GIS data formats GIS/CAD5

GIS data „Direct“ spatial data Spatial information is stored within datasets Data representation – Vector data – Raster data Data storage – Simple File structure – Complex File structure – Database structures „Indirect“ spatial data Spatial information is present only by reference Tables

Vector GIS data storage Simple file structures Geometry + Attributes – „Spaghetti“ system – No topology – One geometry in one dataset (point/line/polygon) ESRI shapefile – SHP, DBF, SHX (and other) Mapinfo TAB – TAB CityGML – XML text file

Example: CityGML Praha-Ďáblice

Vector GIS data storage Complex File structure – Topology-oriented – Usually directories & system files ESRI coverage

Working with CAD Files in GIS Direct read, pure geometry Non-editable Export/Import to GIS formats available Discrete geometries interpretations No symbols/drawing keys

Raster data for GIS Raster data with spatial reference Information on reference system and position of raster – at header of raster (i.e. GeoTIFF) – in an extra tiny file - World File (i.e. tfw, jgw, pgw) Color rasters – cell values represents color values – Used for map creation Grids (attribute rasters) – cell values represents thematic values (height, speed, slope, concentrations, …) – Used for modeling and analyses

Special GIS data formats TIN data – Triangular irregular network Terrain – optimised multisurface terrain model (multiscale) LAS – laserscan/lidar data Pic: David Vojtek VŠB-TUO

Special GIS data formats 3D visualisation: 3D shapefiles 3D multipatches – X, Y, Z coordinates for each point – Standard shapefile structure Pics:

Geodatabases Storing GIS data in database systems Usually all types of data – Vectors – Rasters – Tables – TINs – Annotations (stored labels) Datasets and feature classes Definition and management of spatial/topology rules on feature classes Personal geodatabase – MDB File geodatabase – GDB Enterprise geodatabase – ArcSDE - Oracle Spatial, PostgreSQL, …

Format conversions in ArcGIS Interoperability extension – Quick import – Quick Export

Format overview interop-formats.pdf cgis10-desktop-functionality-matrix.pdf (page 10)