GIS SKRIPTA

GIS stands for Geographical Information System

It is defined as an integrated tool, capable of mapping, analyzing, manipulating and storing geographical data in
order to provide solutions to real world problems and help in planning for the future. GIS deals with what and where
components of occurrences. For example, to regulate rapid transportation, government decides to build fly-over
(what component) in those areas of the city where traffic jams are common (where component). Burrough (1998)
defined GIS as “ a powerful set of tools for collecting, storing, retrieving at will, transforming and displaying spatial
data from the real world for a particular set of purposes”

Objectives of GIS Some of the major objectives of GIS are to

•Maximizing the efficiency of planning and decision making
•Integrating information from multiple sources
•Facilitating complex querying and analysis
•Eliminating redundant data and minimizing duplication

Components of a GIS A GIS has following components:

Hardware : It consists of the equipment and support devices that are required to capture, store process and visualize
the geographic information. These include computer with hard disk, digitizers, scanners, printers and plotters etc.
Software : Software is at the heart of a GIS system. The GIS software must have the basic capabilities of data input,
storage, transfosrmation, analysis and providing desired outputs. The interfaces could be different for different
softwares. The GIS softwares being used today belong to either of the category –proprietary or open source. ArcGIS
by ESRI is the widely used proprietary GIS software. Others in the same category are MapInfo, Microstation,
Geomedia etc. The development of open source GIS has provided us with freely available desktop GIS such as
Quantum, uDIG, GRASS, MapWindow GIS etc., GIS softwares.
Data : The data is captured or collected from various sources (such as maps, field observations, photography,
satellite imagery etc) and is processed for analysis and presentation.
Procedures : These include the methods or ways by which data has to be input in the system, retrieved, processed,
transformed and presented.
People : This component of GIS includes all those individuals (such as programmer, database manager, GIS
researcher etc.) who are making the GIS work, and also the individuals who are at the user end using the GIS
services, applications and tools.

Importance of GIS GIS informs not only about the activities and the events but also where they exist. The solutions
to problems often require access to several types of information that can only be linked by geography. GIS allows to
store and manipulate information using geography and to analyze patterns, relationships, and trends in that
information to help in making better decisions.

Application of GIS
Tax Mapping: Raising revenue from property taxes is one of the important functions of the government agencies.
The amount of tax payable depends on the value of the land and the property. The correct assessment of value of
land and property determines the equitable distribution of the community tax. A tax assessor has to evaluate new
properties and respond to the existing property valuation. To evaluate taxes the assessor uses details on current
market rents, sale, maintenance, insurance and other expenses. Managing as well as analyzing all this information
simultaneously is time consuming and hence comes the need of GIS. Information about property with its
geographical location and boundary is managed by GIS. Land units stored in parcel database can be linked to their
properties. Querying the GIS database can locate similar type of properties in an area. The characteristics of these
properties can then be compared and valuation can be easily done .

Business: Approximately 80 percent of all business data are related to loca-tion. Businesses manage a world of
information about sales, customers, inventory, demographic profiles etc. Demographic analysis is the basis for many
other business functions: customer service, site analysis, and marketing. Understanding your customers and their
socioeconomic and purchasing behavior is essential for making good business decisions. A GIS with relevant data
such as number of consumers, brands and sites they go for shopping can give any business unit a fair idea whether
their unit if set up is going to work at a particular location the way they want it to run.
Logistics: Logistics is a field that takes care of transporting goods from one place to another and finally delivering
them to their destinations. It is necessary for the shipping companies to know where their warehouses should be
located, which routes should the transport follow that ensures minimum time and expenditures to deliver the
parcels to their destinations. All such logistics decisions need GIS support.

Emergency evacuation: The occurrence of disasters is unpredictable. We as humans are unable to tell when, where
and what magnitude of disaster is going to emerge
and therefore solely depend on disaster
preparedness as safety measures. It is important to
know in which area the risk is higher, the number of
individuals inhabiting that place, the routes by
which the vehicles would move to help in
evacuating the individuals. Thus preparing an
evacuation plan needs GIS implementation.
Environment: GIS is being increasingly involved in
mapping the habitat loss, urban sprawl, land-use
change etc. Mapping such phenomena need
historical landuse data, anthropogenic effects which
greatly affect these phenomena are also brought
into GIS domain. GIS models are then run to make predictions for the future.
Types of data
1.Spatial data – says where something is it is coordinated and usually vector data (discrete features like points lines
polygones etc.) or raster data ( a continuous surface-real world)
2.Attribute data – says what the feature is –like statistics text images sounds etc.

Two dimensional representation of earth surface ( uses graphics to convey geographical information).
•It describes the geographical location of features and the relationship between them.
•Cartography refers to the art and science of map preparation.
•Improvements in the fields of Geodesy, Surveying and Cartography helped in bringing the maps to their present
form.
•The digital technology has altered the way of creating, presenting and distributing the geographic information.
•The conventional cartography is now getting replaced by computer aided designs and graphics, and the analog
maps (paper maps) by digital maps.

The oldest known maps are from Middle East in the form of Babylonian Clay Tablet dating as early as 1000 B.C and
depicted earth as a flat circular disk.
Around 150 AD, Ptolemy depicted the old world from 60º N to 30º S latitude on a map.
The first use of longitudinal and latitudinal lines on a map along with the specification of terrestrial sites through
observations of the celestial sphere is regarded as one of the important contribution of Ptolemy in the field of
cartography
Muhammad al-Idrisi is one of the cartographers of the medieval period who created the world map by combining
the information on Africa, Indian Ocean and the Far East provided by merchants and geographers. His map was
considered the most accurate world map for the next three centuries.
After the voyages by Columbus and others to the new world, the full world map started to appear in the early 16 th
Century. Martin Waldseemüller in 1507 is credited with the creation of the first true world map. The map used
Ptolemaic projection and was the first one to use the name America for the New World.
Gerardus Mercator, a cartographer of the mid-16th century developed a cylindrical projection that is still widely used
for navigation charts and global maps. He then published a map of the world in 1569 based on this projection.
Maps during the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries became increasingly accurate and factual with the application of
scientific methods. With the advent of GIS during mid 1960s, understanding and representation of geographical
phenomenon improved significantly. Maps now have improved graphics, and spatial relation visualization.

Map Scale
The size of earth is too big to be represented as it is on a map. To represent the whole earth or part thereof on a
small map, the concept of scale is used.
It is the relationship between distance on map and distance on ground that tells what distance on map corresponds
to what distance on ground.
Representation of scale
There are three ways in which a scale can be depicted on a map: 1. Statement : Expressed in words such as ‘2
centimeters to the kilometer’ which means two centimeters on the map represents one kilometer on the ground.

2. Representative fraction
It is expressed in fraction. If the scale is 1:50000, it means that 1 unit of measurement on map represents 50,000
units on ground. It is also known as numerical scale.
The distance on map and the distance on the ground must be in the same units of length. The advantage of this scale
is that- it can be read into different units of length. For
example the map with a scale 1:50,000 would mean that a
distance of 1 cm on ground represents 50,000 cm on the
ground or it can also be said that a distance of 1 feet on
ground represents 50,000 feet on ground.

3. Graphic
The scale is shown in form of a strip, where the strip is divided into a number of equal
parts and is marked to show what these divisions represent on actual ground. It is also
known as plain scale or linear scale.
For example, the above scale represents that 1 division of a strip on map represents 10 km on ground.
The advantage of a graphic scale is that it is reduced or enlarged in the same proportion in which the map is reduced
or enlarged.
A map on a scale of 1:5,000 means that the size of the objects
on map is 1/5000 of their size on the ground. Similarly, a map
on a scale of 1:50,000 mean that the size of the objects on
map is 1/50000 of their size on the ground. As the map on the
scale of 1:5000 shall show the objects on map bigger (as well
as smaller objects not visible earlier shall become visible) than those shown by 1:50,000 scale map therefore it is a
large scale map.

Types of Maps The maps can be classified on the following criteria: Scale ,Purpose ,Scale
correct representation of geographical features and phenomenon.
Different features require different scales for their display.
For example preparation of a cadastral map of a village and the soil map of a state would use different scale for
representing the information.
According to scale, maps can be classified as follows:
a.Cadastral
1.These maps register the ownership of land property. They are prepared by government to realize tax and revenue.
2.A village map is an example of cadastral map which is drawn on a scale of 16 inches to the mile or 32 inches to the
mile.
b. Topographical:
1.Prepared on fairly large scale and are based on precise survey.
2.They don’t reveal land parcels but show topographic forms such as relief, drainage, forest, village, towns etc.
3.The scale of these maps varied conventionally from 1/4 inch to the mile to one inch to the mile. The topographical
maps of different countries have varying scales.
1.Topographical survey map of British Ordnance Survey are one inch maps.
2.The scale of European toposheets varies from 1:25000 to 1:100000.
3.USA toposheets are drawn on the scale 1:62500 and 1:125000.
4.The international map which is a uniform map of the world is produced
c. Chorographical/Atlas:
•Drawn on a very small scale, atlas maps give a generalized view of physical, climatic and economic conditions of
different regions of the world.
•The scale of atlas map is generally greater than 1:1000, 000.
On the basis of Purpose or the content, the maps can be classified as follows:
Natural Maps These maps represent natural features and the processes associated with them. Given below is the list of
some such maps:
Astronomical map : It refers to the cartographic representation of the heavenly bodies such as galaxies, stars, planets, moon
etc.
Geological map : A map that represents the distribution of different type of rocks and surficial deposits on the Earth.
Relief map : A map that depicts the terrain and indicates the bulges and the depressions present on the surface.

Climate map : A climate map is a depiction of prevailing weather patterns in a given area. These maps can show daily
weather conditions, average monthly or seasonal weather conditions of an area.
Vegetation map : It shows the natural flora of an area.
Soil map : A soil map describes the soil cover present in an area
Cultural Maps
These maps tell about the cultural patterns designed over the surface of the earth. They describe the activities of
man and related processes. Given below is the list of such maps:
Political map: A map that shows the boundaries of states, boundaries between different political units of the world
or of a particular country which mark the areas of respective political jurisdiction
Military map : A military map contains information about routes, points, security and battle plans.
Historical map : A map having historical events symbolized on it.
Social map : A map giving information about the tribes, languages and religions of an area.
Land-utilization map : A map describing the land and the ongoing activities on it.
Communication map : A map showing means of communication such as railways, road, airways etc.
Population map : A map showing distribution of human beings over an area.

Map and Globe

The word globe comes from the Latin
word globus which means round mass
or sphere.
A terrestrial globe is a three
dimensional scaled model of Earth.
The fact that earth resembles a sphere
was established by Greek astronomy in
the third century BC and the earliest
globes came from that period.
Unlike maps, the globe is a
representation which is free from
distortions (distortion in shape, area).
The modern globes have longitudes and latitudes marked over it so that one is able to tell the approximate
coordinates of a specific place.
To make the illustration better, people have tried depicting variations of earth surface over the globe.
The relief raised globes allow a user to visualize the mountain ranges and plains as the features are modeled using
elevations and depressions. But the relief is not scaled rather
Georeferencing and Projection
Understanding Earth,Earth’s shape
The earth is generally viewed as a sphere; however its shape is not as perfect as a sphere in reality. Given below are
the models that have attempted to describe the shape of the earth:
Spherical model:Based on a circle, it treats earth as a sphere to make mathematical calculations easier.
Ellipsoid/ Oblate spheroid model:
Based on an ellipse, rotating an ellipse around the semi-minor axis creates an ellipsoid. Latitude, longitude and
planar coordinate systems are determined with respect to the ellipsoid.
Earth is flattened at poles with a bulge at equator and this is attributed to the earth’s rotation.
Rotation of earth has centrifugal force associated with it, which causes an object to move away from the centre of
gravity. The force is greatest at equator causing an outward bulge and thus giving that region a larger circumference
Geoid model :
•Describes unique and irregular shape of the earth. The
variation in the density of different rock types and irregularities
caused by mountain ranges and ocean depths affect the gravity
of earth.
•Geoid can be perceived as a sea level surface (where dynamic
effects such as tides and waves are excluded) whose irregular
shape is attributed to the earth’s gravity No simple surface such
as sphere or spheroid/ellipsoid can model the sea level surface
completely so best fit of the spheroid/ellipsoid to the sea level
surface is performed.
The geoid differs from the shape of ellipsoid by upto ± 100 m and this difference is known as geoid separation or
geoid undulation Elevations and contour lines depicted on maps are measured with respect to the geoid

Datums A datum is a reference point or surface against which measurements are made using models of the shape
of the earth.
1. Vertical Datum : A vertical datum is a reference surface used to measure elevations of the point on earth’s surface.
It is tidal, based on sea level, or geodetic, based on ellipsoid The tidal
vertical datum takes local mean sea level as reference for height
measurement. [Mean sea level is the arithmetic mean of the hourly
water elevation taken over a specific 19 years cycle which is defined as
zero elevation for local area and is close approximation to the geoid
(geoid and local mean sea level differ by not more than a couple of
meters). ] As zero elevation defined for one country is not necessarily
same for other countries, therefore a number of local
The mean sea level height is also known as orthometric height or geoid height. The geodetic vertical datum uses
ellipsoid as the reference surface. The surface of the ellipsoid is considered to represent zero altitude. Points above
the ellipsoid represent positive altitude and points below the surface represent negative altitude. The altitude is also
known as ellipsoidal or geodetic height.

GPS devices furnish ellipsoidal heights. The relationship between ellipsoidal height H and
geoid height h is given as where N refers to the geoid ellipsoid separation.

2. Horizontal datum : A horizontal or geodetic datum is defined as an ellipsoid which is used

as a reference surface for the planimetric measurements on the Earth surface usually
expressed in latitudes and longitudes. It can be of two types: a. Local geodetic datum: The
one which best approximates the size and shape of a particular part of earth’s sea level
surface. The centre of this spheroid doesn’t coincide with centre of mass of the earth
b. Global/Geocentric datum: The one that best approximates the size and shape of the
whole earth. The centre of this spheroid coincides with centre of mass of the earth.
The US Global Positioning System uses geocentric datum

The use of local datums results in uneven connectivity of longitudinal and latitudinal
lines between different countries/regions. These mismatches were common over
hundred meters and created confusion about locating an area correctly. With the
advent of Global Positioning System (GPS) technology this disagreement was no longer
acceptable. World-wide datums which are now used in all countries/regions began to
be developed. The datum presently used for GPS is called WGS 84 (World Geodetic
System 1984). It consists of a three-dimensional Cartesian coordinate system and an associated ellipsoid. The
positions can either be described as XYZ Cartesian coordinates or latitude, longitude and ellipsoid height
coordinates. The origin of the datum is the centre of mass of the Earth and it is designed for positioning anywhere on
Earth..

Coordinate System A coordinate system is a reference system used for locating objects in a two or three dimensional space
Geographic Coordinate System A geographic coordinate system, also known as global or spherical coordinate system is a
reference system that uses a three-dimensional spherical surface to determine locations on the earth. Any location on earth
can be referenced by a point with longitude and latitude.
We must familiarize ourselves with the geographic terms with respect to the Earth coordinate system in order to use the GIS
technologies effectively.
Pole: The geographic pole of earth is defined as either of the
two points where the axis of rotation of the earth meets its
surface. The North Pole lies 90º north of the equator and
the South Pole lies 90º south of the equator
Latitude : Imaginary lines that run horizontally around the
globe and are measured from 90º north to 90º south. Also
known as parallels, latitudes are equidistant from each
other.
Equator : An imaginary line on the earth with zero degree latitude, divides the earth into
two halves–Northern and Southern Hemisphere. This parallel has the widest
circumference.
Longitude : Imaginary lines that run vertically around the globe. Also known as meridians,
longitudes are measured from 180º east to 180º west. Longitudes meet at the poles and
are widest apart at the equator
Prime meridian : Zero degree longitude which
divides the earth into two halves–Eastern and Western hemisphere. As it
runs through the Royal Greenwich Observatory in Greenwich, England it is
also known as Greenwich meridian

Equator (0º) is the reference for the measurement of latitude.

Latitude is measured north or south of the equator.
For measurement of longitude, prime meridian (0º) is used as a reference.
Longitude is measured east or west of prime
meridian.
The grid of latitude and longitude over the
globe is known as graticule.
The intersection point of the equator and the prime meridian is the origin (0, 0)
of the graticule.

Coordinate measurement The geographic coordinates are measured in angles.

The angle measurement can be understood as per following:

An angle is expressed in Degree Minute Second.While writing coordinates of a

location, latitude is followed by longitude.For example, coordinates of
OHRID is written as 28° 36′ 50″ N, 77° 12′ 32″ E.
Decimal Degree is another format of expressing the coordinates of a
location. To convert a coordinate pair from degree minute second to
decimal degree following method is adopted:
Local Time and Time Zones
With rotation of earth on its axis, at any moment one of the longitudes faces the Sun (noon meridian), and at that
moment, it is noon everywhere on it. After 24 hours the earth completes one full rotation with respect to the Sun,
and the same meridian again faces the noon.
Thus each hour the Earth rotates by 360/24 = 15 degrees.
This implies that with every 15º of longitude change a new time zone is created which is marked by a difference of
one hour from the neighboring longitudes specified at 15º gap.The earth's time zones are measured from the prime
meridian (0º) and the time at Prime meridian is called Greenwich Mean Time.Thus, there are 24 time zones created
around the globe.
Date
The International Date Line is the imaginary line on the Earth that separates two consecutive calendar days.
Generally, it is said to be lying exactly opposite to the prime meridian having a measurement of 180º meridian but it
is not so.It zigs and zags the 180º meridian following the political jurisdiction of the states but for sake of simplicity it
is taken as 180º meridian.Starting at midnight and going east to the International Date Line, the date is one day
ahead of the date on the rest of the Earth.
Projected Coordinate system
A projected coordinate system is defined as two dimensional representation of the
Earth. It is based on a spheroid geographic coordinate system, but it uses linear units
of measure for coordinates. It is also known as Cartesian coordinate system.
In such a coordinate system the location of a point on the grid is identified by (x, y)
coordinate pair and the origin lies at the centre of grid. The x coordinate determines
the horizontal position and y coordinate determines the vertical position of the
point.

Map Projection
Map projection is a mathematical expression using which the three-dimensional surface of earth is represented in a
two dimensional plane. The process of projection results in distortion of one or more map properties such as shape,
size, area or direction.
A single projection system can never account for the correct representation of all map properties for all the regions
of the world.
Therefore, hundreds of projection systems have been defined for accurate representation of a particular map
element for a particular region of the world.
Classification of Map Projections Map projections are classified on the following criteria:
Method of construction
Development surface used
Projection properties
Position of light source
Method of Construction
The term map projection implies projecting the graticule of the earth onto a flat surface with the help of shadow
cast. However, not all of the map projections are developed in this manner. Some projections are developed using
mathematical calculations only. Given below are the projections that are based on the method of construction:
Perspective Projections : These projections are made with the help of shadow cast from an illuminated globe on to a
developable surface
Non Perspective Projections :These projections do not use shadow cast from an illuminated globe on to a
developable surface. A developable surface is only assumed to be covering the globe and the construction of
projections is done using mathematical calculations.

Development Surface Projection transforms the coordinates of earth on to a surface that can be flattened to a plane
without distortion (shearing or stretching). Such a surface is called a developable surface. The three basic projections
are based on the types of developable surface and are introduced below:

Cylindrical Projection
•It can be visualized as a cylinder wrapped around the
globe.
•Once the graticule is projected onto the cylinder, the
cylinder is opened to get a grid like pattern of latitudes and
longitudes.
•The longitudes (meridians) and latitudes (parallels) appear
as straight lines
•Length of equator on the cylinder is equal to the length of
the equator therefore is suitable for showing equatorial regions.
Aspects of cylindrical projection
Normal: when cylinder has line of tangency to the equator. It includes Equirectangular Projection, the
Mercator projection, Lambert's Cylindrical Equal Area, Gall's Stereographic Cylindrical, and Miller
cylindrical projection.
Transverse: when cylinder has line of tangency to the meridian. It includes the Cassini Projection,
Transverse Mercator, Transverse cylindrical Equal Area Projection, and Modified Transverse
Mercator.
Oblique: when cylinder has line of tangency to another point on the globe. It only consists of the
Oblique Mercator projection.
Conic Projection
•It can be visualized as a cone placed on the globe, tangent to it at some parallel.
•After projecting the graticule on to the cone, the cone is cut along one of
the meridian and unfolded. Parallels appear as arcs with a pole and
meridians as straight lines that converge to the same point.
•It can represent only one hemisphere, at a time, northern or southern.
•Suitable for representing middle latitudes.

Aspects of conic projection

(a) Tangent: when the cone is tangent to
only one of the parallel.
(b) Secant: when the cone is not big
enough to cover the curvature of earth, it
intersects the earth twice at two parallels.

Azimuthal/Zenithal Projection
It can be visualized as a flat sheet of paper
tangent to any point on the globe The sheet will have the tangent
point as the centre of the circular map, where meridians passing
through the centre are straight line and the parallels are seen as
concentric circle. Suitable for showing polar areas

Aspects:
(a) Equatorial zenithal: When the plane is tangent
to a point on the equator.
(b) Oblique zenithal: when the plane is tangent to a
point between a pole and the equator.
(c) Polar zenithal: when the plane is tangent to one of the poles.

Projection Properties
According to properties map projections can be classified as:
Equal area projection: Also known as homolographic projections. The areas of different parts of earth are correctly
represented by such projections.
True shape projection: Also known as orthomorphic projections. The shapes of different parts of earth are correctly
represented on these projections.
True scale or equidistant projections: Projections that maintain correct scale are called true scale projections.
However, no projection can maintain the correct scale throughout. Correct scale can only be maintained along some
parallel or meridian.
Position of light source
Placing light source illuminating the globe at different positions results
in the development of different projections. These projections are:
Gnomonic projection: when the source of light is placed at the centre
of the globe
Stereographic Projection: when the source of light is placed at the
periphery of the globe, diametrically opposite to the point at which
developable surface touches the globe
Orthographic Projection: when the source of light is placed at infinity
from the globe opposite to the point at which developable surface
touches the globe

Transformation
The process of transformation, maps every point from one coordinate space to another. Using transforms, one can
rotate, translate and scale content freely in two-dimensional space.
Rotation
•A rotation is a transformation that is performed by spinning the object around a fixed point
known as the center of rotation.
•It can be performed clockwise as well as counterclockwise.
•The angle by which the object is turned is called the angle of rotation

Translation
It is the process of moving each point of an object by the same distance in the same direction. It
involves shifting the origin of the current coordinate system horizontally and vertically by a
specific amount.
Scaling
Scaling changes the size of the grid. It lets the stretching and
shrinking of the grid along the x and y axes independently.
It does not change the origin of the grid but makes the grid multiplied by a given value.
The figure above shows scaling transformation, which doubles the scale of both axes.
The square maintains its origin at (10, 10) even after scaling. Because the scale is made
twice, therefore origin i.e. (10, 10) of the new grid lies at (20, 20) of the original grid

Changing Map Projections

To transform data from one coordinate system to another, forward and inverse equations are used.
The inverse equation of the source
projection transforms the coordinates of
source projection into geographic
coordinates.
Then, the forward equation of the target
projection is used to transform the geographic coordinates into the target projection coordinates.
Cartesian coordinate Transformation
Two dimensional Cartesian coordinates (x, y) can be
transformed from one coordinate system to another
coordinate system using three primary transformation
methods which are:
Conformal Transformation : It is a linear transformation
which changes one coordinate system into another by
the process of rotation, uniform scale change followed
by translation
Affine Transformation : It is a linear transformation
which changes one coordinate system into another by
the process of rotation , scale change in x and y
direction, followed by translation.
The shape of the original rectangular grid is maintained
due to the uniform scale change in the case of conformal transformation whereas in affine transformation the shape
of the rectangular grid is changed due to the difference in scale in x and y direction.
Polynomial Transformation : It is a non-linear transformation which relates two 2D Cartesian coordinate systems
through a translation, a rotation and a variable scale change

Datum transformation
Datum transformation is a transformation of a three dimensional coordinate system into another three dimensional
coordinate system.
It is done when the source projection is based on a different datum than the target projection.
The transformation parameters are estimated on the basis of a set of selected points whose coordinates are known
in both datum systems.
Mathematically a datum transformation can be realized directly by relating the geographic coordinates of both
datum systems or indirectly by relating the geocentric coordinates of the datums.
Datum transformation via geographic coordinates
•Geographic Offset
•Molodensky and Abridged Molodensky transformation
•Multiple regression transformation
Datum transformation via geocentric coordinates
Geocentric translation
Helmert 7-parameter transformations
Molodensky-Badekas 10-parameter transformation
Georeferencing
It is a process of locating an entity in real world coordinates. It aligns geographic data to a known coordinate system
representing earth defined through projection systems so it can be viewed, queried, and analyzed with other
geographic data.
To georeference a geographic data, the positions of known points, called control points, are determined.
The Ground Control Points (GCPs) are defined as the points with known geographical location, whose positions on
map correspond to their positions on earth.
GCPs are collected from fixed objects and are marked on the data to be georeferenced that define where the data is
on earth. The whole data adjusts itself according to these GCPs.
At least three control points are required for georeferencing a data. Additional
control points help increasing the accuracy. Once the data is georeferenced,
each point has a coordinate associated to it which means the location of any
object in the data (map) can now be determined
Establishes control points
•Inputs the known geographic coordinates of these control points
•Chooses the coordinate system and other projection parameters and then
minimizes residuals
•Residuals are the difference between the actual coordinates of the control
points and the coordinates predicted by the geographic model created using
the control points. The residuals help in determining the level of accuracy of the
process. The quality of the rectification depends on the number, accuracy, and distribution of the control points and
the choice of transformation model.
Georeferencing Raster Data
•The raster data occupy a raster space which is defined as a digital image of the arrangement of the pixels in a grid.
•The computer reads the header of the data file and determines the dimension of the raster space. The position of a
cell in the raster space is referenced by row and column (row, column). This system of referencing the raster cells is
called raster coordinate system.
•The origin for this system lies at the upper left corner of the monitor because the computer monitor displays an
image from left to right and from top to bottom.
•The method of referencing positions in raster space is different from that on maps. The origin of the map
coordinate system is the lower left corner.
•To visualize raster data spatially raster data needs to be transformed into a map coordinate system i.e. the raster
coordinates (row, column) are transformed into corresponding ground coordinates (East, West).
There are two approaches to georeferencing:
•Image to Map rectification
•Image to Image registration
Image to Map
Rectification is the process by which geometry of an image is made planimetric.
It involves the measurement of the image coordinates of the reference cells (GCPs) and the corresponding ground
coordinates to relate the image with the real world.
The two sets of coordinates are used to solve a set of polynomial equations whose order
depends upon the amount of geometric distortion in the raster image.
Generally affine transformation is used for the purpose:
Where X and Y are the ground coordinates, and,
x and y are the image coordinates.
A minimum of three GCPs are required to solve
these equations, though greater the GCPs more
accurate is the rectification.
On solving the equations we get the values of the
six (a, b, c, d, e and f) coefficients. Any image
coordinate can then be substituted in the
equations to get the corresponding ground
position on the used map coordinate system.
The positions of the original grid cells will have to
be interpolated in the mapping coordinate
system
After the coordinate transformation the raster
cells may have been oriented differently than the
way they were originally in the raster coordinate
system. The attribute value is to be interpolated
for the cells oriented to the new coordinate
system. This is called resampling. There are three
common methods of resampling:
Nearest neighbor: In this method, the attribute
value of the original cell nearest to a cell in the output raster layer is
assigned to the corresponding cell.
Bilinear interpolation: It assigns the value to a cell in the output raster
layer by taking weighted average of the surrounding four cells in the
original grid nearest to it.
Cubic convolution: It assigns the value to a cell in the output raster layer
by taking weighted average of the surrounding sixteen cells in the original
grid nearest to it.
Among these three the nearest neighbor is preferred because it doesn’t change the values of the original grid cells
assigned to the reoriented grid cells but it produces blocky images. The cubic convolution on the other side does
change the values but it generates smoother images.
The result of an image to map rectification is a geometrically correct
grid of raster cells.
Image to Image registration is a method of
georeferencing a raster
layer with the help of
another raster, which is
already georeferenced
by the process of image
to map rectification. The
already georeferenced
raster is used as a
reference for the raster
which is to be rectified.
Control points are
selected from the two
raster layers, the
coordinate
transformation and resampling is then done
in the similar manner as it is done for image
to map rectification. Image to Image
registration is used to spatially match several
raster layers to a single reference raster
layer.

OPTIONAL
Spatial Interpolation
Interpolation is the method of predicting the value of attributes at unsampled sites from measurements made at
known point locations within the same space. The rationale behind interpolation is that the values at points that lie
close together in the space are more likely to be similar than that of those which lie apart

. There are two methods of interpolation

Global method
Local method
Global methods make predictions using the entire dataset.
Local methods make predictions using the measured points within neighborhoods (smaller spatial areas within the
larger study area).
Global methods usually create smooth surfaces, but they can be very sensitive to outliers (values that are
significantly different as compared to the other values).
Local methods yield less smooth surfaces and are not sensitive to outliers as their effects do not influence the entire
interpolated surface, but only local regions/parts of the interpolated surface.