2 Geographic Data Management

Quite often youll set up a geodatabase (or several geodatabases) within a workspacethe
geodatabase contains the geographic datasets and related tables while other les and
documents (maps documents, layer les, and so on) are stored in folders within the

workspace.

This typical workspace

contains folders to contain
layer les and maps as well

as a geodatabase to contain
geographic datasets and
relationships.

Using ArcGIS
geodatabases

A geodatabase is a collection of geographic datasets of various types used for representing

features, images and tabular and other data types. While you can set up workspaces without
geodatabasescontaining only shapeles, coverages, rasters, and so oncreating a
geodatabase to store and organize your GIS data has several advantages:

You can specify rules and create specialized datasets that more closely mimic the
behavior of geographic entities, such as creating a geometric network to model the
ow of water through a system of pipes and valves.

A geodatabase lets you set up a structure that ensures relationships between datasets
are made explicit and are maintained. You can make sure that datasets referencing
the same location on the Earths surface spatially register with each other correctly.

In addition, you can specify that when you edit features in a geodatabase, all related
features are also edited (so if you move a junction box, the connected electrical lines
also move).

You can also set up rules to ensure data integrity (for example, a rule might state that
parcel boundaries cannot crossany that do are agged as errors).
Storing data in a geodatabase is an efcient way to manage related datasets as a single

unit.
The three most common dataset types are feature classes, raster datasets, and attribute

tables. Youll typically start by building a number of these fundamental dataset types.
Youll have a set of feature classes (roads, streams, boundaries, and so on). Most of the
time, youll also have a set of imagery and raster datasets to work with (an elevation
surface, orthophotos, or satellite images). And youll have a number of tables, such as
dBASE les, Microsoft Access tables, Excel spreadsheets, and so forth.

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Using ArcGIS Desktop

Fundamentally, all geodatabases will contain this same kind of content. This collection of

datasets can be thought of as the starting point for your geodatabase.

Then, as necessary, youll extend your geodatabase with specialized capabilities to model
how geographic features behave in the real world, to maintain data integrity, and to work

with spatial relationships. These extended datasets are built from existing datasets plus
rules and properties that dene behavior or relationships.

The three primary datasets in the geodatabase (feature classes, raster datasets, and attribute
tables) as well as other geodatabase datasets are stored using tables. Vector and raster

geometries are stored and managed in attribute columns along with traditional attribute
elds. (This is unlike shapeles and coverages, where the geometry is stored in a set of les
and the attributes are stored in a related table.) The extended functions that dene feature
behavior, data integrity, and spatial relationships are also stored in the database.
Basic geodatabase datasets

Feature classes are homogeneous collections of common features, each having the same

spatial representation, such as points, lines, or polygons, and a common set of attribute

columnsfor example, a line feature class for representing road centerlines. Feature
classes are similar to shapeles or coverages in that they represent geographic features as

points, lines, and polygons.

Raster datasets are commonly used for representing and managing imagery, digital
elevation models, and other spatially continuous phenomena.

Tables are used to store all the properties of geographic objects (these are referred to as
feature attribute tables). This includes holding and managing feature geometry in a Shape

column. Tables also store attributes in related tables that can be linked to the feature class
or raster (these are referred to as standalone tables).
Extending your geodatabase

On top of building the basic datasets in your geodatabase, you can add datasets to ensure
data integrity, manage the relationships between geographic features and between tables,
and allow for specialized data types.
Ensuring spatial data integrity with feature datasets and topologies
A feature dataset is a specic element in a geodatabase (not to be confused with the
generic term dataset) that holds one or more feature classes (sort of like a folder holds
les). When you dene a feature dataset, you specify the coordinate system. Any feature
classes must have this same coordinate system, so you ensure that they register correctly
(if theyre not in the right coordinate system, youll have to transform them rstsee
Dening coordinate systems and projecting datasets in Chapter 3).
A topology is a set of rules you specify that denes spatial relationships between adjacent
or connected features in a feature class, or between feature classes (for example, youd

specify that census tracts share common boundaries and that they nest within counties
that ensures that boundaries dont overlap). Topologies dene explicitly in the GIS
relationships you can see by looking at a map. By dening a topology, you ensure these

spatial relationships are maintained. Topologies are created within feature datasets.

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