In a GIS analysis project, an analyst faces a variety of tasks that can be grouped into four basic
steps.
The first step is to convert a question, such as “Where is the best place for a new building?” or
“How many potential customers are near this store?”, into a GIS database design and an analysis
plan. This involves breaking the question into logical parts, identifying what layers of data will
be needed to answer each part, and developing a strategy for combining the answers to each part
of the question into a final answer.
The next step is to create a database that contains the geographic data required to answer the
question. This may involve digitizing existing maps, obtaining and translating electronic data
from a variety of sources and formats,
making sure the layers are of adequate quality for the task, making sure the layers are in the same
coordinate system and will overlay correctly, and adding items to the data to track analysis result
values. Personal workspaces of file- based data and personal geodatabases are used to organize
project GIS geodatabases.
The next step is to analyze the data. This usually involves overlaying different layers, querying
attributes and feature locations to answer each logical part of the question, storing the answers to
the logical parts of the question, and retrieving and combining those answers to provide a
complete answer to the question.
The final step in a project-based analysis is to communicate the results of the analysis, usually to
people who do not use GIS and who have different levels of experience in dealing with maps.
Maps, reports, and graphs are all used, often together, to communicate the answer to the
question.
What is GIS analysis?
The phrase “GIS analysis” encompasses a wide variety of operations that you can do with a
geographic information system. These range from simple display of features to complex, multistep
analytical models.
Showing the geographic distribution of data
Perhaps the simplest form of GIS analysis is presenting the geographic distribution of data. This
is conceptually the same as sticking pins in a wall map, a simple but powerful method of detecting
patterns.
Here, the map is the analysis. A police department might analyze burglary patterns by plotting
the addresses of reported break-ins. The department could make the map more informative by displaying
the incidents with different symbols to show the time of day, method of entry, or types of valuables
reported stolen.
Querying GIS data
Another type of GIS analysis is querying, or selecting from, the database. Queries let you identify and
focus on a specific set of features. There are two types of GIS queries, attribute and location queries.
Attribute queries, also called aspatial queries, find features based on their attributes. The police
department mentioned above could use an attribute query of their database to obtain a table of crimes that
fall into a particular category.
Here are the results from a query on the CRIM_CAT field, showing records where the
value in the field is 9. The map shows the results of the query.
Location queries, also called spatial queries, find features based on where they are. The police
department could use a location query of the database to find crimes that occurred within a given area.
One way to do a location query is by drawing a rectangle on the map. Here, the police department
has selected only those crimes that occurred within the rectangle. These crimes could be studied together
to determine if any of them are related.
The police department could also do more complex spatial queries using polygon features, such as census
tracts, selected from another layer. One of the most useful features of a GIS is that you can see the results
of both spatial and aspatial queries on the map.
Identifying what is nearby
A third type of GIS analysis is finding what is near a feature. One way to find what is
near a feature is by creating a buffer around the feature.
A city planning commission could identify the area within l,000 meters of a proposed
airport by buffering the airport feature. The buffer could be used with other layers of data to
show which schools or hospitals would be near the new airport.
A powerful function of GIS analysis is that the output of one procedure can be used in another. Here,
the buffer around the airport is used in a location query. Two schools and a hospital that are within the
buffer have been selected. The school that is outside of the buffer was not selected.
Overlaying different layers
A fourth type of GIS analysis is overlaying different layers of features. You can create new
information when you overlay one set of features with another. There are several types of overlay
operations, but all involve joining two existing sets of features into a single new set of features.
For example, a farmer wants to find how much land can be planted with a new crop. The crop
can²t be planted on hillsides and needs soils that are highly permeable.
The farmer combines, in a union overlay, two existing layers of data about the farm: polygons of
the ground surface classified by slope and polygons of soil permeability. The farmer can now select the
new polygons that have low slopes and high permeability.
Slope Permeability Slope and permeability
There are several different spatial overlay and spatial manipulation operations that you can use on layers
including union, intersect, merge, dissolve, and clip.
Doing a complex analysis
You can combine all of these techniques and many others in a complex GIS analysis. With a GIS you can
create detailed models of the world to solve complicated problems. Because a GIS can perform these
operations rapidly, it is possible to repeat an analysis using slightly different parameters each time and
compare the results. This can allow you to refine your analysis techniques.
This section has provided a brief overview of some of the common types of GIS analysis. For more
information on these and other kinds of analysis you can perform using GIS, see T2e EERI Guide to GIE
Analysis.
In the next section you²ll learn about the steps in a typical GIS analysis project.