Basics of GIS

Earth Sciences & Map Library Workshop Series

Phil White

Earth Sciences & Environment Librarian

http://bit.ly/CULibBasicGIS

Earth Sciences & Map Library Workshop Series

What is GIS?

GIS Basics

GIS is a tool for storing, organizing, manipulating, analyzing, and visualizing data.

Earth Sciences & Map Library Workshop Series

GIS Basics

Not just any data...

Spatial Data!

Earth Sciences & Map Library Workshop Series

GIS Basics

5 Things:

Points

Lines

Polygons

Cells

Associated Attributes

Earth Sciences & Map Library Workshop Series

GIS Basics

Cells (AKA Raster Data)

mapschool.io

Earth Sciences & Map Library Workshop Series

GIS Basics

More than just cells...

Attributes!

DEM

(Digital Elevation Model)

 

White Cell = 2402.89 m

 

Black Cell = 1735.06 m

Earth Sciences & Map Library Workshop Series

GIS Basics

Raster Formats

  • Usually geoTIFF
  • Also ArcGRID, jpeg2000

Earth Sciences & Map Library Workshop Series

GIS Basics

Points, Lines, Polygons (AKA Vector Data)

Earth Sciences & Map Library Workshop Series

GIS Basics

mapschool.io

Earth Sciences & Map Library Workshop Series

GIS Basics

Earth Sciences & Map Library Workshop Series

GIS Basics

Earth Sciences & Map Library Workshop Series

GIS Basics

Attributes

Earth Sciences & Map Library Workshop Series

GIS Basics

Vector Formats:

  • Usually shapefile (.shp)

 

Also:

  • Geodatabase (.gdb)
  • kml/kmz
  • Spatialite (SQL)
  • GeoJson

Earth Sciences & Map Library Workshop Series

GIS Basics

When adding data to a GIS, we often refer to them as "layers."

Earth Sciences & Map Library Workshop Series

GIS Basics

Projections

Earth Sciences & Map Library Workshop Series

GIS Basics

mapschool.io

Distortion...

...is inherent to map projections.

Shape, Area, Distance, & Direction

Earth Sciences & Map Library Workshop Series

GIS Basics

Mercator

Good for direction

Bad for Shape

(Hello Greenland!)

Earth Sciences & Map Library Workshop Series

GIS Basics

Google Maps

Gall-Peters

Earth Sciences & Map Library Workshop Series

GIS Basics

Wikimedia

 

How do I use GIS? 

Earth Sciences & Map Library Workshop Series

GIS Basics

Take some data....

...do some stuff to it...

...communicate new info.

Earth Sciences & Map Library Workshop Series

GIS Basics

Phil White, WAML 2018

John Snow's Cholera Map

Stuff we do with GIS:

Symbolize

Aggregate

Interpolate

Overlay

Measure

Earth Sciences & Map Library Workshop Series

GIS Basics

Geocode

Georeference

Symbolization

Earth Sciences & Map Library Workshop Series

GIS Basics

mapschool.io

Earth Sciences & Map Library Workshop Series

GIS Basics

Wikimedia

Earth Sciences & Map Library Workshop Series

GIS Basics

Wikimedia

Those are called "Choropleth Maps."

Earth Sciences & Map Library Workshop Series

GIS Basics

Earth Sciences & Map Library Workshop Series

GIS Basics

Overlay

Jordan Wirfs-Brock

Earth Sciences & Map Library Workshop Series

GIS Basics

Overlay

Earth Sciences & Map Library Workshop Series

GIS Basics

Interpolate

mapschool.io

Earth Sciences & Map Library Workshop Series

GIS Basics

Measuring

Earth Sciences & Map Library Workshop Series

GIS Basics

Georeference

David Rumsey Center

Earth Sciences & Map Library Workshop Series

GIS Basics

Geocoding

Earth Sciences & Map Library Workshop Series

Resources available to you:

GIS Basics

Earth Sciences & Map Library Workshop Series

GIS Basics

Links for Today:

https://ucboulder.maps.arcgis.com

Colorado Counties Shapefile

Made with Slides.com