roads, buildings administration such as local,
state government, utility company (water,
electricity) boundaries and socioeconomic
information such as age, income or health which
is collected within census collection district
boundaries. - ii) Physical Geography
- Properties of the earth's surface such as
topography, drainage, soils and vegetation. Also
biological information such as fauna
distributions and environmental information such
as climate and weather, and water or nutrient
circulation.
27Spatial information types
- Precise with sharp (crisp) boundaries and only
change episodically, e.g. cadastral information,
roads, rivers, other waterways, coasts, some
vegetation systems, geological units, land-use. - Fuzzy with imprecise boundaries which change
continuously, e.g. topography, rainfall, some
vegetation systems, soil types, habitats.
28Land Information Systems (LIS)?
- The term has more than one meaning.
- In fact, different authors define it in one of
two VERY different ways. - Definition 1
- 1. Subset of geographic information systems that
pay special attention to land related data (eg.
DeMers 1997). Land information systems are
primarily focussed on the land itself and its
characteristics. - Division is somewhat artificial.
- Its more an applications based division rather
than technique-based.
29LIS vs. Non-LIS
- Non-Land Information Systems focus mainly on
human location and not on the characteristics of
the land.
30Land Information Systems (LIS)?Definition 2
A unique form of GIS as they contain cadastral
information.
- Cadastre a map which contains legal definitions
of the location and extent of property. - It is updated over time.
- It is the basis of land valuation and of taxation
(rates) - Basic tool that is used in any form of planning.
- Each Australian state has its own digital
cadastre database (DCDB). - The Queensland government uses the State DCDB as
the base GIS overlay for the state - More than 250 attributes, or descriptive
properties, are attached to each parcel of land
in it.
31The cadastre for the Lower Herbert region
32- Components to a Cadastre
- 1. spatial record of cadastral parcels
- 2. a descriptive record of each parcel (owner,
value) - 3. a parcel index or unique ID (lot on plan
number) that links a parcel to its description. - i.e. Relational Database
- Vector GIS (precise)
- Fine scale, e.g. 110,000