NCERT Class 12 Practical Geography Chapter 6 Spatial Information Technology YouTube Lecture Handouts Part 1

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NCERT Class 12 Practical Geography Chapter 6: Spatial Information Technology GIS|CBSE|English

Title: Spatial Information Technology

  • Computers enhance our capabilities in data processing and in drawing graphs, diagrams and maps. Combination of computer hardware and the application
  • software is referred as the Database Management System (DBMS) and the Computer Assisted Cartography.
  • What is where? Why is it there? What will happen if it is shifted to a new location? Who will be benefited by such a reallocation? Who are expected to loose the benefits if reallocation takes place?
  • The word spatial is derived from space. It refers to the features and the phenomena distributed over a geographically definable space, thus, having physically measurable dimensions. We know that most data that are used today have spatial components (location) , such as an address of a municipal facility, or the boundaries of an agricultural holdings, etc.
  • Spatial Information Technology relates to the use of the technological inputs in collecting, storing, retrieving, displaying, manipulating, managing and analyzing the spatial information. It is an amalgamation of Remote Sensing, GPS, GIS, Digital Cartography and Database Management Systems.

What is GIS?

  • A system for capturing, storing, checking, integrating, manipulating, analyzing and displaying data, which are spatially referenced to the Earth.
  • This is normally considered to involve a spatially referenced computer database and applications software
  • The advance computing systems available since mid-1970ีšs enable the processing of georeferenced information for the purpose of Organising spatial and attribute data and their integration; locating specific information in individual files and executing the computations, performing analysis and evolving a decision support system. A system capable of all such functions is called Geographic Information System (GIS) . It is an amalgamation of Computer Assisted Cartography and Database Management System and draws conceptual and methodological strength from both spatial and allied sciences such as Computer Science, Statistics, Cartography, Remote Sensing, Database Technology, Geography, Geology, Hydrology, Agriculture, Resource Management, Environmental Science, and Public Administration
  • The spatial data are characterized by their positional, linear and areal forms of appearances
    • Spatial example โ€“ literate population in states
    • Non-spatial example โ€“ register of cycle shops
  • Spatial data forms must be geometrically registered to a generally accepted and properly defined coordinate system and coded so that they can be stored in the internal database structure of GIS. Data those describe the spatial data are called as Non โ€“ spatial or attribute data. In GIS non-spatial data are as:
    • Acquire data in digital form from a data supplier
    • Digitise existing analogue data
    • Carry out oneีšs own surveys of geographic entities.
  • The choice of a source of geographical data for a GIS application is, however, largely governed by:
    • The application area in itself
    • The available budget
    • The type of data structure, i.e.. , vector/raster
  • For many users, the most common source of spatial data is topographical or thematic maps in hard copy (paper) or soft copy form (digital) . All such maps are characterised by:
    • A definite scale which provides relationship between the map and the surface it represents,
    • Use of symbols and colors which define attributes of entities mapped
  • An agreed coordinate system, which defines the location of entities on the Earthีšs surface.
Illustration: What is GIS?
  • The maps, irrespective of a graphic medium of communication of geographic information and possessing geometric fidelity, are inherited with the following limitations:
    • Map information is processed and presented in a particular way.
    • A map shows a single or more than one predetermined themes.
    • The alteration of the information depicted on the maps require a new map to be drawn.
  • Contrarily, a GIS possesses inherent advantages of separate data storage and presentation. It also provides options for viewing and presenting the data in several ways. The following advantages of a GIS are worth mentioning:
    • Users can interrogate displayed spatial features and retrieve associated attribute information for analysis.
    • Maps can be drawn by querying or analyzing attribute data.
    • Spatial operations (polygon overlay or buffering) can be applied on integrated database to generate new sets of information.
    • Different items of attribute data can be associated with one another through shared location code

โœ Manishika