GIS Files 3: Adding real-world information

3: Introduction

The previous section talked about how the geospatial element of map data can be incorporated and viewed in GIS. However, to really uncover the power of GIS, we need to look at what happens to the attribute data.

This information tells you not just the shape of a feature but what it is, and any other possible piece of information that may exist about it. A map may show that a feature is a river by depicting it as a blue line; it may also record its name using a blue text label. In a GIS this information may be stored within the data itself.

There are numerous possibilities for exploiting this attribute information. Any information that relates to a place on the ground can be loaded into a GIS and analysed. When you consider the amount of detail contained in GIS data, this can often raise the question – Is Big Brother watching you? Well, yes actually, he probably is. We are now well and truly living in an information age and there is no escaping the fact that some of this information is about ourselves. The difference with GIS is that if Big Brother is watching us, he is less likely to be looking at us in the wrong place.

This section looks at the different ways in which the information attached to GIS objects can be interrogated and exploited.

3.1: The attributes of map features (1) >