GIS Database

Design Concept

A GIS Database is a representation or

model of the world and used to support
many applications.

A GIS database is used to extract specific

information about objects and organize
them in a way that is very useful.
Database design is the most critical and
time consuming part of the GIS project.
The completeness and accuracy of the
database determines the quality of the
analysis.
 What DATA is Stored

Locations are represented in a database as raster

or vector positions
A raster based system displays, locates , and
stores graphical data by using a matrix or grid of
cells. A unique reference coordinate represents
each pixel, which has attribute data assigned to it.
Ex: Scanned aerial photos or satellite sensed
images stored in raster format. The coordinates at
the beginning are in rows and columns of pixels.
 What DATA is Stored

A vector based system displays graphical data as

points, lines or curves, or areas with attributes.
The coordinates of vector based GIS can be in real
world longitude-latitude or any given coordinate
system (rectangular coordinate system).
 DESIGN STEPS

1. Designing a Database- this requires the

knowledge of the following: project area
boundary, coordinate systems to be used,
number of data layers, attributes, and
textual data.

2. Populating the Database- this requires

getting the spatial data into the database,
verifying and editing the data, and getting
the attribute and textual data into the
database.
 Designing a Database

Identify geographic features and their attributes.

This is determined by the analysis to be
performed and the map products to be created.
Ex: If the analysis is to identify soils suitable for
development, then the main feature needed would
be the soils polygon, with suitability as an
attribute
The first step is to record the location of all
nodes, that is endpoints and intersections of lines.
 Node

Table 1

Node Lat Log

1 25 83
2 30 78
3 21 76
4 26 79
 Arc

• Each arc has a direction that is recorded in

the database
•A •2
Table 2 •1

Arc From Node To Node

A 1 2
B 3 1
C 3 2
D 1 4
E 5 5
 Polygon

Table 3

Polygon No. of Arcs Arc List

A 4 4,5,6,7
B 3 1,7,8
C 4 2,3,4,8
•1
•B
•7 •8 •2
•6 •4 •C
•A •3
•5
 Contiguity Concept

For each arc, we record which polygon lies to the

left and right side of its direction of orientation.
Table 4
•Universe
Arc Left Poly Right Poly •A•1 •B •2 •C •3
A Universe •1 •Universe
B •1 •2
C •2 •3
D
E
 Organizing the Data Layers

Layers are functionally related map

features.
Two most common considerations for
organizing data layers are feature types
(point,line,or polygon) and feature themes
(what the feature represents)
Ex: Roads and streams are both lines
(feature type), but they have to be stored in
separate layers, because of different
attributes (feature theme).
 Populating the Database

Identify coverages to be automated i.e., which

layers to be automated from the base map. One
can create a separate map manuscript (feature
tables) for each layer or for the project. Once a
map feature has been digitized, it needs the
geographic features to be stored as x,y
coordinates along with the attribute tables in the
digital database
 Design Example
• An illustration is given here for the use of different
geometric models which can cause a dilemma and
how to correct them.
Given below are the logical designs:
• Logical City-Block Design

Block Table Vertices Table

 Design Example

• Logical Land Parcels Design

Parcel Segment Vertices

 Design Example

• How to relate the above logical designs.

Common sense will dictate us to relate both design
through the vertices table.

•Block

•Parcel •Segment •Vertices

 Design Example

• The previous model is not acceptable as each

design can have different systems of coordinates
for the vertices, leading to inconsistencies.
• The correct model is to relate both design through
the SEGMEN T table.

•Block

•Parcel •Segment •Vertices

 Managing the Database

Once the information is compiled, the database

may be maintained for many years in physical
storage media.
Managing the Database also requires knowledge of
the physical side of the Database design. The
following are the storage, retrieval, and querying
function of the GIS Database:
• Query Model
• Database Size
• The RDBMS Spatial Module
• Transfer and Retrieval
• Internet
 The Query Model

• Spatial data query uses a two-tier query

model to resolve spatial queries and spatial
joins as two distinct operations are
performed in order to resolve queries. The
output of both operations yields the exact
result set.
• The two operations are referred to as
primary and secondary filter operations.
 The Query Model

• The primary filter permits fast selection of

candidate records to pass along to the
secondary filter. The primary filter compares
geometry approximations to reduce
computation complexity and is considered
a lower cost filter. Because the primary filter
compares geometric approximations, it
returns a superset of the result set.
 The Query Model

• The secondary filter applies exact

computations to geometries that result from
the primary filter. The secondary filter yields
an accurate answer to a spatial query. The
secondary filter operation is
computationally expensive, but it is only
applied to the primary filter results, not the
entire data set.
 The GIS Database Size

• GIS Database requires a lot of disk space storage.

As you recall, the two basic types of representation
are Raster and Vector data.

• Raster images require the most space as they

store the geographic data in pixels for a better
display resolution.

• Vector images use less space, and display

graphical output similar to hand-drawn maps.
 The GIS Database size

• Regardless of the type chosen, GIS database can

range from 10 GigaBytes for Counties, to 100
terabytes for a State. But with the inexpensive disks
storage and Storage Area Network (SAN)
technology available, this is no longer an issue.
 The RDBMS Vendor Module

• Oracle offers the Oracle Spatial module to help

manage GIS data. This includes a set of functions
to perform computation on nodes, arc, and
segment.
• Ex; the Geometric function
SDO_GEOM.SDO_DISTANCE computes the
distance between two geometry objects
• Informix and IBM DB2 offer similar functions to help
in the management of GIS data.
 Data Transfer and Retrieval

• Due to the large physical size of an image, data

compression shall be an integral part of the data
transfer features. A black-and white image can
have a 20% compression ratio, whereas a color
image can yield 50% compression ratio using
MrSID Compression.
 GIS and the Internet

• With the adoption of broadband fiber optics as the

connection medium, GIS is gaining popularity on
the Internet. Compressed images are sent using the
F T P (File Transfer Protocol) or HT T P (Hyper Text
T ransfer Protocol) to solve consumers mapping
problems. These methods are used to transfer the
map to Navigational systems in car via the WAP
(Wireless Access Protocol)
 Data Dictionary

A good database design always includes a

data dictionary that maintains, for each
coverage, the names of the attributes and a
description of the attribute values.
GIS DATA BASE MERGED WITH RASTER AND VECTOR