Spatial and Attribute Data

SPATIAL vs ATTRIBUTE DATA

Spatial Data (where)

• Describes the absolute and relative location of geographic features
• Stored in a shape file, geodatabase or similar geographic file

Attribute Data (what, how much, when, etc – descriptive)

• Information linked to spatial data (geographic features) that describes those features
• Stored in a database table

GIS systems traditionally maintain spatial and attribute data separately, then “join” them
for display or analysis

SPATIAL DATA TYPES: VECTOR AND RASTER

VECTOR DATA

• Vector data structure shows geographic features in the form of basic geometric
objects such as points, lines and polygons
• Defines discrete objects (fire hydrants, rivers, lakes, etc)
• A vector feature has its shape represented using geometry
• The geometry is made up of one or more interconnected vertices
• A vertex describes a position in space using an X and Y axis
• All three of these types of vector data are composed of coordinates and attributes
attached to the geometry
POINTS

• 0-dimensional objects
• Represented by a single pair of coordinates (X, Y)
• Associated attribute information is attached to the center of the point
• Used to represent objects with no length or area (e.g.: light poles, trees)
• used to represent a geographic feature too small to be displayed as a line or area
(e.g.: the location of a city on a small-scale map)
• symbolized by a point in different sizes and colour
LINES

• 1-dimensional objects
• defined by an ordered set of two or more coordinate pairs called vertices
• used to model linear features with no area (e.g.: powerlines) or
• used to represent the shape of geographic features too narrow to be displayed as an
area at the given scale (e.g.: contours, street centerlines, streams)
• symbolized by different types of line that have color, width and style (solid, dashed,
dotted, etc.)
POLYGONS

• 2-dimensional objects
• composed of three or more connected lines where the start and end point have the
same coordinate
• Attribute information is attached to the center of the polygon
• used to represent areas (e.g.: lakes, forests, cities)
• represent length and area, embody the idea of an inside and an outside
POINT, LINE OR POLYGON?

- A traffic light at an intersection.

- A river flowing through a nature reserve.
- The outline of a soccer field.
- A bus stop.
- A highway connecting two cities.
- A park.

ATTRIBUTE TABLE (VECTOR)

• An attribute is nonspatial information about a geographic feature in a GIS, usually

stored in a table and linked to the feature by a unique identifier (ID)
• A database or tabular file containing information about a set of geographic features,
usually arranged so that:
- Each row represents a feature
- each column represents one feature attribute
• The attribute values can be used to find, query, analyze and symbolize features
• Each column in the database may contain different types of data (numeric, string,
date/time, Boolean, etc)
SHAPEFILES
• A shapefile is a simple format for storing geometric location and attribute
information of geographic features.
• Shapefiles are added as layers to the GIS for analysis

RASTER DATA
• Raster data divides the geographical space into a series of equal sized grid cells or
pixels
• Consists of a matrix of cells (or pixels) organized into rows and columns (or a grid)
where each cell contains one value representing information
• Each pixel is associated with a specific geographical location
RASTER DATA TYPES: CONTINUOUS AND
DISCRETE

The value of a pixel can be:

• Continuous – grid cells with gradual changing data. No clearly defined boundaries.
Every point on a map made with continuous GIS data will contain value. E.g.:
elevation, slope, temperature, and precipitation

• Categorical/Discrete – have distinct themes or categories. For example, one grid cell
represents a land cover class. You can distinguish each thematic class, i.e., each
class can be discretely defined where it begins and ends
SPATIAL RESOLUTION
• Represents the area on the ground that each pixel of the raster covers. It is the
smallest feature that can be represented or is visible in an image
• For example: 30m resolution satellite imagery can capture details on the ground that
are greater than or equal to 30m by 30m (e.g.: warehouse roof). Anything on the
ground that is less than that size (e.g.: tree) will be blended with the surrounding
area to make a 30m-by-30m square
• Features that are smaller than grid cells may not be well represented
• The raster grid is dependent on the pixel size. For e.g.: a spatial resolution of 1m
means that one pixel represents an area 1 by 1 meters on the ground. Therefore, for
an area of 4 m2 the raster grid will comprise of 4 X 1m2 pixels
LOW VS HIGH SPATIAL RESOLUTION

• Low resolution – large cell size and less detail. For example: Landsat 7 satellite
imagery (30m spatial resolution).
• High resolution – small cell size and lots of detail. For example: MicaSense drone
imagery (10cm spatial resolution)
ATTRIBUTE TABLE (RASTER)

• Not all GIS raster data formats can store attribute information
• Raster data can have an attribute table if pixels are represented using a small set of
unique integer values
• Raster datasets that contain attribute tables have cell values that represent or define
a class, group, category
• each row of an attribute table corresponds to a certain zone of cells having the same
value
• attribute tables can be used to analyze datasets and symbolize raster cells