Geography & Technology Geography of Canada www.CraigMarlatt.com/school

Geography & Technology Geographic Information Systems Global Positioning System Aerial Photographs Satellite Imagery

Geographic Information Systems Geographic Information Systems (GIS) is a technology that manages, analyzes, and disseminates geographic knowledge. Essentially, GIS is maps on computers. Each characteristic of the Earth’s surface is mapped on a layer which can be viewed independently, or in combination with other layers.

Geographic Information Systems

Geographic Information Systems There are three ways of viewing a GIS: a database, map, and model. The Database View: A GIS is a unique kind of database of the world—a geographic database (geodatabase). It is an "Information System for Geography." Fundamentally, a GIS is based on a structured database that describes the world in geographic terms.

Geographic Information Systems GIS can analyze data in many ways: GIS can analyze data in many ways: Population and demographic data (language distribution in southern Ontario) Physical features for the same area (surface geology) GIS also allows us to view data in a 3D perspective (fly-throughs, etc)

Geographic Information Systems The Map View: A GIS is a set of intelligent maps and other views that show features and feature relationships on the earth's surface. Maps of the underlying geographic information can be constructed and used as "windows into the database" to support queries, analysis, and editing of the information. This is called geovisualization.

Geographic Information Systems The Model View: A GIS is a set of information transformation tools that derive new geographic datasets from existing datasets. These geoprocessing functions take information from existing datasets, apply analytic functions, and write results into new derived datasets.

GIS – Locations and Attributes Attribute Information: What is it? Species: Oak Height: 15m Age: 75 Yrs Location Information: Where is it? 51°N, 112°W Source: ESRI Canada, WhatsGIS.ppt

GIS – Locations and Attributes GIS software links the location data and the attribute data: Source: ESRI Canada, What’s GIS.ppt

GIS – Asking Questions Attribute Questions: What provinces have more than 1.5 million people? Attribute Questions: GIS software can answer questions about our world: What provinces border Saskatchewan? Spatial Questions: Source: ESRI Canada, What’s GIS.ppt

GIS – Why Use It? Support for decision-making based on spatial data: Visual representation of data Maintenance, manipulation of data Analyze information and the affected area(s) geographically Produce customized cartographic products

GIS – Real World Uses Management Agriculture Public Utilities Health Care Emergency 911 Real Estate Marketing

GIS – Real World Uses What are the effects of Global Warming? Environmental scientists can use GIS to assess the impact of global warming in areas of concern. Data collected on the vegetation of an area as well as data collected on the change in temperature over time in the same area can be overlayed and analyzed to determine whether or not an increase in temperature has affected vegetation growth. Land cover and temperature relationships are made clear when the data are seen at once using Geotechnology.

GIS – Real World Uses Is it safe to dig here? You have surely seen the sign on the back of phone company trucks or gas company trucks that says "Call before you dig!" Let's say you were going to be building a new fence around your property. You first have to call all the utilities companies and find out where the utility cross your property. In the past, workers from these companies would come out to your house and spray paint your lawn where the utility lines are located. These days, chances are when you call that number, the person on the other end of the phone is sitting in front of a GIS. When you give them your address, they can easily pull up your land parcel, and overlay all of the utility lines. They can then easily fax or mail you a map and you don’t have to wait for someone to come out and spray your lawn before you can begin building your fence. A proposed excavation, identified by address, is compared to pipelines in the area using Geotechnology. Source: ESRI Canada, What’s GIS.ppt

GIS – Real World Uses What is the fastest route to the Hospital? This falls under the same concept of health care but with a different application. When you call an ambulance, you want to know that the ambulance with get to your house as fast as possible and then get you to the nearest hospital as fast as possible. Using a street network file as well as GPS (Global Positioning System) technology, ambulance dispatchers use a GIS to pinpoint the location of the ambulance in relation to your home and establish the quickest route to be taken. A GIS can take into account time of day, traffic volume, one way streets, speed limits and stop signs in order to make sure that the optimal route is taken. Directions can then be printed out or sent via satellite to the ambulance itself. All this can take place within a matter of seconds! Similarly, a delivery service such as UPS or Pizza Pizza would implement the same technology. Geotechnology can choose the fastest route to a hospital. The GIS can take into account traffic and other impediments. Source: ESRI Canada, What’s GIS.ppt

GIS – Real World Uses What Communities are at risk from Disease? A good example of how GIS is used in health care is illustrated by a project done in Guatemala. In parts of the country, an epidemic of River Blindness disease was occurring. It was discovered that mosquitoes are the carriers of this disease. Therefore, health officials used a GIS to map out the area and they plotted the location of mosquito breeding sites. They were then able to accurately assess which communities surrounding these sites were going to be affected by this disease. As a result, they were able to manage their health care treatment facilities much more effectively. Geotechnology identifies communities at risk of River Blindness and helps determine the impact of treatment. Source: ESRI Canada, What’s GIS.ppt

Global Positioning System The GPS (Global Positioning System) is a "constellation" of 24 well-spaced satellites that orbit the Earth and make it possible for people with ground receivers to pinpoint their geographic location. The location accuracy is anywhere from 100 to 10 metres for most equipment. Accuracy can be pinpointed to within one metre with special military-approved equipment.

Global Positioning System GPS equipment is widely used in science and has now become sufficiently low-cost so that almost anyone can own a GPS receiver. The GPS is owned and operated by the U.S. Department of Defense but is available for general use around the world.

Global Positioning System

Global Positioning System A hand-held GPS unit

Global Positioning System An in-dash GPS unit

Aerial Photographs Using the photographs of the Earth taken by airplanes, you can see the world in 3D using a stereoscope.

Aerial Photographs Google Earth is a computer program (that you can download for free!) that shows aerial photographs in a digital format, with a general purpose map on top. www.earth.google.com

Satellite Imagery Satellite images are also pictures of the Earth taken from above, but these electronic images (instead of photographs) cover very large areas but show less detail. Landsat was developed by the Americans and uses sunlight and heat reflected from the Earth’s surface to create images SPOT was developed by the Europeans and similar to Landsat, but it can create 3D images of the surface RADARSAT was developed by the Canadians and uses radar signals (or microwaves) instead of sunlight and heat, so it can be used at any time of day or night