Introducing Geographic Information Systems with ArcGIS

A Workbook Approach to Learning GIS

Michael D. Kennedy

• Publisher: Wiley
• Year: 2013
• ISBN:
  9781118330340
• Edition: 3
• Topic: Sciences physiques
• Subtopic: Géographie

An integrated approach that combines essential GIS background with a practical workbook on applying the principles in ArcGIS 10.0 and 10.1

Introducing Geographic Information Systems with ArcGIS integrates a broad introduction to GIS with a software-specific workbook for Esri's ArcGIS. Where most courses make do using two separate texts, one covering GIS and another the software, this book enables students and instructors to use a single text with an integrated approach covering both in one volume with a common vocabulary and instructional style.

This revised edition focuses on the latest software updates—ArcGIS 10.0 and 10.1. In addition to its already successful coverage, the book allows students to experience publishing maps on the Internet through new exercises, and introduces the idea of programming in the language Esri has chosen for applications (i.e., Python). A DVD is packaged with the book, as in prior editions, containing data for working out all of the exercises.

This complete, user-friendly coursebook:

• Is updated for the latest ArcGIS releases—ArcGIS 10.0 and 10.1
• Introduces the central concepts of GIS and topics needed to understand spatial information analysis
• Provides a considerable ability to operate important tools in ArcGIS
• Demonstrates new capabilities of ArcGIS 10.0 and 10.1
• Provides a basis for the advanced study of GIS and the study of the newly emerging field of GIScience

Introducing Geographic Information Systems with ArcGIS, Third Edition is the ideal guide for undergraduate students taking courses such as Introduction to GIS, Fundamentals of GIS, and Introduction to ArcGIS Desktop. It is also an important guide for professionals looking to update their skills for ArcGIS 10.0 and 10.1.

Part I

Basic Concepts of GIS

Chapter 1

Some Concepts That Underpin GIS

OVERVIEW

IN WHICH you begin to understand the rather large and complex body of ideas and techniques that allow people to use computers to comprehend and design the physical environment. And in which you use Esri’s ArcCatalog to explore geographic data.1

You Ask: “What Is GIS About?”

A poem “The Blind Men and the Elephant” tells the story of six sightless men who approach an elephant, one by one, to satisfy their curiosity.

It was six men of Indostan

To learning much inclined

Who went to see the Elephant

(Though all of them were blind)

That each by observation

Might satisfy his mind.

The First approached the Elephant,

And happening to fall

Against his broad and study side,

At once began to bawl,

“God bless em! But the elephant

Is very like a WALL!”

The Second, feeling of the tusk

Cried: “Ho! what have we here

So very round and smooth and sharp?

This wonder of an Elephant

Is very like a SPEAR!”

The Third approached the animal,

And, happening to take

The squirming trunk within his hands,

Thus boldly up and spake:

“I see,” quoth he, “the Elephant,

Is very like a SNAKE!”

The Fourth reached out an eager hand,

And felt about the knee

“What most this wondrous beast is like

Is mighty plain,” quoth he:

“’Tis clear enough the Elephant

Is very like a TREE!”

The Fifth, who chanced to touch the ear,

Said: “E’en the blindest man

Can tell what this resembles most;

Deny the fact who can,

This marvel of an Elephant

Is very like a FAN!”

The Sixth no sooner had begun

About the beast to grope,

Than seizing on the swinging tail

That fell within his scope,

“I see,” quoth he, “the Elephant

Is very like a ROPE!”

And so these men of Indostan

Disputed loud and long,

Each in his own opinion

Exceeding stiff and strong

Though each was partly in the right

And all were in the wrong!

[. . .]2

Excerpted from “The Blind Men and the Elephant”

(based on a famous Indian legend)

John Godfrey Saxe

American Poet (1816–1887)

And So You Ask Again: “What Is GIS About?”

Poet Saxe’s lines could apply to geographic information systems (GIS) in that relating to the subject may well depend on your point of view. Asking what GIS3 is about is sort of like asking “What is a computer about?” The capabilities of GIS are so broad and its uses so pervasive in society, geography, urban and regional planning, and the technical world in general that a short, meaningful description is impossible. But for starters, here is a generic definition of GIS that you might find in a dictionary:

A geographic information system is an organized collection of computer hardware and software, people, money, and organizational infrastructure that makes possible the acquisition and storage of geographic and related attribute data, for purposes of retrieval, analysis, synthesis, and display to promote understanding and assist decision making.

To better understand one facet of GIS, consider how you might use the technology for a particular application. Solve the following site selection problem:

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Exercise 1-1 (Project)

Finding a Geographic Site by Manual Means

Wildcat Boat Company is planning to construct a small office building and testing facility to evaluate new designs. They’ve narrowed the proposed site to a farming area near a large lake and several small towns. The company now needs to select a specific site that meets the following requirements:

• The site should not have trees (to reduce costs of clearing land and prevent the unnecessary destruction of trees). A regional agricultural preservation plan prohibits conversion of farmland. The other categories (urban, barren, and wetlands) are also out. So, the land cover must be “brush land.”
• The building must reside on soils suitable for construction.
• A local ordinance designed to prevent rampant development allows new construction only within 300 meters of existing sewer lines.
• Water-quality legislation requires that no construction occur within 20 meters of streams.
• The site must be at least 4000 square meters to provide space for building and grounds.

Figure 1-1 is a key to the following maps. It shows the symbols for land cover, soil suitability, streams, and sewers.4

FIGURE 1-1 Key to maps of the Wildcat Boat Facility area

Figure 1-2 is a map showing landcover in the area from which the site will be chosen. Different crosshatch symbols indicate different types of land cover; the white area in the northern part of the map is water. The land cover codes (LC Codes) and categories (LC Type) are as follows:

FIGURE 1-2 Land Cover

LC CODE	LC TYPE
100	Urban
200	Agriculture
300	Brush land
400	Forest
500	Water
600	Wetlands
700	Barren

Figure 1-3 is a soil suitability map. Lines separate soils of different types. The different soils are categorized as suitable or unsuitable for building. Therefore, you will see the same symbol on both sides of a dividing line, indicating that, while such soil types may be different, their suitability is the same.

FIGURE 1-3 Soil Suitability

Figure 1-4 is a map that shows the streams (narrow lines) and sewers (broader lines).

FIGURE 1-4 Streams and Sewers

You may use scissors, xerography, a computer-based drawing program, a light table, and any other tools to solve the problem.

You are asked to present a map that shows all, repeat ALL, the areas where the company could build, while meeting the requirements stated previously. Make your map the same scale and size as those maps provided on the DVD. Outline in red all the areas that meet the requirements. You don’t need to produce a high-quality cartographic product. The main objective here—indeed the object of this textbook—is to analyze geographic data. While making maps is important, it is not the primary focus of this book.

Write a brief description (100 to 200 words) of the procedure you used to make the map.

The problem is much easier than it might otherwise be because the maps provided cover exactly the same area, have the same underlying assumptions regarding the shape and size of Earth, are at the same scale, and use the same projection of Earth’s sphere onto the flat plane of the map. These benefits are often not available in the real world, where you frequently need a considerable amount of data preparation to solve such a problem. ArcGIS has many tools to aide in “lining up” geographic data. Despite these advantages, the process can be somewhat daunting.

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More of What GIS Is About

Completing Exercise 1-1 showed how GIS can help you solve one kind of problem. There are many others. Computer-based GIS not only serves the purpose of traditional maps but also helps you perform activities that involve spatial analysis, even without maps. Understanding conditions that occur in the vicinity of Earth’s surface are important in building structures, growing crops, preserving wildlife habitat, protecting ourselves from natural disasters, navigating from one point to the next, and a myriad of other activities.

Among the many uses of GIS are:

Land use—Helps determine land uses, zoning, environmental impact analysis, locational analysis, and site analysis.

Natural environment—Identifies, delineates, and manages areas of environmental concern, analyzes land-carrying capacity, and assists in developing environmental impact statements.

Energy—Examines costs of moving energy, determines remaining available energy reserves, investigates the efficiency of different allocation schemes, reduces waste, reduces heat pollution, identifies areas of danger to humans and animals, assesses environmental impacts, sites new distribution lines and facilities, and develops resource allocation schemes.

Human resources—Plans for mass transit, recreation areas, police unit allocation, and pupil assignment; analyzes migration patterns, population growth, crime patterns, and welfare needs. It also manages public and government services.

Areas of environmental concern—Facilitates identification of unique resources, manages designated areas, and determines the relative importance of various resources.

Water—Determines floodplains, availability of clean water, irrigation sc...