GE3502GE5502 Geographic and Land Information Systems

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GE3502/GE5502Geographic and LandInformation
Systems
Subject Co-ordinator James Moloney Room TG
234 Phone [phone] Email james.moloney_at_jcu.edu.
au
SCHOOL OF TROPICAL ENVIRONMENT STUDIES AND
GEOGRAPHY
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Course 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.

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Course 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.

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Lecture 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.
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Important 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
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GE3502 Assessment

• Comprehension Exercise (10)
• Laboratory Assignments (40)
• Assignment 1 (20)
• Assignment 2 (20)
• Examination (50)

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GE5502 Assessment

• Comprehension Exercise (10)
• Laboratory Assignments (40)
• Assignment 2 (20)
• Assignment 3 (20)
• 5502 Essay (10)
• Examination (40)

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Recommended 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

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Lectures

• 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
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Practicals

• 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).

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Other Resources

• Course Website
• www.jcu.tesag.jcu.edu.au/subjects/ge3502t/index.ht
  ml
• Links to assessment criteria, lab workbook,
  assignment details and lectures.

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Lecture 1 Plan

• 1. Representation of objects in space
• 2. What is GIS?
• 3. Why do we use GIS?
• 4. Types of geographic information

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1. 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

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Most 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.

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Thematic 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
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GIS 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.

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2. 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.

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3. Why do we use GIS?

• Automated mapping
• Simple query
• Spatial analysis
• Spatial modelling
• (A hierarchy of complexity)

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3. 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?
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3. 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.
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Integration of different data sources to create
new variables
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The 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

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GIS represents the real world through the use of
models
How GIS represents information

• These models use
• location
• scale
• geometry
• attributes
• relationship

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Wide 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

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e.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.

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4. 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.

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Spatial 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.

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Land 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.

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LIS vs. Non-LIS

• Non-Land Information Systems focus mainly on
  human location and not on the characteristics of
  the land.

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Land 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.

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The cadastre for the Lower Herbert region
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• 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