GIS Files 2: Geographical data

2: Introduction

In this Chapter we go into more detail about the geographical data part of a GIS. We look at the ways in which the geographical data (more correctly called geospatial data) can be captured for GIS and then manipulated.

Geospatial data stores information about the location, shape and attributes of real objects.

So what? you might say; paper maps have been doing this for centuries. But it is the capturing of this information in digital form that makes it much easier to store and reproduce. It also enables the power of computers to be used in manipulating, updating and analysing the information in many different ways.

Let's start by looking at how we capture data from maps, in section 2.1 – Data capture from maps.

2.1: Data capture from maps (1) >