Fundamentals of
Geographic Information Systems
and Spatial Data
Laurie Schretlen & Leah Vanderjagt
Netspeed October 20, 2005
GIS & Spatial Data - Today
Introduction to Geographic
Information Systems (GIS)
technology: basics, applications, and
directions
 Spatial data: information resources
for GIS research
 Spatial data access –



in Canada and in Alberta
GEODE
GIS Components

Map data

Information about location w/graphics
http://www.zoology.unimelb.edu.au/stats/Eworksheets/images/RandomCoordinates.jpg
GIS Components:

Attribute
data

Information
about what
can be
found at a
particular
location
http://www.extension.umn.edu/distribution/naturalresources/images/5740f02.gif
GIS as database
http://utca.eng.ua.edu/projects/final_reports/02403fnl_files/image004.jpg
Spatial data examples
Road networks
 Vegetation inventories
 Soil inventories
 Census results
 Municipal boundaries
 Elevation values
 Climate readings
 Habitat ranges
…

GIS Components

Software

A technology for storing and analyzing
location and attribute data
http://www.l.hsr.ch/skripte/gisscripts/media/softwarescreen1.jpg
GIS Components

Hardware

Systems to support rapid graphic
analysis and processing
http://www.gdf-hannover.de/pics/gisrechner.png
GIS Personnel
 People
 Project
coordinators
 Data analysts
 Programmers
 Data and knowledge managers
Librarians
GIS Components

Methods

The analysis to be performed on the
data
http://www.wwf.org.co/colombia/images/a28_c.gif
GIS Methods and Analysis

GIS is used to answer questions
and support decisions

The quality of the answer depends
on:
The METHODS chosen
 The DATA (more on that later)

Data Layers

The ability to
‘stack’ layers
in a GIS
allows us to
ask questions
about the
relationship
between
different
objects of
study
Image courtesy of Charlene Nielsen, Department of Biology, University of Alberta
Places
Highways
Census
Hydrography
Topography
Overlay

What two things occur at the same
location?
http://www.orthogate.com/guide/workshops/images/image002.gif
Overlay – GIS

What residences lie beneath this toxic
plume of ammonia?
Overlay GIS
http://www.saultc.on.ca/GIS/images/RedPineTraill_sm.jpg
Buffering

What lots are located near this road?
http://news.sina.com.cn/duihua/sars/LearnMoreAboutGIS/gis4.files/buffer.gif
Modeling

GIS is used to ask ‘what if?’

Testing scenarios and possible
outcomes
Modeling
Image created by Leah Vanderjagt, 2005: Data: NRCan CDED; City of Edmonton 2001 Digital Orthophotos
Modeling - Site Selection

Combining best conditions from
multiple layers to come up with the
best location for a proposed facility

Eg. Good slope drainage + enough
distance from streams + access to
roads = Best site
Modeling
GIS Applications

GIS applications combine multiple
analytical processes to support
decision-making

Some examples from non-profit and
government sectors:
Habitat tracking and analysis
maps.gov.bc.ca/imf406/imf.jsp?site=libc_habwiz
www.shim.bc.ca/atlases/shim/shim.htm
Health Care: Disease outbreak
monitoring and modeling
Avian Flu
Affected and at-risk poultry farms
Dispersion of Avian Flu in Thailand
http://www.gisdevelopment.net/application/health/links/ma04184pf.htm
SARS Mapping
Distribution map
Outbreak model – Buffalo, NY
Facilities Management for
Municipal Government
Route Optimization Modeling
Crime Analysis
Other uses

Many groups still need to create
paper maps to support operations nearly always GIS-based

GIS is also used for storage of
information – there is an archiving
function
Directions for GIS
WEB APPLICATIONS
 Standards
 Unlocking the GIS black box distributed experimentation and
collaboration
 GIScience

GIS in Academic Institutions

GIS is used extensively in
science/ecology disciplines:
Renewable resources management
 Forestry
 Biology (ecology)
 Geography
 Earth and atmospheric sciences
 Geology

GIS in Academic Institutions

Also used in:
Civil engineering
 Business
 Economics
 History
 Psychology
 Health
…

GIS and Libraries

Community demographic analysis
GIS - Bibliography
Spatial data access

‘Map’ + ‘Attribute’ data is usually
referred to as spatial data

Locating the right spatial data and
obtaining the rights to use it is a
major component of every GIS
project
Spatial data quality: Inconsistencies
Spatial data quality: Projections
http://www.colorado.edu/geography/gcraft/notes/mapproj/gif/twoproj.gif
Spatial data access

Spatial data is expensive to create
and update

Government agencies and large
corporations can afford it

Data sharing is not necessarily a
part of the plan
Spatial data access

If it’s shared, spatial data is either sold
by the producer or by a designated
value-added reseller

Public consultations have resulted in
open sharing of more and more spatial
data sets at the federal level

Some federal data is made available
through the Depository Services
Program
Canadian Geospatial Data Infrastructure
Spatial data access

There is much more data available for
purchase

Therefore, there is a spatial data
economy in Canada

This economy is driven by cost-recovery
policies

Government agencies charge other
agencies, corporations, and individuals for
data access
Different models of access
United States – wide, very open
access to drive commercial
development
 Canada – stewardship model of costrecovery
 Provincial economy examples:

Manitoba
 Alberta

Alberta Policy Environment
Government agencies: cost-recovery
sales
 Third party vendors: data enhancers
and resellers for profit
 Data producers who do not sell or
distribute their data

Challenges to Access
What is the result of Alberta’s policy
environment?
 Data creators don’t have sufficient
resources to respond to individual
researcher demand
 Data suppliers do not document or
support data products
 Data suppliers’ primary business is
not data supply, ie. creating happy
data customers

Post-secondary Response





“Underground data economy” – have and
have-not departments at one institution
Some data creators provide data in
exchange for research results
Individuals or projects receive licenses for
data; cannot be shared with institution
Academic libraries began to acquire data
through license (database model)
Successful examples: NRCan, DMTI
GEODE
To address issues of access to spatial
data in Alberta, the GEODE project
was launched in 1999
 Participating institutions:

University of Alberta
 University of Calgary
 SAIT
 University of Lethbridge
 Miistakis Institute for the Rockies

GEODE

Access to Alberta-based spatial data
Digital elevation models
 Topographic data
 Alberta Vegetation Index
 Census boundaries
 Landsat 7 imagery

Metadata development
 Data browser
 10,000+ files downloaded

Benefits to GIS Researchers
Consortium-wide access to high quality
data
 Centralized price and acquisition
negotiations
 The opportunity to work with industrystandard Alberta data

Benefits to suppliers
One point of access for postsecondary institutions
 Data support coordinated through
library and departments
 Institutional licensing
 Training of future employees with
industry standard data

GEODE’s Transformation
GEODE was reconceived in late 2004
as a consortium – to facilitate and
promote access to spatial data for
post-secondary education in Alberta
 Objectives:

Develop new funding strategies
 Enhance contents of collection
 Expand institutional membership

Benefits of institutional membership
Access to GEODE collections
 Training and assistance with GEODE
service delivery
 Advocacy and liaison with vendors
 Cost-sharing
 Technology/infrastructure guidance
 Collaborative development of best
practices

GIS for Post-secondary Education

For access to spatial data for GIS
research and teaching to continue
and thrive in Alberta, academic
libraries need to collaborate to:
Develop spatial data collections
according to shared research priorities
 Lobby for access with producers and
vendors
 Share resources and expertise

Moving forward

Long-range technology goal:
database-driven web service delivery
of spatial data files

GEODE is seeking assistance with the
development of a province-wide
licensing model for spatial data use in
research and teaching
Questions? Discussion?
Laurie Schretlen – lschretl @ ucalgary.ca
Leah Vanderjagt – leahv @ ualberta.ca
Web Citations
Google Local: www.google.ca
 Google Earth: earth.google.com
 BC Habitat Wizard:
maps.gov.bc.ca/imf406/imf.jsp?site=lib
c_habwiz
 Sensitive Habitat Inventory and
Mapping:
www.shim.bc.ca/atlases/shim/shim.htm
