Lecture 5.

GIS Analysis
Functions

Dr. Faith . Karanja

Lecture Outline
5. GIS analysis functions
5.1. Introduction
5.2. Objectives
5.3. Overview
5.4. Exploratory Operators
5.5. Overlay Operators
5.6. Neighbourhood Operators
5.7. Network Operators
5.8. Summary
5.9. Activity
5.10. Further Reading
5.1. Introduction
In this lecture we will discuss the analytic
capabilities of GIS. The formulation of a
GIS problem has been demonstrated.
Further, the operators focused on include
exploratory, overlay, neighborhood and
network.
 5.2. Objectives
At the end of this Lecture you should be
able to:-
Appreciate the analytic capabilities of GIS
Define the problem to be solved

Identify data requirements and the analysis

process to adopt
Apply the various analytic GIS capabilities in
solving real life problems
 5.3. Overview (1/2)
Spatial analytic capabilities distinguish GIS from other data processing systems since it
makes use of spatial and non-spatial databases to answer questions and solve problems.
Principle objective of spatial data analysis:
To transform and combine data from diverse sources into useful information, thus improving ones
understanding or satisfying the requirements or objectives of decision making
GIS application deals with some aspect, or relevant area of reality normally referred to
as the universal discourse of the application.
Typical problem could be in planning:- e.g. what is the most suitable location for a
dam? Or in prediction, e.g. what will be the size of the lake behind the dam?
The universe of discourse is the construction of the dam and its environmental, social and economic
impact.
The solution to a problem depends on a number of parameters, which are often interrelated.
Their interaction is made more precise in an application model. Such a model will describe in a consistent
manner how the applicators universe of discourse behaves. e.g. application models used for planning and
site selection are usually prescriptive, i.e. involve use of criteria and parameters to quantify environmental,
economic and social factors (certain conditions must be met).
On the other hand predictive models involve forecasting the likelihood of future events e.g. pollution,
erosion, landslides. Involves expert use of various spatial data layers and combining them methodically in
order to arrive at a sensible conclusion or prediction.
 5.3. Overview (2/2)
Exploratory operators: Measurement, retrieval and classification
functions: In general they involve exploring the data without making
fundamental changes useful at the beginning of data analysis.
Overlay operators:-Data layers are combined and new information is
derived: and the principle is to ensure these layers occupy the same
location. Combination can be on the basis of arithmetic operations,
relational conditions and many other functions.
Neighborhood operators:- Involve evaluating the characteristics of an
area surrounding a features location; i.e. considering buffer zones
around features and their impacts.
Connectivity operators:-evaluate how features are connected. Useful
for applications dealing with networks of connected features, e.g. road
networks, water courses in coastal zones, communication lines in
mobile telephones
 5.4. Exploratory Operators (1/5)
Measurement
Include counting, distance and area size computations
Related geometric measurements are location, length, distance, areas size,
where e.g. location, length and area size are geometric properties of features
in isolation and others e.g. distance require two features to be established.
Retrieval or spatial data queries
When exploring data sets, the first thing to be done is to select certain
features on the basis of criteria.
Spatial selection can be made on the basis of:-
Geometric or spatial data:-
Attribute data
 5.4. Exploratory Operators (2/5)
Selection on the basis of Geometric and Spatial Data
Selection is effected by either pointing at or using a selection object which is
drawn over the spatial data. These selection objects can be points, lines or
area. The selected features will be those that overlap i.e. intersect, meet,
contain, or are contained in the selection object. The highlighted objects are
referred to as selected objects.

Note the selected objects are highlighted in red.

 5.4. Exploratory Operators (3/5)
Selection on the basis of attribute data
This is realized by using condition equations. For instance one
could be interested in selecting objects whose area is less than
400000 and the land use type is 80. This can be formulated as:-
Area 400000 and landuse 80
 5.4. Exploratory Operators (4/5)
Classification
This is the process of highlighting important patterns in the input spatial
data by applying some classification parameter. Classification can be
viewed as a data reduction process. Within the context of vector data,
two classification modes can be identified namely,
Input features become output features with an additional category
assigned, i.e. the spatial extent remains intact.
5.4. Exploratory Operators (5/5)
Classification
The second type of operation is where adjacent features sharing a similar
characteristic are combined to generate a new feature. This is sometimes
referred to as merging, aggregation or dissolving.
5.5. Overlay Operators (1/10)

Types of operators

Vector Overlay operators

Raster Overlay operators

Decision table driven operators

 5.5. Overlay Operators (2/10)
Vector Overlay operators
The combining of the spatial data layers is based on binary operators
referred to as spatial overlay operators. The assumption in combining
two data layers are namely:-
That they are georeferenced in the same system
They overlap in the same geographic location
Examples of standard overlay operators include:-
Polygon intersection also referred to as a polygon join, takes all the
possible polygon intersection and the resulting attribute table is a join of
the two input attribute tables.
Polygon clipping operator involves using one of the polygon data layer to
restrict the spatial extent of the other layer.
Polygons overwrite results in the polygons of the second layer except
where polygons of the first layer existed since they take precedence.
5.5. Overlay Operators (3/10)
Polygon Intersection
5.5. Overlay Operators (4/10)
Polygon Clipping
Polygon clipping operator involves using one of the polygon data layer to
restrict the spatial extent of the other layer.
5.5. Overlay Operators (5/10)
Polygon Overwrite
Polygons overwrite results in the polygons of the second layer except
where polygons of the first layer existed since they take precedence.
5.5. Overlay Operators (6/10)
Raster Overlay Operators

In comparison to vector overlay operations, the raster ones

are less complicated since they are performed cell by cell.
Some of the operators that can be used in raster calculus
include:-
Arithmetic operators e.g. subtraction, multiplication, division,
addition, etc. For instance an NDVI (Normalized Difference
Vegetation Index) image is as a result of an arithmetic operator.
Comparison and logical operators, which entail comparing raster
cell by cell using standard comparison operators e.g. <, <=, >, >=,
<>. Logical connectives include NOT, OR and AND operators.
The effect of these operators is that they generate an output raster
with values that attest to either true or false.
5.5. Overlay Operators (7/10)
Arithmetic Raster Calculi
5.5. Overlay Operators (8/10)
Logical raster calculi
The green cells are the true values
 5.5. Overlay Operators (9/10)
Decsion Table Driven Operators
The decision table overlay operators are useful where domain expertise has to be
exploited in combining different raster images to generate an output on the basis
of a certain criteria. They are particularly useful for suitability studies. For
instance, where one had land use cover and geological information to extract
suitability areas on the basis of say forest areas and alluvial terrain. This can be
effected using an expression of the nature:-

Suitabilit y IF (( Landuse " Forest" AND Geo log y " Alluvial " ) OR
( Landuse " Grass" AND Geo log y " Shale" ), " Suitable " , "Unsuitable" )
The output will be areas that are suitable and those that are not suitable.
5.5. Overlay Operators (10/10)
Decision Table in Raster Overlay
5.6. Neighborhood Operators (1/6)

These include:-
Proximity Computation

Spread Computation

Seek Computation
 5.6. Neighborhood Operators (2/6)
Proximity Computation
The objective of proximity computation is to establish the characteristics
of the neighborhood of a given location. The usefulness of such
operations is such that they are able to answer suitability questions on
the basis of not only what is at but also on what is near.
There are three fundamental issues that should be addressed before such
computations can be performed namely:-
Identifying the target locations and their spatial extent
Definition of the mode of determining the neighborhood
Identify the characteristics of the target to be used in the computation of
each neighborhood.
On the basis of geometric distance, proximity computation can be done
using:-
Buffer generation
Thiessen polygon generation
5.6. Neighborhood Operators (3/6)
Buffer Generation
The concept of buffer generation involves simply identifying the target of
interest and simply determining the area around them on the basis of a
distance.
The figure shows such an example where the targets are main and minor roads
and different buffer distances applied.
5.6. Neighborhood Operators (4/6)
Thiessen Polygon Generation
Thiessen polygon is based on spatially distributed points as target locations
and the idea is to find for each location which target is closest. This will
involve generating polygons for each target thereby identifying those locations
that belong to that target.
5.6. Neighborhood Operators (5/6)
Spread Computation

Here the idea is that the neighborhood of a target will

depend not only on the distance but also on direction and
differences on terrain e.g. incase of air pollution, water
flow, etc. Hence spread computation will involve:-
One or more target locations
Local resistance factor
The computation will involve determining the least cost
path.
5.6. Neighborhood Operators (6/6)
Seek Computation
This involves determining how an object moves in an area in different
directions and different resistances. A good example is in the drainage
pattern in a water catchments area.
The figure shows a generic example based on terrain differences,
where the least cost path is used.
 5.7. Network Operators (1/2)
Within the context of geospatial analysis a network can be defined as a series of
connected lines representing some geographic phenomena specifically for
transportation purposes. Network analysis can be performed on either raster or vector
data. Networks characteristics will depend on whether they are:-
Directed where a direction is associated with each line
Undirected networks do not have a direction associated with them

A number of spatial analysis networks supported include:-

Optimal path finding which defines the least cost path on the basis of pre-defined locations
and the associated attribute data.
Network partitioning assigns network elements namely nodes or line segments to different
locations using pre-defined criteria.

Optimal path finding is conducted when the least cost path between the origin and the
destination is required. It involves identifying a sequence of connected lines that
traverse from the origin to the destination at the lowest cost. The determination of the
lowest cost path can be defined on the basis of:-
5.7. Network Operators (2/2)
Total length of all lines on the path which is a simple operation.
In addition to the total length, it could take into account the maximum
capacity, travel rate among other parameters to determine the lowest cost
path.
The aim of network partitioning is to assign lines or nodes in a network target
locations which play the role of service centre e.g. medical services, education
facilities, water supply, etc. This type of network partitioning problem is
known as network allocation problem. The issue then is, which part of the
network to assign exclusively to which part of service centre.
Another type is trace analysis which focuses on problems pertinent to that part
of network that is upstream or upstream from a given target location. This
finds application in pollution tracing along e.g. rivers or streams, energy
distribution networks, etc. The idea is to find which part of the network is
conditionally connected to a chosen node on the network namely the trace
origin, where the condition will depend on the application and is logical in
nature.
 5.8. Summary
In this lecture, we have discussed the
analytic capabilities of GIS. Using
examples and illustrations we have
demonstrated how exploratory, overlay,
neighborhood and network operations can
be applied to solve spatial related problems.
 5.9. Activity
Consider a route network problem and
formulate it as a GIS problem.
Identify the spatial and non-spatial data sets
required.
Discuss the operations that you would
perform to determine the optimal location of
a route.
 5.10. Further Reading
Hansen G.W. and Hansen J.V.,
1996: Database Management and
Design, 2nd Edition.
Longley P.A., Goodchild M.F.,
Maguire D.J., Rhind D.W., 2005:
Geographic Information Systems
and Science, 2nd Edition.