Raster Data

Chapter 7

Introduction
Vector

discrete
Raster continuous
Continuous
precipitation
elevation
soil erosion
Regular

grid cell with value to

correspond to the characteristics of the
phenomenon

Introduction
Most

GIS have both raster and vector

Weve talked about the data
Data
digital elevation
satellite images
digital orthophotos
scanned maps
graphic files

Elements of Raster Data Model

Grid,

raster map, surface cover, or image

Rows and columns with cells
Origin at upper left, 2 dimensional
coordinate system
Value = integer or floating point
Usually codes for interpretation
No use for DBMS because grid is both
spatial and attribute data

Elements of Raster Data Model

Can

have value = pointer

Cell size determines resolution
Size vs resolution
Projected on coordinate system
Can be displayed with vector if in
same coordinate system
Easier to do data manipulation,
aggregation and analysis

Types of Raster Data

Satellite

Imagery

remotely sensed
Landsat multispectral, 79 meters, 72-92
Landsat 4, Thematic Mapper, 30 meters,
National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration (NOAA) Advanced Very
High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR)
French SPOT 1986
India, Japan

Types of Raster Data

Satellite

Imagery

Commercial
Space Imaging 1 meter
Earth Watch Incorporated
Image

Processing Packages

ERDAS
ER Mapper
ArcView

Digital Elevation Models

DEM is point based with elevation at
center of a cell.
Each file contains

Elevation,
Header: units, min/max elev, proj, accuracy

Four types

7.5 minute DEM (30 or 10 meter elev, 4 levels)

30 minute DEM (60 meter)
1 degree DEM (100 meter)
Alaska DEMs

Digital Elevation Models

Non-USGS

DEMS

SPOT
Intermap Technologies (5-10 m x 2-5
m)
Global

DEMs

GTOPO30
ETPOPO5

Digital Orthophotos
Digital

Orthophoto Quad
Georeferenced
3.7 minute DOQQ 1m x 1m
Combines image characteristics of a
photograph with the geometric
qualities of a map.
Ideal background

Other
Binary

scanned files
Digital Raster Graphics (DRG) 8 ft
Graphic
TIFF
GIF
JPEG
GeoTIFF
Proprietary:

grids or raster maps

Raster Data Structure,

Compression, and Files
Data

Structure

Cell-by-cell encoding
Band interleaved (.bil)
Band sequential (.bsq)
Band interleaved by pixel (.bip)
Run-length encoding (.rle
Chain code
Block code
Quadtree

Raster Data Structure,

Compression, and Files
Data

compression

Algorithms
Lossless or lossy
MrSID
Raster

Data Files

Need header information

Projection and Geometric

Transformation of Raster Data
Raster

must also be geo-referenced.

Transformation techniques similar to
vector
Ground control points required
Warping
Resampling
Nearest neighbor
Bilinear interpolation
Cubic convolution

Data Conversion
Rasterization
Vectoriation
Loss?

Integration of Raster
and Vector Data
Raster

usually background
Many techniques
Draping for 3-D effects