Part I: GIS

Chapter Five

Basic Spatial Data Analysis

(Feature data)

Debre Berhan University

College of Agriculture and Natural Resource Sciences
Jan/2023
Debre Berhan

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Contents of the Chapter

Overview of spatial analysis

Classifications of GIS analytical capability

Spatial data extraction (clip, select, split)

Overlay analysis (intersect, erase, union)

Proximity analysis

Spatial selection queries

Spatial data join and relate

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Overview

 Analysis of spatial data can be defined as computing new

information to provide new insights from existing spatial
data.
 Its spatio-analytic capabilities distinguish GIS from other
data processing systems.

 It use both the spatial and non-spatial data in the spatial

database to answer questions and solve problems.
 The principal objective of spatial data analysis is to
transform and combine data from diverse
sources/disciplines into useful information.

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o For example to answer a question:
what are the most suitable locations for a new dam?
Planning or suitability analysis
what will be the size of the lake behind the dam?
Prediction analysis

o The solution to a problem always depends on a (large)

number of parameters.

o Spatial data analysis involves the application of operations

to coordinate and relate attribute data.

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 There is hundreds of spatial operation or spatial
functions that involves the manipulation or calculation
or coordinates or attribute variables.

 Spatial operation may be applied sequentially to solve a

problem. However, selection of the appropriate spatial
operations, applied in the appropriate order is a
challenge.

 Many operations incorporate both the attribute and

spatial data, and the attribute must be further selected
and modified in spatial analysis.

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Geo-processing

o Spatial analysis facilitates the study of the real world

processes by developing and applying models.

o It can be achieved by using the correct geo-processing

tools.

o Geo-processing refers the tools and process used to

generate derived datasets.
o It plays a fundamental role in spatial analysis.

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Geo-processing cont’d…

 A geo-processing operation takes an input dataset,

performs an operation on that dataset generating new
information returns as an output dataset.

 In other words:
o Spatial Data + GIS tools /geo-processing tools =
New data.
 Geo-processing tools perform essential operations on a
database, such as projections, conversions, data
management, spatial analysis and others.

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Geo-processing cont’d…

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 There are many ways to classify the analytical functions of
a GIS.
 The classification presented here is essentially the one put
forward by Aronoff (1989), which makes the following
distinctions:

o Classification, measurement & retrieval functions

o Overlay functions
o Neighbourhood functions
o Network Analysis

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Classification, measurement and retrieval functions

 Classification functions allow the assignment of features

to a class on the basis of attribute values or attribute
ranges. On the basis of reflectance characteristics found in
a raster, pixels may be classified as representing different
crops, e.g. potato or maize.

 Retrieval functions allow selective searching of data. For

example, retrieve all agricultural fields on which potato is
grown.
 Measurement functions allow the calculation of
distances, lengths or areas. All functions in this category
are performed on a single (vector or raster) data layer,
often using the associated attribute data.

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Overlay functions

 Overlay functions are one of the most frequently used functions

in a GIS application.
 They combine two (or more) spatial data layers, comparing
them position by position and treating areas of overlap - and of
non-overlap - in distinct ways.
 Standard overlay operators take two input data layers and
assume that they are georeferenced in the same system and
that they overlap in the study area.
 If either of these requirements is not met, the use of an overlay
is pointless.
 Many GISs support overlays through an algebraic language,
expressing an overlay function as a formula in which the data
layers are the arguments.

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Neighbourhood and Network Analysis functions

 Neighbourhood functions evaluate the characteristics of

an area surrounding a feature’s location.

 A neighbourhood function “scans” the neighbourhood of

the given feature(s), and performs a computation on
it(them).

 Network analytic functions for computing related to

connected line features that make up a network.

 The network may consist of roads, public transport

routes, high-voltage power lines, or other forms of
transportation infrastructure.

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Network Analysis functions

 Analysis of such networks may entail shortest path

computations (in terms of distance or travel time)
between two points in a network for routing purposes.

 Other forms are to find all points reachable within a given

distance or duration from a start point for allocation
purposes, or determination of the capacity of the
network for transportation between an indicated source
location and sink location.

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Commonly used geo-processing tools

 The most important geo-processing tools can be

divided based on the following tasks:

I. Spatial measurements (Vector and Raster)

II. Vector overlay (Clip, Erase, union, merge, intersect, dissolve)

A. Extracting features (Clip and Erase)

B. Combining features (union, intersect, merge, dissolve )

III. Proximity Analysis (Buffer)

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I. Spatial Measurements in GIS

o Geometric measurement on spatial features

includes counting, distance and area size
computations.

o For the sake of simplicity, this section discusses such

measurements in a planar spatial reference system.

o Measurements on vector data are more advanced,

thus, also more complex, than those on raster data.

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A. Measurements on Vector Data

o The primitives of vector data sets are point, line and

polygon. Related spatial measurements are

location,
length,
distance and
area size.

o Measuring distance between two features is another

important function.
o Area size is associated with polygon features.

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A. Measurements on Vector Data

Length Measurement
 Length is a geometric property associated with polylines, by
themselves or in their function as polygon boundaries.
 It can obviously be computed by the GIS - as the sum of lengths
of the constituent line segments.

Distance Measurement
 Measurement of distance between two features is another
important function.
 If both features are points, say p and q, the computation in a
Cartesian spatial reference system is given by the well-known
Pythagorean distance function:

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A. Measurements on Vector Data
Area Size Measurement
 Area size is associated with polygon features. But it is
usually stored with the polygon as an extra attribute value.
 This speeds up the computation of other functions that
require area size values.

 The attentive reader will have noted that all of the above
“measurements” do not actually require computation but
only retrieval of stored data.

Location Measurement
 The location property of a vector feature is always stored
by the GIS: a single coordinate pair for a point, or a list of
pairs for a polyline or polygon boundary.

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 A. Measurements on Vector Data

 For example, what is the size of the area covered by

potatoes? If our crop classification is in a stored data
layer, the computation would include
o (a) selecting the potato areas, and
o (b) summing up their (stored) area sizes.

 Occasionally, there is a need to obtain the location of

the centroid of a polygon.

The centroid: (a) the centroid of an

object can be visualized as the point on
which the object would balance when
placed on the tip of a pencil, (b) the
centroid of a polygon,

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B. Measurements on Raster Data

o Measurements on raster data layers are simpler

because of the regularity of the cells.

o The area size of a cell is constant, and is determined by

the cell resolution.

o Together with the location of a so-called anchor point,

this is the only geometric information stored with the
raster data, so all other measurements by the GIS are
computed.

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II. Vector Overlay

o In the vector domain, overlay is computationally more

demanding than in the raster domain.
o Overlay when using a vector data model involves
combining the point, line, and polygon geometry and
associated attribute data.

o Overlay involves the merger of both the coordinate

and attribute data from two vector layers into a new
data layer.

o Clipping, Intersect, Overwrite, Union and Erase

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II. Vector Overlay (Intersect, clip and overwrite)

The polygon overlay

operators: (a) polygon
intersection, (b) polygon
clipping, the left hand
polygon (B) is clipped by
polygon A, (c) polygon
overwrite.

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II. Extracting Features (Clip and Erase)

Clipping:- It is used to extract those features from an

input point, line, or polygon layer that falls within the
spatial extent of the clip layer.

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 Erase

o This operation is essentially the opposite of a clip.

o The clip tool preserves areas within an input layer, whereas,
the erase tool preserves only those areas outside the extent
of the analogous erase layer.

o While the input layer can be a point, line, or polygon dataset,

the erase layer must be a polygon dataset.

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II. Combining overlay (Union and Intersect)

Union
 A union is an overlay that includes all data from both
the bounding and data layers.
 The union overlay method employs the OR operator.
 A union can be used only in the case of two polygon
input layers.

 It preserves all features, attribute information, and

spatial extents from both input layers.
 It is based on the polygon-in-polygon operation.

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II. Combining overlay (Union and Intersect)

 No geographic data are discarded in the union operation, and

corresponding attribute data are saved for all regions.

 New polygons are formed by the combination of coordinate data

from each data layer.

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 Intersect

o An intersection may be defined as an overlay that

combines data from both layers, but only for the area
where both layers contain data.
o The intersection overlay method employs the AND
operator.

o An intersection requires a polygon overlay, but can

accept a point, line, or polygon input.
o The output layer covers the spatial extent of the overlay
and contains features and attributes from both the input
and overlay.

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Intersect

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III. Combining Features

o The common combining features are:-

 Merge, and
 Dissolve
Merge
o It combines features within a point, line, or polygon layer
into a single feature, new output dataset with identical
attribute information.

o This tool can combine point, line, or polygon feature

classes or tables.

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Dissolve
o It combines adjacent polygon features in a single feature
dataset based on a single predetermined attribute.

o The result is an output layer with the same extent as the

original but without all of the unnecessary lines.

o Aggregates features based on specified attributes.

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 III. Buffer (Proximity analysis)

o Buffering is one of the best-known neighbourhood

functions.
o It determines a spatial envelope (buffer) around a given
feature or features.
o The buffer created may have a fixed width or a variable
width that depends on characteristics of the area.

o One of the most basic questions asked of a GIS is "what's

near what?" For example:

 How close is this well to a landfill?

 What is the distance between two locations?
 What is the nearest or farthest feature from something?

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 D. Buffer (Proximity analysis)
o Buffering is the process of creating an output polygon layer
containing a zone of a specified width around an input point,
line, or polygon feature.

o It is suited for determining the area of influence around

features of interest.
o Commonly vector analysis tools used to address questions of
proximity in a GIS.

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Thank you!!!

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 Datum Transformations

 Converting geographic coordinates from one datum to another typically requires a datum transformation. A datum
transformation provides the latitude and longitude of a point in one datum when we know them in another datum; for
example, we can calculate the latitude and longitude of a benchmark in NAD83(2011) when we know these geographic
coordinates in NAD83(1986) (Figure 3-22). Datum transformations are often more complicated when they involve older
datums. Many older datums were created piecemeal to optimize fit for a country or continent. The amount of shift between
one datum and another often varies across the globe because the errors in measurements may be distributed idiosyncratically.
Measurements in one area or period may have been particularly accurate, while in another area or time they may exhibit
particularly large errors. Combining them in the datum adjustment effects the local and global differences among datums in
their own unique way. Simple formulas often do not exist for transformations involving many older datums, for example, from
NAD27 to NAD83. Specialized datum transformations may be provided, usually by government agencies, using a number of
different methods. As an example, in the United States the National Geodetic Survey created NADCON, a datum
transformation tool to convert between NAD27 and NAD83(1986) datums. Transformation among newer datums may use
more general mathematical transformations between three-dimensional, Cartesian coordinate systems (Figure 3-22).
Transformation equations allow conversion among most NAD83, WGS84, and ITRF systems, and are supported in large part
by improved global measurements from satellites, as described in the previous few pages.

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