Lecture 1

Question 1

geography

Answer 1

the art and science that attempts to study, explain and predict spatial distributions and variations of human activity and physical events on/near the earths surface

Question 2

Geographic informatoin system (GIS)

Answer 2

an organized collection of computer hardware, software, geographic data, trained personnel, and procedures for capturing, managing, analyzing, and displaying spatially referenced date to aid problem solving

Question 3

goal of GIS (3)

Answer 3

• takes data and gives you meaningful insights
• extract wuantitative info from maps, images, and tables
• transforms data to info, knowledge, evidence, wisdom

Question 4

data

Answer 4

observations/measurements obtained from the real world

Question 5

data needs to have/be (2)

Answer 5

• metadata
• processed and presented

Question 6

spatial/spatially referenced data

Answer 6

data with location info included, described by a geospatial reference sys

Question 7

most common way of organizing spatial data

Answer 7

thematic - has layers (eg. roads, vegetation, etc.)

Question 8

3 categories of spatial ref sys

Answer 8

1. census geog (postal codes, enumeration and dissemination areas)
2. geocoding (postal address)
3. long, lat, UTM (universal transverse mercator)

Question 9

3 perspectives of GIS

Answer 9

1. the database view (geodatabase)
2. the map view (geovisualization)
3. the model view (geoprocessing)

Question 10

information model can either be x or y?

Answer 10

objects (discrete features
or
fields (continuous features)

Question 11

representation or data model options (2)

Answer 11

raster, vector

Question 12

data structure (3)

Answer 12

object-oriented, relational, geodatabase

Question 13

vector GIS

Answer 13

breaking things into objects

Question 14

raster GIS

Answer 14

placing a grid on fields

Question 15

advantage of vector GIS

Answer 15

experiment w/ the real world w/out affecting it

Question 16

points

Answer 16

some location w/ a unique identifier

Question 17

lines

Answer 17

series of connected points

Question 18

polygons

Answer 18

when beginning and end node is the same

Question 19

topology

Answer 19

how objects are connected together

Question 20

vertices

Answer 20

intermediate points, used for shaping the line

Question 21

nodes

Answer 21

starting and ending points, an chored

Question 22

GIScience

Answer 22

methods, theory

Question 23

GISystems

Answer 23

technology, computer hardware