ESSE 3600 Lab

GIS Analysis and Modelling

Submitted to:
Dr. Qiuming Cheng
Phillip Robbins

Name: Won Mo Jung

Email: dnjsah94@my.yorku.ca

York University

Task 1
Q1. How is the XY Tolerance defined in the Intersect dialog?

Intersect feature cracks and clusters the features. Cracking inserts vertices at the
intersection of feature edges; clustering snaps together vertices that are within the XY
tolerance. From this lab, the XY tolerance was left as blank, which means that its left as
default settings. Also, the unites were left as meters.

Q2. How many records does final have?

There were 117 records in the final.

Q3. How many parcels are included in sites?

There were 13 parcels included in sites

Q4. What is the sum of Shape_Area values in sites.shp?

The sum of the Shape_Area values in sites.shp was 48178.717m2.

Task 2
Q5. How many deer locations are within 50 meters of their closest edge?

There were 74 deer locations found within 50 meters of their closest edge using Near
tool.

Q6.
a) You are asked to prepare a preliminary map that shows land parcels in a county that
meets the following two criteria: (1) within 300 meters of stream, and (2) located in a
conservation priority area. You are given two digital maps for the study area: one
showing streams and the other showing the priority areas. Describe the procedure
that you will use to complete the task.
- Overlay two digital maps Select attribute of conservation area Buffer streams
Intersect
b) Describe a scenario, in which Intersect is preferred over Union for an overlay
operation
-

Every feature on an intersect output will have attribute data from both of its inputs.
Therefore, intersect is preferred over Union if a project requires that attribute data be
complete for each output feature.

c) Suppose the input layer shows a county and the overlay layer shows a national forest.
Part of the county overlaps the national forest. We can express the output of an
Intersect operation as [county] AND [national forest]. How can you express the
outputs of a Union operation and an Identity operation?
-

Union: [county] OR [national forest]

Identity: ([county] AND [national forest]) OR [county]

d) Suppose you need a map showing toxic waste sites in your county. You have
downloaded a shapefile from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) website
that shows toxic waste sites in every county of your state. What kind of operation will
you use on the EPA map so that you can get only the county you need?
-

Solution 1: If the shapefile has a field of county names, then you can run a select operation
to select the county of interest.
Solution 2: Download or make a polygon layer of the county, then perform a clip operation
by using the vegetation map as the input layer and the study area map as the clip layer.

e) Suppose you have a map of streets of an area, you want to extract the intersections of
these street segments, what kind of operation will you use on the street map so that
you can get the intersection of streets?
- Using the intersect tool, the intersection of streets can be obtained.
Q7. What is the range of cell values in emidaft?

The range of cell values in emidaft is in feet, Low: 2804.4, High: 4385.36 and the extend
of Left: 528435, Top: 5218935, Right: 534015, Bottom: 5212515.

Q8. How many cells in combine have the combination of the slope class of 2 and the aspect
class of 4?

There was only 13838 cell that had combination of the slope class of 2 and the aspect class
of 4.

Task 3
Q9. What other neighborhood statistics are available in Spatial Analyst besides the mean?

Under Neighborhood, there is Block Statistics, Filter, Focal Flow, Focal Statistics,
Line Statistics, and Point Statistics. However, there are other types of statistics, such
as mean, majority, maximum, median, minimum, minority, range, std,
sum, and variety.

Task 4
Q10. Which watershed has the highest average annual precipitation in Idaho?

The highest average annual precipitation in Idaho was Rowid=13 with value=170603.

Task 5
Q11. Verify that habitat2 is the correct potential habitat area.

From the screenshot above, the correct potential habitat area has been confirmed to be 1
with under ELEVGD1=2 and REC_DIST=1. From the map, the black portion of area
represents the habitat2.

Task 6
Q12. How many cells in rec_emidalat have the cell value of 3?

Under cell value of 3, there are 7725 number of cells.

Q13. What percentage of the area has the elevation zone of 2 and the slope zone of 3?

Using the number of cells, theyre converted into area.

Using the converted property using field calculator, the percentage of the area that has the
elevation zone of 2 and the slope zone of 3 came out to be
87.4944
Percentage =
x100 = 15.37%
569.3904
Also, using the cell count values,
6076
Percentage =
x100 = 15.37%
39541

Task 7
Q14. Print out the Flow Chart to add the report. Explain how the processes in Task 7 are
different from Task 5? What are the advantages of using Model Builder?

In task 7, model builder was used to make a sequence of tools, whereas in task 5, each steps
were done one by one individually from the toolbox. Also, task 5 uses raster-based data
analysis but task 7 uses vector-based data analysis.
Model Builder is an easy-to-use application for creating and running workflows containing
a sequence of tools.
With the model builder, new tool can be created and the tools that are created with the
model builder can be used in Python scripting and other models.
Along with scripting, ArcGIS can be integrated with other applications.

Task 8
Q15. Excluding 99 for urban areas, what is the value range of TOTAL?

Excluding -99 for urban areas, the value range of TOTAL was 2.904 to 5 and 204 elements
were found out of 215.

Q16. What percentage of the study area is labeled Very severe?

Very severe =108,120,219m2
Total Area =243,564,126m2
108120219

Percentage =243,564,126 x100 = 44.4%

Q17. Suppose a county government asks you to do a GIS project for industrial site selection.
The county uses the following criteria for site selection:
- commercial zones
- vacant or for sale
- not subject to flooding
- not more than one mile from a heavy duty road
- less than 10% slope
- at least five acres in size
The county has a GIS database with the following digital maps (in italic) that you can use for the
project:
- zoning includes commercial zones
- parcel includes vacant parcels or parcels for sale
- flood shows areas subject to flooding
- roads include heavy duty roads and other types of roads
- slope groups slope into 0-10%, 10-20%, 20-30%, and over 30%
Use a flow chart to explain how you can find potential industrial sites.

Gather all layers (land use, flood potential, road, and slope) relevant to the selection criteria, A DEM can be used
to derive a slope raster, which can then be converted to a vector layer.

Select heavy-duty roads from the road layer, and create a 1-mile buffer zone around them

Intersect the road buffer zone layer and other layers. Intersect, instead of other overlay operations, can limit the
output to areas within 1 mile of heavy-duty roads

Query the composite feature layer for potential industrial sites

Select sites, which are equal to or larger than 5 acres

Q18. Briefly answer the following questions:

1.
How does a static model differ from a dynamic model?
- Models can be static, if the input and the output both correspond to the same point in time,
or dynamic, if the output represents a later point in time than the input.
2.
How does a deterministic model differ from a stochastic model?
- A deterministic model is a type of model or a part of a model in which the outcome is
completely and exactly known based on known input; the fixed or non-random components
of a spatial model. Whereas a stochastic model is a model that includes a random
component. The random component can be a model variable, or it can be added to existing
input data or model parameters.
3.
Describe the basic steps involved in the modeling process.
- The first step is to define the goals of the model. This is analogous to defining a research
problem.
- The second step is to break down the model into elements and to define the properties of
each element and the interactions between the elements in the form of a conceptual diagram.
- The third step is the implementation and calibration of the model. Model calibration is an
iterative process, a process that repeatedly compares the output from the model to the
observed data, adjusts the parameters, and reruns the model. A calibrated model is a tool
ready for prediction.

4.
-

What does loose coupling mean in the context of linking a GIS to another software
package?
A loose coupling involves transfer of data files between the GIS and other programs. Using
this, one can export data to be run in a statistical analysis package from the GIS and import
results from statistical analysis back to the GIS for data visualization or display.

5.
How does an index model differ from a binary model?
- An index model calculates the index value for each unit area and produces a ranked map
based on the index values. A binary model uses logical expressions to select target areas
from a composite feature layer or multiple rasters.
Q19. Briefly answer the following questions:
1.
GIS provides techniques to help us to understand our world and to support our
decision making. Explain the differences in the two goals of usages of GIS.
- GIS can be seen as a set of tools that allows the user to analyze spatial data, such as maps.
By doing so, we can understand our world better. However, GIS can be seen as an
information system, which implies that, "a GIS collects data, sifts and sorts them, and
selects and rebuilds them to find the right information to answer a question." Hence, it can
support our decision making as well.
2.
What is Big Data?
- Big data usually includes data sets with sizes beyond the ability of commonly used software
tools to capture, curate, manage, and process data within a tolerable elapsed time.
- Volume: big data doesn't sample; it just observes and tracks what happens
- Velocity: big data is often available in real-time
- Variety: big data draws from text, images, audio, video; plus, it completes missing pieces
through data fusion
3.
What does cloud environment mean in the field of spatial information?
- Cloud environment is the form of centralized web-based applications, where applications
and files are hosted on a cloud consisting of thousands of computers and servers, all
linked together and accessible via the Internet. It focuses on large-scale resource sharing
and low cost for big data storage technology.
4.
What is web service? Can GIS be used for web service?
- Web services provide a standard means of interoperating between different software
applications, running on a variety of platforms and/or frameworks. Yes, GIS web service
provides access to GIS data or functionality over the internet in a standardized way.
However, GIS web service is not necessarily an internet mapping application.
5.
-

How can GIS enhance statistics when it is applied in conjunction with GIS for
spatial analysis?
GIS can enhance statistics by visualizing the result, such as the population distribution.
Hence, the statistics can be understood by anyone by looking at the visual without
understanding the statistics.

Q20. Briefly answer the following questions:

1. What is a location-allocation modeling?
- Location-allocation is a spatial analysis that matches the supply and demand by using sets
of objectives and constraints. Location-allocation model is the p-median in which facility
sites are chosen from a set of candidate sites so as to minimize the aggregate travel from
each demand point to the nearest facility.
2. Use an example to explain the significance of terrain surface characterization?
- Terrain analysis uses elevation data to characterize the bare terrain surface and in most
cases, link terrain properties to the natural or built environment. Terrain analysis provides
solid support for a wide variety of GIS modelling and analysis activities. Terrain analysis
is built upon terrain surface characterization, as well as the easy accessibility and high
quality of terrain data. GIS-based terrain analysis can be use to respond to site specific
conditions over large expanses of the landscape. Calculation of a difference surface simply
scratches the surface of terrain analysis.
3. What is network? Name three cases or examples which can be considered as network
and can be analyzed by means of GIS.
- Network simply refers to a set of connected lines. In GIS, networks are the notes with
interconnections. Some of the examples of network is street network, transportation
network, computer networks, and etc. There are four fundamental operations that can be
performed, all of which are derivatives of route finding algorithms.
- Finding a route between point locations
- Determining the service area for a facility
- Finding the closest facility across the network
- Creating an origin-destination matrix
4. What does animation mean?
- A collection of animation tracks that define the dynamic property changes to associated
objects. An animation allows for navigation through the display, visualization of temporal
changes, or alteration of layer and scene properties, such as layer transparency or the scene
background.
5. What does it mean by Ontology in information science?
- In information science, an ontology is a formal naming and definition of the types,
properties, and interrelationships of the entities that really or fundamentally exist for a
particular domain of discourse.

Reference:
[1] Chang, Kang-Tsung. Introduction to Geographic Information Systems. 6th ed. New York:
McGraw-Hill, 2012. Print.
[2] Cheng, Qiuming. "Lab 6 and Assignment 4: From Database Construction to Data
Exploration". Lab manual. York University. Toronto. 2016. Web.