Global Positioning Systems or GPS are used to find the exact location of things Geographic Information Systems or GIS are used to record information on to maps Both GPS and GIS are useful in managing land in the high country Global Positioning Systems or GPS are used to find the exact location of things

Google Maps in fact has its own geo-analytics capabilities, because Google Maps can perform “network analysis” – specifically, Google Maps enables traffic and driving queries However, network analysis is actually a traditional GIS capability that Google is performin

Geologists use GIS data to analyze soil, assess seismic information, and create 3D displays of geographic features It can also be used to analyze rock characteristics, and identify the best location for different functions

GIS software is being used widely in almost all fields GIS softwares are used by individual people, communities, research institutions, environmental scientists, health organisations, land use planners, businesses, and government agencies at all level

Roger F Tomlinson

• 10 INTRODUCTION GIS is a computer-based system that is used in input, output, storage, manipulation, retrieval and analysis of spatial data
• 11 SPATIAL DATA
• Spatial Data Representations
• 1AT
• 13 DIGITAL ELEVATION MODEL (DEM)
• TIN
• Interpolation
• 1ATIONS

The three types of GIS Data are -spatial, –attribute, & —metadata

• vector data
• raster or grid data (matrices of numbers describing eg, elevation, population, herbicide use, etc
• images or pictures such as remote sensing data or scans of maps or other photos

Layers are the mechanism used to display geographic datasets in ArcMap, ArcGlobe, and ArcScene Each layer references a dataset and specifies how that dataset is portrayed using symbols and text labels When you add a layer to a map, you specify its dataset and set its map symbols and labeling properties

five layers

Common uses of GIS include inventory and management of resources, crime mapping, establishing and monitoring routes, managing networks, monitoring and managing vehicles, managing properties, locating and targeting customers, locating properties that match specific criteria and managing agricultural crop data,

Free Online Sources

1. Harvard Geospatial Library Search your topic
2. National Geospatial Program USGS
3. Earth Explorer USGS Data and maps of World and US
4. Historic USGS Maps of New England & NY
5. Historical GIS Research Network
6. Edina
7. Open Geoportal (Tufts)
8. Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center

It entirely depends on the school and which classes you have to take It can be anywhere from brain-dead easy, to being a crash course in software development, database administration, web programming, survey-quality GPS work, and of course GIS There’s a serious lack of standards in GIS education across institutions

Explanation: GIS output can be handled with a wide range of formats available Among them, the most commonly used are GIF, JPEG, TIFF etc, usage of the format depends upon the software used in computer and also its bit performing capacity 4 In the process of GIS, digitalization is done for better output

Free GIS Data Viewers

1. Explorer for ArcGIS A viewer developed by Esri for viewing maps on mobile devices
2. ArcReader ArcReader is a free, easy-to-use mapping application that allows users to view, explore, and print maps
3. Christine GIS
4. Geomatica Freeviewer
5. Geospatial Explorer
6. Natural Resources Database
7. ShapeViewer
8. TatukGIS Viewer

GIS viewer has all needed components – from application server, raster data server (Image server) to user client It can be linked to Oracle Spatial or MS SQL database GIS viewers are customized based on customer’s wishes and desires Customer can edit final product futher on by changing content or layers’ look

At the top of the ArcGIS Online website, click Map In Map Viewer, on the ribbon, click Add and choose Add Layer from File Browse to the file you saved to your computer and click Import Layer Map Viewer reads the geographic information in your file and displays the data so you can immediately see patterns

To read a shapefile create a new “Reader” object and pass it the name of an existing shapefile The shapefile format is actually a collection of three files You specify the base filename of the shapefile or the complete filename of any of the shapefile component files

The combination of this 3 files in general indicate that we have shapefile format which is a popular geospatial vector data format This files can be connected or imported with AutoCAD Map 3D and Civil 3

A shapefile is an Esri vector data storage format for storing the location, shape, and attributes of geographic features Shapefiles often contain large features with a lot of associated data and historically have been used in GIS desktop applications such as ArcMap

Search for any kind of map, then click on the “shapefile” button to the right of the map (if available) to download the shapefiles MapCruzin – A great source for all kinds of shapefiles Open Street Map – A growing collection of shapefile map downloads by continent, region and country