1. GIS & Databases
Ming-Chun Lee

2. Object Relationships
One-to-One
One-to-Many
Many-to-One
Many-to-Many

3. Types of Databases Flat File Hierarchical Relational
Single Table; No Relationships
Hierarchical
Nested Tables
One-to-One & One-to-Many Relationships
Relational
Interrelated Tables
One-to-One, One-to-Many, Many-to-One, Many-to-Many Relationships

4. Flat File Database ID Route Timepoint 1 Timepoint 2 … Timepoint 10 171
4th Ave. S & S Washington St.
5th Ave. S & S Jackson St.
50th Ave. NE & NE 75th St. 2 72
Ravenna Ave. NE & NE 80th St. 3 73
15th Ave. NE & NE 125th St.

5. Hierarchical Database
TPID
Timepoint 1
4th Ave. S & S Washington St. 2
5th Ave. S & S Jackson St. … 10
50th Ave. NE & NE 75th St. ID
Route 1 71 2 72 3 73
TPID
Timepoint 1
4th Ave. S & S Washington St. 2
5th Ave. S & S Jackson St. … 10
50th Ave. NE & NE 75th St.
TPID
Timepoint 1
4th Ave. S & S Washington St. 2
5th Ave. S & S Jackson St. … 10
15th Ave. NE & NE 125th St.

6. Relational Database ID Route 1 71 2 72 3 73 OID Route TP Order 101 71
102 2
110 10
201 72
202
210
301 73
302
310
TPID
Timepoint 1
4th Ave. S & S Washington St. 2
5th Ave. S & S Jackson St. …
110
50th Ave. NE & NE 75th St.
210
Ravenna Ave. NE & NE 80th St.
310
15th Ave. NE & NE 125th St.

7. Relational Database Concepts
One Table for Each Type of “Thing/Entity”
Within a Table: One Row for Each Distinct “Thing” of that Type
Primary Key: A Unique Identifier for the distinct “Thing”
Foreign Key: A Reference to Another Table’s Primary Key

8. GIS as a Relational Database
Join Tables to Spatial Data Layers
User ID
Name
Abbrev. 10
Washington WA 12
Oregon OR 18
Michigan MI ID
Area
Perimeter
User ID 1
25.3
10.4 10 2
30.2
13.5 12 3
10.1
8.2 18 4
27.8
12.6