What is GIS?

CONS 340Lecture 1

Abstract concepts Goals

Understand basic concepts of

GIS design Database

Development Cartographic

Modeling Prepared for

future coursework

Application Goals

Introduction, not GIS proficiency

Application of broader issues in lecture, through the software

Software utilized ArcGIS 10.1

ArcCatalog ArcMap ArcScene ArcGlobe

Lectures Labs

Course Organization

EvaluationTwo exams Final Exam is cumulative but

emphasizes the last half of class Lab Attendance is mandatory! Don’t fall behind – we have a lot of

ground to cover

Today’s Learning Objectives By the end of today’s class you

should be able to: Accept that GIS data is NOT reality Explain the five components of a GIS List the three main components of

geographic data Summarize what a GIS should be able

to do

GIS is really about how we conceive spatial information Cognitive mapping How do we make sense of our

world Two tracks in the brain

What vs. Where

This include concepts as well

Coursesenroll inStudents

Programs

have

consist of

GIS concepts are not new!

In the London Cholera epidemic of 1854 Dr. John Snow was able to locate the source of a cholera outbreak by plotting the locations of fatal cases in relationship to nearby wells.

Cholera death

Water pump

+

The five components of GIS

People

Data

Hardware

Software

Procedures

www.esri.com

People Business

   Banking and Insurance   Media   Real Estate   Retail and Commercial Business

Communications   Location Services   Telecommunications

Defense and Intelligence Educators

   Universities and Colleges   K-12, Primary and Secondary   Libraries and Museums

Engineering   Pipeline   Surveying

Environmental Management   Archaeology   Cave and Karst

Government   Federal Government   Homeland Security   Law Enforcement   Public Safety   Local Government

Health and Human Services Natural Resources

   Agriculture ESRI Conservation Program Forestry   Marine and Coast   Mining and Earth Sciences   Petroleum

Sustainable Development and Humanitarian Affairs

Transportation Utilities

   Electric and Gas   Water/Wastewater

Hardware & Software

Hard

ware

Soft

ware

Procedures GIS analysis requires well-defined,

consistent methods to produce correct and reproducible results.

We will spend much of this course learning procedures

Data This is by far the most important

aspect of GIS Without data we can’t do anything! Approximate time breakdown of

most GIS projects: 80% = Database development 10% = Data analysis 10% = Cartographic production

The five components of GIS

www.esri.com

There are three main components to geographic data:

www.esri.com

GIS data is organized in Layers

www.esri.com

Database“ Not Easy to Interpret”

Visualization “Worth a Thousand Words”

What can a GIS do? A GIS should be able to:

Capture data Store data Query data Analyze data Display data Output data

Capturing Data Digitizing

Heads up Tablet

Scanning Tabular GPS Downloading

Storing Data

Querying Data

SELECT CntryName, PopCntry

FROM Countries WHERE

Landlocked=No ORDER BY

CntryName

Analyzing Data Proximity Overlay Etc.

Displaying Data Graphs Charts Tables Maps Etc.

Outputting Data

Sharing the results of your geographic labor is one of the primary justifications for spending resources on a GIS.

Questions?