451-610

Fundamentals of

Data Acquisition Techniques

&
Data Preparation and Manipulation

Week 3

Abbas Rajabifard

Room B406, Department of Geomatics

@A. Rajabifard, Fundamentals of GIS-Week 3 1
 Overview

• Data Acquisition Techniques

Field Surveying, Digitizing, Scanning, Arial-
Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing, Web

• Data Preparation and Manipulation

Format Conversion, Data Reduction and Generalization,
Error Detection and Editing, Edge Matching

@A. Rajabifard, Fundamentals of GIS-Week 3 2

 Data Collection

Data collection, and the process of keeping databases up

to date (database maintenance), remains the most expensive
and time consuming aspect of setting up a major GIS facility
(typically as high as 60% to 80% of total costs, while
purchase of equipment costs between 10% and 30%).

@A. Rajabifard, Fundamentals of GIS-Week 3 3

 Input Data

Field Surveying Digitising

Scanning Web

Arial Photogrammetry Remote Sensing

Other input data

@A. Rajabifard, Fundamentals of GIS-Week 3 4
 Field Surveying

@A. Rajabifard, Fundamentals of GIS-Week 3 5

 Field Surveying

• In surveying, measured angles and distances from

known points are used to determine the positions of
other points.
• Surveying field data are almost always recorded as
polar coordinates and transformed into rectangular
coordinates.
Northing (X) 2
a
b

P
1 D= Measured Distance
Easting (Y)
@A. Rajabifard, Fundamentals of GIS-Week 3 6
 Global Positioning System (GPS)

GPS useful for:

- locating new survey control stations
- measuring terrain features
- positioning offshore oil platforms
- updating road data with a GPS receiver in a car
- marine navigation, including integration with electronic
charts
- determining camera-carrying aircraft positions to reduce
reliance in fixed ground marks in aerial photography
@A. Rajabifard, Fundamentals of GIS-Week 3 7
 Digitizing

@A. Rajabifard, Fundamentals of GIS-Week 3 8

 Digitizing
Digitizing can be

- manual (known as heads-down or heads-up),

Manual digitizing involves an operator using a digitizing table

- semi-automated (automatically recorded while manually

following a line—by distance along the line, offset
distance or time), or

- fully automated (line following).

There is always a requirement to transform coordinates from

the digitizer system to the real world system (Geo-referencing).
@A. Rajabifard, Fundamentals of GIS-Week 3 9
 Digitizing
Map Registration or Georeferencing

Registration of the map needs to be performed for each new

digitizing session, as well as each time the map's position is changed
on the digitizer
@A. Rajabifard, Fundamentals of GIS-Week 3 10
 Different Mode of Digitizing
There are two modes of digitizing: point-mode and
stream-mode. The resolution of coordinate data is
dependent on mode of digitizing.

point-mode

stream-mode

@A. Rajabifard, Fundamentals of GIS-Week 3 11

 Digitizing

Digitizing errors will always occur (undershoots, overshoots,

triangles).

Editing of digitized features involves error correction, entering

missing data, forming topology.

@A. Rajabifard, Fundamentals of GIS-Week 3 12

 Digitizing
There are many issues to consider before digitizing commences,
including:
-- For
Formore
what consistency,
purpose will only
the data be used?
one person should work on a given
- What coordinate system will be used for the project
digitising project.
- If
What
the is the accuracy
source consists of
of the layersmaps,
multiple to be select
associated?
commonIf itreference
is
significantly
points that different,
coincide on thealllayers may not
connecting match.
sheets. Failure to do
- What isthis
thecould
accuracy
resultofinthe map being
digitized data used?
from different data sheets
- Each time you digitize, digitize as much as possible. This will make
not matching.
your technique
- If possible, more consistent.
include attributes while digitising, as this will save time
later.
- Will it be merged with a larger database?
@A. Rajabifard, Fundamentals of GIS-Week 3 13
 Scanning

@A. Rajabifard, Fundamentals of GIS-Week 3 14

 Scanning
Another approach is to use a scanner to convert the paper map
into a digital form automatically.
One method of scanning is to record data in narrow strips across
the data surface, resulting in a raster format.
Other scanners can scan lines by following them directly.
Maps are often scanned in order to:
- Use digital image data as a background for other (vector)
map data
- Convert scanned data to vector data for use in a vector GIS

@A. Rajabifard, Fundamentals of GIS-Week 3 15

 Scanning

Editing of scanned data can include:

- pattern recognition of shapes and symbol candidates
- line thinning and vectorisation
- error correction
- supplementing missing data
- forming topology

@A. Rajabifard, Fundamentals of GIS-Week 3 16

 Image Input Data
Image data includes

- aerial photographs

- satellite images, and

-other remotely sensed or scanned data.

Image data is in a raster format

For example,
Each if the
grid-cell, or image is a aremotely
pixel, has sensed
certain value satellite image,
depending on
each
howpixel represents
the image was light energy
captured andreflected from a portion of
what it represents.
the Earth's surface.

@A. Rajabifard, Fundamentals of GIS-Week 3 17

 Photogrammetry

@A. Rajabifard, Fundamentals of GIS-Week 3 18

 Photogrammetry

-Photogrammetry is the technique of measuring objects from

photographs.

- Photogrammetry is the metric interpretation of image data

Two distinct types of photogrammetry:

• Aerial / spaceborne photogrammetry -Used for mapping Earth
or planets, 2D and 3D (depending on specific application
• Close range photogrammetry- Used for industrial
measurement
3D only
@A. Rajabifard, Fundamentals of GIS-Week 3 19
 Photogrammetry

Single photograph + Sensor parameters = 2D measurement

Multiple photographs + Sensor parameters = 3D measurement

Overlap

@A. Rajabifard, Fundamentals of GIS-Week 3 20

 Aerial Topographic Mapping

(Paul Dare, 2002)

@A. Rajabifard, Fundamentals of GIS-Week 3 21

 Aerial Topographic Mapping

Photo/Image Scale

(Paul Dare, 2002)

@A. Rajabifard, Fundamentals of GIS-Week 3 22

 Photogrammetric Mapping

The combination
Roads,
Differentlakes andof
combination
methods of aerial
aerial
water
of
photography and
bodies, building, air
Photogrammetry:
photo interpretation
farmland and forests are
provides information
clearly-visible on
on aerial
Analogue
relatively
photographslarge areas
without- inspection
Analyticalof the
ground.
- Digital

@A. Rajabifard, Fundamentals of GIS-Week 3 23

 (Paul Dare, 2002)

@A. Rajabifard, Fundamentals of GIS-Week 3 24

 Photogrammetric Mapping

Aerial Photo Interpretation of an image into classes (Campbell, 1983)

@A. Rajabifard, Fundamentals of GIS-Week 3 25

 Remote Sensing

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 Remote Sensing

Remote sensing includes all information collected from

sensors which are physically separate from the object.

Satellite image
Remote sensing
instruments rely upon the
detection of energy
emitted from, or reflected
by, the object under
consideration.

@A. Rajabifard, Fundamentals of GIS-Week 3 27

 Remote Sensing

@A. Rajabifard, Fundamentals of GIS-Week 3 28

 Photogrammetry Vs Remote Sensing

Photogrammetry →
metric exploitation of analogue imagery
(Aerial platform, Analogue sensor, Metric information, Visible spectrum)
Remote sensing →
thematic exploitation of digital imagery
(Aerial/satellite, Digital sensor, Thematic information, Whole spectrum)

@A. Rajabifard, Fundamentals of GIS-Week 3 29

 Remote Sensing

Satellite remote sensing is the only source of data

with which we can view the entire planet and monitor
the change in the nature of the surface of the planet
through time, in a consistent, integrated, synoptic and
numerical manner.

@A. Rajabifard, Fundamentals of GIS-Week 3 30

 Remote Sensing
Classification errors occur when the size of the grid cell is
larger than the features which are being mapped

(Burrough, 1986)
@A. Rajabifard, Fundamentals of GIS-Week 3 31
 Data Preparation and
Manipulation

@A. Rajabifard, Fundamentals of GIS-Week 3 32

 Data Preparation and
Manipulation

Most digital data requires some degree of pre-processing and

manipulation in order to make it conform to a particular data
type, geo-referencing system, or data model compatible with
the GIS to be used.

The end result of data manipulation is a coordinated set of

thematic data layers.

Essential data manipulation procedures include:

Format conversion, Data reduction and Generalisation, Error
detection and editing, Map sheet manipulation.
@A. Rajabifard, Fundamentals of GIS-Week 3 33
 Data Preparation and
Manipulation

• Format Conversion
Most common format conversion tasks are
- Vector to Raster conversion (Rasterisation), and
- Raster to Vector conversion (Vectorisation)
• Data Reduction and Generalisation
• Error Detection and Editing
• Map Sheet Manipulation
• Map Abstraction

@A. Rajabifard, Fundamentals of GIS-Week 3 34

•

Thank you

@A. Rajabifard, Fundamentals of GIS-Week 3 35