Unit 2: GIS and Map

Map and Its Characteristics

• Maps are the primary tools by which spatial relationships are visualized. Maps
therefore become important documents. There are several key elements that
should be included each time a map is created in order to aid the viewer in
understanding the communications of that map and to document the source of
the geographic information used.
1. Marginalia
• The elements of MAP which also called Marginalia refers to any supporting
information or elements on the map.
• Title: It should be the largest text on the map but not over power the main
body
• Legend: A figure to help the reader to interprate the map body.
• North Arrow
• Scale Bar
• Borders and Neatlines
• Source information and other text including projection information
• Inset maps
A map usually contains the following elements:
• Title (and subtitle): Usually draws attention by virtue of its dominant size;
serves to focus attention on the primary content of the map. Should be an
answer to "What? Where? When?". Tips: Never underline a title (or a subtitle),
and never put a colon after a title.
• Legend: The principal reference to the map symbols; subordinated to the title.
However, this is still a key element for map reading; describing all unknown or
unique map symbols used. Tips: Only the word "Legend" should be written on
your map (and not "Map Legend", or "Switzerland Legend", etc.).
• Map Scale: Provides the reader with important information regarding linear
relations on the map. A scale can be numerical (for example 1:50000) or
graphical. Tips: The dimension and thickness of a graphical scale has to be
adapted to the map content.

• Credits: Can include the map source, the author, indication of the reliability of
accuracy of the map, dates, or other explanatory material.
Tips: Credits should always be written smallest as possible (but nevertheless
readable) and be placed in a box without a frame.
• Mapped Areas: Objects, land, water, and other geographical features important
to the purpose of the map.
• Map Symbols: Wide variety of forms and functions; the most important
element of the map, along with the geographic areas rendered.
• Place name and Labelling: The chief means of communicating with maps; serve
to orient the reader on the map and provide important information regarding
its purpose.
Tips : Use the same font for the map frame, the map layout, and the map
content.
• North arrow: According to the rules, each map should have a north arrow. But if
the map is north oriented, or if the geographical co-ordinate are already on the
map the north arrow can be omitted.
Tips : The north arrow must be well readable, but not be too dominant on the
map.
• Border and Neatlines : Both optional; borders can serve to restrain eye
movements. Neatlines are finer lines than borders, drawn inside them and
often intra-parallelism, rendered as part of the graticule; used mostly for
decoration.
Graticule: Often omitted in maps today; should be included if the location
information is crucial to the map purpose, e.g. into topographical maps.

GIS Mapping
• GIS mapping is the process of using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to
collect, manage, analyze, and visualize data linked to specific locations on the
Earth's surface. By connecting data to maps, GIS mapping helps users see
patterns, relationships, and trends that are difficult to detect in raw data.
• GIS mapping combines spatial data (location information such as coordinates)
with attribute data (descriptive details about those locations).
• Users can layer different types of data (e.g., population, land use, infrastructure)
to create interactive and customizable maps.
• GIS software (like ArcGIS or QGIS) is used to store, analyze, and visualize this
data, making it easier to interpret and share.
Types of GIS Mapping
Category Maps (Choropleth and Qualitative Maps)
Category maps display different categories or classes of data using distinct colors or
patterns. Each color represents a unique category rather than a numeric value.
How it works:
• The map area is divided into polygons (like countries, districts, or land parcels).
• Each polygon is assigned a color based on the category it belongs to.
When to use:
• When you want to show qualitative differences, such as land use types
(residential, commercial, agricultural), political boundaries, or soil types.
Example:
A land use map where urban areas are shaded gray, forests green, and water bodies
blue.
Heat Maps (Density or Intensity Maps)
What it is:
Heat maps visualize the density or intensity of point data over a geographic area
using a color gradient, often from cool colors (blue) to warm colors (red).
How it works:
• The software calculates the concentration of points within a defined radius or
grid cell.
• Areas with higher concentrations are colored warmer (e.g., red), and lower
concentrations cooler (e.g., blue).
When to use:
• To identify hotspots or clusters of activity, such as crime incidents, disease
outbreaks, or customer locations.
Example:
A heat map showing areas with the highest number of traffic accidents in a city.
Cluster Maps
What it is:
Cluster maps group many individual points into clusters to avoid clutter and make
patterns easier to see.
How it works:
• Points that are close together spatially are aggregated into a single cluster
symbol.
• The cluster symbol often displays the number of points it contains.
• As you zoom in, clusters break down into smaller clusters or individual points.
When to use:
• When mapping large datasets with many points that would otherwise overlap
and obscure patterns.
Example:
A map showing clusters of retail stores in a metropolitan area, where each cluster
circle indicates how many stores are in that area.
4. Bubble Maps (Proportional Symbol Maps)
What it is:
Bubble maps use circles (or other shapes) placed at specific locations, where the
size of the circle is proportional to a numeric attribute.
How it works:
• Each point on the map has a value (e.g., population, sales volume).
• The size of the bubble corresponds to the magnitude of that value.
When to use:
• To compare quantities across locations visually, especially when exact values are
less important than relative differences.
Example:
A bubble map showing the population of cities, where larger bubbles indicate larger
populations.

5. Quantity Maps (Graduated Color or Choropleth Maps)

What it is:
Quantity maps use shading or color intensity to represent numeric data aggregated
over areas such as counties or countries.
How it works:
• Polygons are colored with gradients of a single color or multiple colors.
• Darker or more intense colors indicate higher values; lighter colors indicate
lower values.
When to use:
• To show spatial variation of quantitative data, such as income levels,
unemployment rates, or rainfall amounts.
Example:
A map showing average household income by county, with darker shades
representing wealthier areas.

Map Layers
• A data layer set is a collection of individual spatial data layers. An individual file;
a single layer can be added to a GIS project. Potentially many data layers make
up a single data set . Usually, spatial data is acquired in large sets. There may be
as many as 150 individual data layers that make up a data set.
• Data on different themes are stored in separate “layers” .
• As each layer is geo-referenced , layers from different sources can easily be
integrated using location.
• This can be used to build up complex models of the real world from widely
disparate sources .
• A map layer is a GIS database that contains points, lines, or polygons
representing real-world entities like customers, streets, or postal codes.
• Layers define how GIS datasets are symbolized and labeled in a map view.
• They act as visual representations of geographic datasets in a digital map
environment.
• Layers reference a data source and specify how the data should be displayed.
2. Types of Layers
• Feature Layers: Represent geographic objects as vectors (points, lines, polygons)
and are symbolized based on their attributes. The data source for feature layers
can be a geodatabase feature class, a shapefile, an ArcInfo Coverage, or a CAD
file.
• Raster Layers: Reference raster or image data sources. They are grid-based and
useful for representing continuous data like elevation or satellite imagery
• Service Layers: Display ArcGIS Server, ArcIMS, WMS services, and other web
services.
• Geoprocessing Layers: Display the output of a geoprocessing tool.
• Basemap Layers: Provide high-performance display of basemap content and are
a type of group layer.
• Group Layers: Collections of layers.
• Query Layers: Use SQL queries to access and reference spatial and nonspatial
database tables.
• Selection Layers: Reference a subset of features from an existing layer.
• Subtype Layers: Symbolize a subtype in a feature class or feature service, as part
of a subtype group layer.
• Voxel Layers: 3D grid-based layers for displaying spatiotemporal data.
• Graphics Layers: Represent geographic objects but do not reference a dataset
Map Projections
• Map projections are attempts to portray the surface of the earth or a portion of
the earth on a flat surface. Some distortions of conformality, distance, direction,
scale, and area always result from this process. Some projections minimize
distortions in some of these properties at the expense of maximizing errors in
others. Some projection are attempts to only moderately distort all of these
properties. We need to choose a projection that will MINIMIZE distortion in our
area and be best suited for our application .
Design and construction
The creation of a map projection involves two steps:
• Selection of a model for the shape of the Earth or planetary body (usually
choosing between a sphere or ellipsoid). Because the Earth's actual shape is
irregular, information is lost in this step.
• Transformation of geographic coordinates (longitude and latitude) to Cartesian
(x, y) or polar (r, ϴ) plane coordinates. In large-scale maps, Cartesian coordinates
normally have a simple relation to eastings and northings defined as a grid
superimposed on the projection. In small-scale maps, eastings and northings are
not meaningful, and grids are not superimposed.
• Some of the simplest map projections are literal projections, as obtained by
placing a light source at some definite point relative to the globe and projecting
its features onto a specified surface. Although most projections are not defined
in this way, picturing the light source-globe model can be helpful in
understanding the basic concept of a map projection.
The primary categories of map projections include
Cylindrical Projections
A cylindrical projection is produced by wrapping a cylinder around a globe
representing the Earth. The map projection is the image of the globe projected
onto the cylindrical surface, which is then unwrapped into a flat surface. When the
cylinder aligns with the polar axis, parallels appear as horizontal lines and meridians
as vertical lines. Cylindrical projections can be either equal-area, conformal, or
equidistant.
Conic Projections
A conic projection is derived from the projection of the globe onto a cone placed
over it. For the normal aspect, the apex of the cone lies on the polar axis of
the Earth. If the cone touches the Earth at just one particular parallel of latitude,
it is called tangent. If made smaller, the cone will intersect the Earth twice, in which
case it is called secant. Conic projections often achieve less distortion at mid- and
high latitudes than cylindrical projections. A further elaboration
is the polyconic projection, which deploys a family of tangent or secant cones to
bracket a succession of bands of parallels to yield even less scale.
• Planar or Azimuthal Projection(planar): A plane is placed so that it touches the
globe at the north or South Pole. This can be conceived as the cone becoming
increasingly flattened until its vertex reaches the limit of 180o. The projection
resulting is better known as the polar Azimuthal projection. It is circular in shape
with meridians projected as straight lines radiating from the center of the circle,
which is the pole.
Another way to classify projections is according to properties of the model they
preserve. Some of the more common categories are:
• Area-preserving projection – Also called equal area or equivalent projection,
these projections maintain the relative size of different regions on the map.
• Shape-preserving projection – Often referred to as conformal or orthomorphic,
these projections maintain accurate shapes of regions and local angles.
• Direction-preserving projection – This category includes conformal,
orthomorphic, and azimuthal projections, which preserve directions, but only
from the central point for azimuthal projections.
• Distance-preserving projection – Known as equidistant projections, they display
the true distance between one or two points and all other points on the map.
Coordinate System:
• A coordinate system is a standardized method for assigning codes to locations so
that locations can be found using the codes alone. Standardized coordinate
systems use absolute locations. A map captured in the units of the paper sheet
on which it is printed is based on relative locations or map millimeters.
• Some standard coordinate systems used are:
• Geographic coordinates Lat-long, geodetic lat long, Earth Centered Earth Fixed
XYZ
• Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM) system
• Military grid
• State plane coordinate system To compare or edge-match maps in a GIS, both
maps must be in the same coordinate system else, the edges do not match and
it gives us false information.
Latitude, Longitude, Height:
• The most commonly used coordinate system today is the latitude, longitude and
height system. The Prime Meridian and the Equator are the reference planes
used to define latitude and longitude. Geographic coordinates are the earth’s
latitude and longitude system, ranging from 90 degrees south to 90 degrees
north in latitude and 180 degrees west to 180 degrees east in longitude.
• A line with a constant latitude running east to west is called a parallel.
• A line with constant longitude running from the north pole to the south pole is
called a meridian.
• The zero-longitude meridian is called the prime meridian and passes through
Greenwich, England.
• A grid of parallels and meridians shown as lines on a map is called a graticule.
• The geodetic latitude of a point is the angle from the equatorial plane to the
vertical direction of a line normal to the reference ellipsoid.
• The geodetic longitude of a point is the angle between a reference plane and a
plane passing through the point, both planes being perpendicular to the
equatorial plane.
• The geodetic height at a point is the distance from the reference ellipsoid to the
point in a direction normal to the ellipsoid (surface all plane sections of which
are ellipses or circles.)
Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM):
• UTM is the most prevalent system used for mapping and other work. UTM zone
numbers designate 6 degree longitudinal strips (60 vertical zones) extending
from 80 degree South latitude to 84 degrees North latitude. Zone numbers start
from the 180th meridian in an eastward direction.
Military Grid Reference System (MGRS):
• MGRS is an extension of the UTM system. UTM zone number and zone character
are used to identify an area 6 degree in east-west extent and 8 degrees in north-
south extent. UTM zone number and designator are followed by 100km square
easting and northing identifiers. The system uses a set of alphabetic characters
for the 100km grid squares starting at the 180 degree meridian the characters A
to Z (Omitting I and O) are used for 18 degrees before starting over. From the
equator north the character A to V (Omitting I and O) are used for 100km
squares, repeating every 2000km. The reverse sequence (from V to A) is used
for southern hemisphere.
World Geographic Reference System (GEOREF):
• The World Geographic Reference System is used for aircraft navigation. GEOREF
is based on latitude and longitude. The globe is divided into twelve bands of
latitude and twenty four zones of longitude, each 15 degrees in extent.
State Plane Coordinate System (SPCS):
In the US, the State Plane System was developed in the 1930s and was based on
the North American Datum 1927. State plane systems were developed in order to
provide local reference systems that were tied to a national datum. Some smaller
states use a single state plane zone. Larger states are divided into several zones.
State plane zone boundaries often follow country boundaries. Lambert conformal
conic projections are used for rectangular zones with a larger east-west than north-
south extent. Transverse Mercator projections are used to define zones with a
larger north-south extent.
Map Concept:
Maps are the marks on a paper that stands for definable things on the earth's
surface. A representation usually on a flat surface, of the whole or a part of an area.
It is any concrete or abstract image of the distributions and features that occur on
or near the surface of the earth. The term 'map', however, in non- geography uses
does not necessarily refer to a representation but to how things are arranged or
how they relate to one other. For whatever reason, at geographic scales, 'map'
means a representation of the earth and not earth's patterns themselves and it
usually refers to a graphic representation, although the term 'map' can be used
more broadly to refer to any representation of geographic space.
Map Resolution:
It refers to how accurately the location and shape of the map features can be
depicted for a given map scale. In large-scale maps the resolution is greater because
the reduction factors used to put the real-world features on a map is less. As a map
scale decreases, features are simplified, smoothed or not represented at all.
Features such as roads and streams MUST be represented as lines not areas.
Map Elements:
Maps are the primary tools by which spatial relationships are visualized. Maps therefore
become important documents. There are several key elements that should be included
each time a map is created in order to aid the viewer in understanding the c
Map Layers:
• A map layer is GIS database containing groups of point, line or area (polygon)
features representing a particular class or type of real-world entities such as
customers, streets, or postal codes.
• A layer contains both the visual representation of each feature and a link from
the feature to its database attributes.
• Maps in a geographic information system are made by combining multiple layers
• Data on different themes are stored in separate layers.
• As each layer is geo-referenced, layers from different sources can easily be
integrated using location.
• This can be used to build up complex models of the real world from widely
disparate sources.
Map scale and representation:
• Naturally it is impossible for real world features to be drawn on the map as large
as their true size. Therefore in order to represent the real world, maps are made
to a specific scale. Map scale is defined as the ratio of the distance between two
points on the map to the corresponding distance on the ground. Maps come in a
variety of scales. Large scale maps cover a small area with great detail and
accuracy, while small scale maps cover a large area in less detail. Map scale
including bar, verbal and fractional scales, map scales can be expressed as a
verbal statement, as a fraction or ratio and finally as a graphic or bar scale. Such
scale expressions can be used to find the ground distance between any features
from conversion of the corresponding map distance measurement.