GIS and Spatial Data Management Explained

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GIS and Spatial Data Management Explained

• Corey Tucker
• Tamarack Geographic Technologies

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Who are you?

• You are IT professionals who have
• Some experience with GIS
• Exposed to it through a project
• Being used in your organization
• Want to know more
• Heard of GIS
• Part of a new project
• Exposed to it by friends or colleagues in the
  business
• Not really not sure what it is, but you know it
  has something to do with maps

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Outline

• Look at some GIS examples
• Review what GIS is
• Geographic Data
• Analysis
• Visualization
• Review common IM issues for GIS
• Answer questions

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Examples of GIS in Action

• Showcase from ESRI
• Newfoundland and Labrador Geoscience Resource
  Atlas
• Map of Population Change

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Who uses GIS?

• Geographers in many roles
• Natural Resource Management Professionals
• Land Managers
• Mining and Energy Sector Management Exploration
  Professionals
• Business Analysts
• Social Science Professionals

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What Skills are Required?

• Under-graduate degree focused on geomatics or GIS
• MUN, McGill, UNB, St. Marys, most universities
• Masters in Geography, with focus on GIS
• MUN, McGill, UofT, most major universities
• Advanced Diploma in GIS or Geomatics
• CNA, College of Geographic Sciences, MUN, BCIT,
  Sir Sanford Fleming

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What is GIS?

• Geographic Information System
• Collection of hardware and software for the
  capture, storage, display and analysis of
  spatially referenced data

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Geographic Data

• Comes in two flavors
• Vector
• Raster

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Geographic Data

• Each point, line or polygon represents a real
  world feature
• Town, road, forest stand, county, etc

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Geographic Data

• Each feature can have many attributes
• Population, name, species, etc
• Each attribute is a column in a database table

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Geographic Data

• Raster data consists of pixels
• Common spatial extent
• Single value
• Multiple values for the same extent can be stored
  as a multiple bands in one raster dataset

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Geographic Data

• Each point is stored as a coordinate in space
• Geographic
• Latitude, Longitude
• Spherical
• Projected
• X,Y
• Planar (Flat)

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Geographic Data

• Several ways to create vector data
• Digitizing
• Scanning
• Conversion from raster
• Raster data comes from many sources
• Remote sensing
• Computer models
• Scanning

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Geographic Data

• Spatial data can be HUGE in size
• One raster dataset representing St. Johns, with
  a resolution (pixel size) of 30 CM is several GB
• Collections are now TB in size, soon to be PB
• Vector data is smaller, but as data is captured
  at better resolutions, size grows
• Dataset containing all the roads in Newfoundland
  and Labrador is 100 MB

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Geographic Data

• Data may be stored in a spatial database
• Extended relational database, such as Oracle or
  MS SQL Server
• Enterprise GIS (many users making changes)
• Expensive
• Or in a proprietary vendor format
• Local dataset for single user update
• Cheap

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Geographic Data

• Why create and maintain all of this spatial data?
  This costs a fortune!
• Improve operational efficiency
• Know where everything is
• Know how to get there
• Plan for better resource use
• See the world in ways previously not possible
• Where do layers intersect?
• What patterns exist?

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GIS Analysis

• Process of modeling the world
• Derive new data from existing data using
  analytical tools
• Results require visualization and interpretation
• Geoprocessing describes the environment used to
  derive new data
• An orchestration of functions, where the result
  of one feeds input into the next
• Automation is critical

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GIS Analysis
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GIS Analysis

• Analytical models can create fantastic amounts of
  data
• Organizations should understand nature of GIS
  work
• Data storage requirements
• Back-up procedures for results
• Ad-hoc nature of GIS project development

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GIS Analysis

• Process for determining what can reliably be seen
  from a point

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GIS Analysis
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GIS Visualization

• A map is a very powerful medium for
• Data Integration
• Data exploration
• Who does not appreciate a good looking map?
• 2-D and 3-D
• Google Earth, Microsoft Virtual Earth

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GIS Visualization

• Maps have moved from paper to digital form
• Google Maps, PDF
• Move to internet mapping has revolutionized GIS
• Maximizes exposure of data investment
• Requires specific enterprise IT and GIS skills
• Governments are investing in spatial data
  infrastructure (SDI) to support this paradigm
  shift

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GIS Visualization

• The push to put spatial data onto the web has
  exposed many IM issues
• Currency
• Quality
• Confidentiality
• Ownership
• Documentation (metadata)
• Standards

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Data Currency

• Most GIS data is not static
• Regular updates occur
• Copies of originals proliferate through an
  organization
• Typically undocumented
• Analysis results may be invalid unless the latest
  data is used
• Whats the best source?

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Data Quality

• All GIS data has some level of error
• Measurement Device
• Human
• Processing
• Relevant scale of data should dictate its use
• 1250 000 roads may be 10 50 m from reality
• People trust digital data as truth
• Limitations of data must be understood prior to
  use

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Data Confidentiality

• Most GIS data does Not contain personal or
  private data
• Vast majority of GNL data is freely available to
  the public
• But some does
• Tap water sampling locations
• Location of a crime
• Often times data owner does not appreciate the
  sensitivity of the data they have

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Data Ownership

• Source of data is often times unknown
• Department of origin may be known, but a point of
  contact is typically not
• Custodial ownership is typical, but regularly not
  understood
• Base map data may originate at the federal level
  and be passed to the province
• Lack of metadata propagates the problem

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Data Documentation

• Known as metadata
• Everyone understands its importance, but no one
  does it (unless made to)
• Many standards exist
• FGDC, ISO and all their various profiles
• No standard exists for Newfoundland and Labrador
• Some departments author metadata to support data
  sharing initiatives

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Data Documentation

• Solutions to many of the issues with GIS data
  hinge on the use of metadata
• Critical to adopt a standard and start using it
• Avoid the religious wars and getting buried in
  the details
• Better to start as simply as possible and grow
  capacity

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Data Standards

• Standards for data collection and maintenance
  make life easier
• Map projection, metadata, column name, feature
  description, resolution
• Typically focused on a department or agency
• Corporate standards require inter-departmental
  cooperation, which is hard
• Without standards duplication of effort
  proliferates

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Data Standards

• Example Provincial Streets Dataset
• Several departments, agencies require an up to
  date street layer
• Dept. of Transportation Works
• Dept. of Env. Conservation, Surveys and Mapping
  Division
• Dept. of if Finance, NL Statistics Agency
• Dept. of Municipal Affairs
• Royal Newfoundland Constabulary

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Data Standards

• What standards are needed?
• Road name (All upper case or start with a
  capital?)
• Road type (Road or Rd, Ave or Av?)
• Address range model (Left/Right, From/To)
• Community (Recorded or not?)
• Resolution (11000 or 110 000?)
• Precision (Accurate to lt 1 m or lt 5 m?)
• Currency (Quarterly or annual update?)

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Data Standards

• Is everyone working together?
• Who ultimately decides what standards are
  adopted?
• How is the cost of creating and maintaining the
  data covered?
• Single department bears the expense or is it
  cost-shared?

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What is GNL doing?

• Plan to implement an SDI
• Corporate Map Resource Center (Summer 2009)
• Application for upload of department data to a
  central repository
• Searchable metadata
• Service based
• Automated

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Thank-you

• Questions?