CIVL 1101 1/5 What is GIS? Geographic Information Systems (GIS) provide a platform for displaying and analyzing spatial data. GIS systems allow you to view multiple layers of data simultaneously. GIS is a powerful tool for visualization, spatial analysis, and mapping. Software ArcGIS GIS software platform created by ESRI. We will be using ArcGIS exclusively this year. ArcGIS contains several software applications, including ArcMap and ArcCatalog. ArcMap Mapping, editing, and analysis software within ArcGIS. ArcCatalog Data management software (create new files, manage database information, etc.) within ArcGIS. Why is GIS important for engineers? Engineers must make decisions regarding the possible alternative locations for a design and the impact of a particular decision, must model and analyze geographic data, and must communicate this information to various audiences. GIS provides a way for engineers to overlay all of the data that is important to the decision, so that they can evaluate alternatives considering multiple factors Software ArcGIS GIS software platform created by ESRI. http://www.esri.com/ Why is GIS important for engineers? GIS also provides a platform spatial modeling. GIS provides a visual tool for analyzing and presenting decision criteria. Three dimensional image of the San Francisco Bay created to assess the potential of land and underwater avalanches.
CIVL 1101 2/5 Key Terminology Project This is a session in ArcMap. You can save a project so that you can return to the session and continue working. The project will contain all datasets you imported, any maps you have created in the project, all symbology (the look of your data) changes you have made, and any new data features you created through analysis. When you save a project, it has a *.mxd extension. Points Historic Sites Accident Locations Data file containing a group of geographic data of the same type (point, line, or polygon). (1) manhole cover locations as points (2) sewer lines (3) parcel polygons (4) street name annotation Lines Represent the shape and location of geographic objects, such as street centerlines and streams, too narrow to depict as areas. Lines are also used to represent features that have length but no area such as contour lines and boundaries. Points Features that are too small to represent as lines or polygons as well as point locations. Lines Contour Map Transportation Network Earthquake Locations
CIVL 1101 3/5 Lines Annotation Map text including properties for how the text is rendered. For example, in addition to the text string of each annotation, other properties are included such as the shape points for placing the text, its font and point size, and other display properties. Hydrologic Network Utilities Network Polygons A set of many sided area features that represent the shape and location of homogeneous feature types such as states, counties, parcels, soil types, and land use zones. Multipoints Features that are composed of more than one point. Multipoints are often used to manage arrays of very large point collections such as LiDAR point clusters which can contain literally billions of points. Using a single row for such point geometry is not feasible. Clustering these into multipoint rows enables the geodatabase to handle massive point sets. Polygons Multipoints Features that are composed of more than one point. Boundary Data Boundary or Parcel Data
CIVL 1101 4/5 Consider a golf course. Course map with lines. Course map with polygons. Course map with points.
CIVL 1101 5/5 More detailed information can be found about this presentation at: http://www.esri.com Any Questions?