Subject Geology

Paper No and Remote Sensing and GIS

Title
Module No GIS Spatial Overlay Analysis
and Title
Module Tag RS & GIS XXXI

Principal Investigator Co-Principal Investigator Co-Principal Investigator

Prof. Talat Ahmad Prof. Devesh K Sinha Prof. P. P. Chakraborty
Vice-Chancellor Department of Geology Department of Geology
Jamia Millia Islamia University of Delhi University of Delhi
Delhi Delhi Delhi
Paper Coordinator Content Writer Reviewer

Dr. Atiqur Rahman Dr. Manika Gupta Dr. Atiqur Rahman

Department of Geography Department of Geology Department of Geography
Jamia Millia Islamia University of Delhi Jamia Millia Islamia
Delhi Delhi Delhi

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1. Learning Outcomes

After studying this module you shall be able to:

 Understand the role of overlay methods in GIS for spatial decision making
 Learn about different overlay methods like boolean and weighted approaches
 Understand different overlay operations to combine two or more data layers

2. Introduction

GIS, geographic information system is widely utilized for spatial analysis and
decision making like flood vulnerability mapping, water resource management etc.
Spatial overlay analysis in GIS is one of the fundamental operations that can be
performed on both Raster and vector data. Spatial overlay analysis as the name
suggests, is utilized to combine the features of two or more layers within the same
geographical boundaries and provide a changed entity as required. Spatial
overlaying is independent of model being vector or raster. However, to overlay to
or more layers, it is important to note that all the layers ought to have been
registered and have same coordinate system. This technique is also useful for
delineating hazard zones, vulnerability mapping and even groundwater potential
zone.

3. Vector and raster overlay

Overlay method is distinguished based on the feature of one the layers, i.e.
whether the feature is point, line or polygon. Thus, there can be three different
overlay methods which are given as below
3.1 Point-in-polygon
The point-in-polygon overlay determines the points from one input layer lying
inside a particular polygon. In this method the output layer is still a point layer but

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has added attributes of the polygon feature from the second layer. The Fig. 1 shows
an example of point-in-polygon, where in point layer shows soil type attribute
represented by points, 1,2 and 3 and second layer is polygon layer, which shows
three types of vegetation, namely A, B and C. So, if we want to also know the
vegetation type associated with the soil type, feature overlay is utilized. Thus, here
the output layer is again point layer but now the attribute information has
additional data representing the vegetation for each point determined by overlaying
the two layers. Therefore, the attribute information is changed from 1,2 and 3 to
1A, 2B and 3C respectively.

Fig. 1 Point-in-polygon feature overlay

3.2 Line-in-polygon
This method is similar to the previous one, only difference being that the one input
and output layer is now line layer. Here the line feature can be divided into multiple
segment depending the polygon it lies within. As shown in Fig. 2, the input layer
represents road feature and second layer may represent urban settlement. Now,
overlay of the two layers may help in determining, which section of the road is
within urban settlement polygon and which is outside the polygon. Thus, the output
layer is again a line layer but the one segment is now divided in three segments
with additional attribute information of settlement.

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Fig. 2 Line-in-polygon feature overlay
3.3 Polygon-in-polygon
This feature overlay allows the overlaying of two polygon dataset. Thus, the new
output layer has the added information of both polygon features. A very simple
example has been illustrated in the Fig.3 wherein the polygon are represented by
straight lines. However, in real situation examples, the polygons may not be
straight and increase the complexity of the computational analysis. In such cases, a
variety of new intersections are obtained and new polygons will be formed and
attribute data is reassigned. In this overlaying example, Layer 1 may represent
suppose soil classes like clay soil, sandy soil etc. and Layer 2 may represent maybe
land cover like agriculture or forest. Thus, the output layer has attributes added for
both the layers and we can exactly know the both soil type and land cover from a
single thematic map.

Fig. 3 Polygon-in-polygon feature overlay

4. Overlay methods
The overlaying methods involve operations like Boolean algebra comprising the
logical comparison between the layers. The Boolean algebra, basically takes back to
Venn diagrams, which were utilized to identify "union", "intersection" and

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"difference" features within two layers. The Boolean algebra method allows the
decision making for the categorical data. This overlaying method allows creation of
conditional statements, which results in a true/false output layer. It will be seen
that we can achieve different results from the same two layers based on the
Boolean method employed. The various Boolean methods employed for spatial
overlaying is explained below-
4.1 Boolean methods
4.1.1 Union (OR logical)
Union overlay implies the preservation of features of both the concerned layers.
Thus, the new layer would have information of both the layers and is independent
of the covered area. Union is represented by the "OR" criteria. As shown in Fig. 4a,
if we have two layers A and B, the output layer is represented by A+B. As an
example, if we have a road layer, A and land use layer, B then the overlay of layers
results in layer, C, shown in Fig 4b. The union Boolean method can also be utilized
to obtain output layer such that it represents all areas that meet either the first or
the second criterion or both that is at least one criterion has to be true, like if we
want to check agricultural site or clay soil type, shown in Fig. 4c.

Fig. 4a Set Union, True condition represented by red color

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Fig 4b. Union of two themes

Fig 4c. Output layer showing union(1), for either agriculture or clay soil or both

4.1.2 Intersect (AND logical)

Intersection overlay is utilized, when the information to be preserved falls within
the required categorical data. The intersect option is based on the AND Boolean
criteria, which implies both first and second criterion needs to be met. If
represented by a Venn diagram, the criterion points to the shared part of set A and
set B, shown in Fig.5a. Intersection may be important, if for example we need the
clay soil type only within the agriculture class. So, here the output layer would only
have true for the cell, which satisfies both agriculture class and clay soil type, as
shown in Fig 5b. Thus, the true option can be seen only for one cell as compared to
true for three cells in Fig 4c, highlighting the difference between union and
intersection. The criteria can also be utilized to find the erosion potential of the site
under consideration. Here, if layer 1 represents slope and layer two presence of
vegetation. The criteria for erosion would be slope greater than 10 degree in layer 1
and no vegetation in layer 2.

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Fig 5a. Set intersection, True condition represented by red color

Fig 5b. Output layer showing intersection(1), for both agriculture and clay soil

4.1.3 Exclusive disjunction (XOR logical)

Exclusive disjunction is represented by XOR criteria. The analysis creates a layer
that represents area, which meet either of the criteria but not both. The Boolean
method is represented in Fig 6a. through a Venn diagram, where the output layer is
shown with either A or B being true but not both. So this implies, the intersection is
excluded. Again considering the previous example of two layers, land use layer and
soil layer, we can identify, which areas are either agriculture or clay soil but not
both, as shown in Fig 6b. It can be seen that the output is now true for two cells
that is either agriculture area or clay soil area but not both.

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Fig 6a. Set exclusive disjunction, True condition represented by red color

Fig 6b. Output layer showing exclusive disjunction(1), for either agriculture or clay
soil but not both

4.1.4 Negation (NOT logical)

Negation or NOT Boolean method, represents the portion excluded from the set A
as shown in Fig. 7a. In considering two or more spatial layers, criteria implies we
need the first criteria to be met with second criteria being negated. Continuing with
the two layer example from above section, we employ negation such as agriculture
is true but soil layer should not be clay soil. The output of this condition is given in
Fig 7b. The negation method illustrates the utilization of absence of certain criteria
on the output layer.

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Fig 7a. Set negation, True condition represented by red color

Fig 7b. Output layer showing negation(1), for agriculture true and clay soil false

4.2 Weighted overlay methods

The Boolean method as seen allows the criterion considered for each layer to have
equal importance. For example, while considering erosion potential, we might want
to give more importance to steepness of the slope as compared to the vegetation.
The principle of not considering each input layer equally and assigning weights
according to relative influence level of each layer is known as weighted overlay.
Weighted linear sum is one of the approaches that is applied to a raster dataset,
grid cells are multiplied by the weights assigned to particular layer and then the
summation is done. The weighting can be done according to the methods given
below -

4.2.1 Weighting by ranking

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Weights by rank allows to provide a rank to each of the input layer either in
ascending or descending order of significance of the given layer. The weightage
now can be estimated either x layers as
I. if rank is y than the weight is x-y+1
II. if rank is y than the weight is 1/y
III. if rank is y than the weight is (x-y+1)n, where n determines the weights.

Even though the method is easy to implement, the relative importance between
layers start decreasing with the increase in number of layers.

4.2.2 Weighting by rating

Again in this approach the layers are first ranked and then each layer is given a
score. The overall score is distributed within the chosen criteria. For example, with
a total score of 100, criteria could receive the weights 40, 25, 20, 10, and 5 points
with decreasing importance or the most important criterion is given a score of 100,
while the insignificant criteria is given 0. However, this method is highly
subjective.

4.2.3 Multi criteria evaluation (MCE)

The third criteria of weighting is known as Multi criteria evaluation and is based on
the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), given by Saaty (1980). The method utilizes a
pairwise comparison procedure for the derivation of factor weights. Using a 9-point
rating scale, each layer is compared to each other for its relative importance in
developing the final solution. The principal eigenvector of this matrix is then
calculated to derive the best-fit set of weights. To explain the method, the steps
followed in the method are given below
1. The suitability of factors are set to a common criteria so as to make the
comparisons possible. Thus, for example, if we have two layers slope (%)
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 and elevation (m), the values are converted in a common range 0-255, such
that 0 is less suitable while 255 is highly suitable.
2. A matrix is constructed, where each criterion is compared with the other
criteria, relative to its importance, on a scale from 1 to 9. Here, 1 = equal
preference between two factors; 9 = a particular factor is extremely favored
over the other. The weight estimate is calculated by obtaining the eigen
values. Here, first the factors are normalized by dividing each cell by the
column total and then the mean value is obtained for each of the rows
representing the factors.
Table 1 Comparison matrix

C1 C2 C3
C1 1 9 3
C2 1/9 1 1/5
C3 1/3 5 1
Total 1.444 15.000 4.200
Table 2 Weight determination
Priority
C1 C2 C3 vector
C1 0.692 0.600 0.714 0.669
C2 0.0769 0.067 0.048 0.063
C3 0.231 0.333 0.238 0.267
Once the weights are determined, the consistency ratio (CR) is calculated as, CR=
Consistency Index (CI)/Random consistency index (RI)
where in,
CI  max  n  / n  1

max is principle eigen value, calculated as summation of product of column total

from table 1 and priority vector in table 2. If CR > 0.10, then some pairwise values
need to be reconsidered and the process is repeated until the desired value of CR <
0.10 is reached.
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 3. Finally the criteria is aggregated

x   wi ni x c j

where,
x is final suitability score
wi is weights of each factor
ni is factor score

4.2.4 Limitation of weighted overlay analysis

The weight selection is still subjective and depends on the expertise of the person
involved as well as the available literature. The weighting can also vary considerably
depending on the interests who are assigning the weights, which can significantly vary the
results. Therefore, the results must be validated with available ancillary data. For
example, if groundwater potential zoning map is prepared, then it can be validated
with the ground truth data for the region. The validation at certain sites can easily
make this analysis available for decision support.

4.3 Overlay operations

The overlay operations involve clipping, erasing or splitting operations. These
overlay operations differ from the Boolean methods such that only the geometry
and attributes of the data layer are transferred to the output layer unlike Boolean
methods where logical operations are considered and attribute data has information
from both the layers being considered, as shown in section 4.1. Overlay operations
are further explained in this section.

4.3.1 Clip
Clip defines the areas for which features of the data layer will be clipped based on
the clipping polygon like an everyday example of cookie cutting. In this case, the
attributes of clipping layer are not transferred. The clip overlay operation can be
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clearly illustrated through Fig 8. The Fig 8a shows a raster data as the data layer
and Fig 8b., a vector layer is our area of interest. So, in GIS the area of interest
can be easily clipped from Fig 8a, shown in Fig 8c. It can be seen the legend still
represents the data of original data layer, Fig 8a. Thus, the attribute information as
well geometry for only the data layer is retained. This implies the output layer is
still a raster layer, even though clipping layer was a vector data.

Fig 8. Illustration of Clip overlay operation, a. Data layer, b. Clipping polygon, c.

Output layer.
4.3.2 Erase
Erase defines the areas for which features of the data layer will be erased based on
the clipping polygon, that is erase is actually opposite of Clip overlay operation.
Here also, the attributes of erasing layer are not transferred to the output layer. So,
in GIS we can easily erase the area from the layer, which we may not require for
further analysis. The erase overlay operation is illustrated through same data layer
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and polygon in Fig 9, to show the difference between clip and erase overlay
operation. The Fig 9a shows a raster data as the data layer and Fig 9b., a vector
layer, Fig 9b is our area, which we would want to erase. Fig 9c, is the output layer
with attributes of raster layer.

Fig 9. Illustration of Erase overlay operation, a. Data layer, b. Erasing polygon, c.

Output layer.
4.3.3 Split
The split operation is used to divide an input layer into two or more layers based on
a split layer, shown in Fig 10. The split layer must be a polygon, while the input
layers can be both raster or vector. For example, we might want to split soil map
based on road map as shown in a simplified splitting layer in Fig 10. Based on the
lines, Input layer is split retaining the attributes of split portion of input layer.
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Fig 10. Illustration of Split overlay operation
5. Overlay errors
Overlay method can result in errors, especially when polygon-in polygon overlaying
method is utilized for the vector layers. Slivers are a common error produced when
two slightly misaligned vector layers are overlain. This misalignment can come from
several sources including digitization errors, interpretation errors, or source map
errors (Chang 2008). However, this problem is removed using GIS software that
incorporate a cluster tolerance option that forces nearby lines to be snapped
together if they fall within a user-specified distance.
Another source of error is error propagation. Error propagation arises when
inaccuracies are present in the original input and overlay layers and are propagated
through to the output layer. These errors can be related to positional inaccuracies
of the points, lines, or polygons. Alternatively, they can arise from attribute errors
in the original data table(s). These errors can also arise if the overlay operations
are being utilized for raster layers only and the resolution of raster layer cell differs.
For example, the spatial resolution of TRMM rainfall data is 25 km, while MODIS
Land surface temperature(LST) can be obtained at 1km. So, if we overlay the LST
layer over TRMM and perform the Boolean operations, there might be error due to
positional inaccuracies. Thus, before overlay operations can be performed, the two
layers ought to be resampled to the same spatial resolution.

FAQs
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Q 1. Explain point-in polygon spatial overlay analysis
Ans. The point-in-polygon overlay determines the points from one input layer lying
inside a particular polygon. In this method the output layer is still a point layer but
has added attributes of the polygon feature from the second layer. The Fig. 1 shows
an example of point-in-polygon, where in point layer shows soil type attribute
represented by 1,2 and 3 and second layer is polygon layer, which shows three
types of vegetation, namely A, B and C. So, if we want to also know the know the
vegetation type associated with the soil type feature overlay is utilized. Thus, here
the output layer is again point layer but now the attribute information has
additional data representing the vegetation for each point determined by overlaying
the two layers. Therefore, the attribute information is changed from 1,2 and 3 to
1A, 2B and 3C respectively as given in Fig.1 in Section, 3.1

Q2. How is point-in-polygon different from line-in-polygon overlay

analysis?
Ans: The point-in-polygon overlay determines the points from one input layer lying
inside a particular polygon. In this method the output layer is still a point layer but
has added attributes of the polygon feature from the second layer. The Fig. 1 in
Section 3.1, shows an example of point-in-polygon. Here the output layer is again
point layer but now the attribute information has additional data from layer two.
This method is similar to the previous one, only difference being that the input and
output layer is now line layer. Here the line feature can be divided into multiple
segment depending the polygon it lies within. As shown in Fig. 2, Section 3.2, the
output layer is again a line layer but each segment may be divided into additional
segment based attribute information of polygon layer. Thus, in point-in-polygon the
number of features remain the same and only attributes are added to the point
data. However, in line-in-polygon additional feature data is obtained due to division
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of line segment in various smaller segments based on the polygon of the overlay
layer.

Q3. Explain the errors due to spatial overlay analysis

Ans. Overlay method can result in errors, especially when polygon-in polygon
overlaying method is utilized for the vector layers. Slivers are a common error
produced when two slightly misaligned vector layers are overlain. Another source of
error is error propagation. Error propagation arises when inaccuracies are present
in the original input and overlay layers and are propagated through to the output
layer These errors can be related to positional inaccuracies of the points, lines, or
polygons.

Q4. What is weighting by rating approach?

Ans: The principle of not considering each input layer equally and assigning
weights according to relative influence level of each layer is known as weighted
overlay. Weighted linear sum is one of the approaches that is applied to a raster
dataset, grid cells are multiplied by the weights assigned to particular layer and
then the summation is done. The weighting can be done according to weighting by
rating, where the layers are first ranked and then each layer is given a score.

Q 5. Explain Boolean methods of spatial overlay analysis

Ans: The overlaying methods involve operations like Boolean algebra
comprising the logical comparison between the layers. The Boolean algebra
method allows the decision making for the categorical data. This overlaying
method allows creation of conditional statements, which results in a
true/false output layer. The various Boolean methods are Union, Intersect,
Exclusive disjunction and Negation. All the four methods are given in text in
section, 4.1.
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Q6. What is MCE?
Ans: Multi criteria evaluation is weighting method and is based on the Analytic
Hierarchy Process (AHP), given by Saaty (1980). The method utilizes a pairwise
comparison procedure for the derivation of factor weights. Using a 9-point rating
scale, each layer is compared to each other for its relative importance in developing
the final solution. The principal eigenvector of this matrix is then calculated to
derive the best-fit set of weights. To explain the method, the steps followed in the
method are given above in the text in section, 4.2.3.

MCQs
1. In weighting the layers if rank of the layer is y than the weight is (x-y+1)n,
where n determines the weights. What does n=0 imply
a) weighting is as rank sum
b) all criteria receive the same weight
c) neither is true
Ans: b
2. If max is 3.0 and number of factors considered is 3, what does CR value imply?

(where, RI=0.58)
a) acceptable
b) not acceptable
Ans: a
3. Point-in-polygon spatial overlay analysis can be applied to only
a) vector data
b) raster data
c) both
Ans: c
4. Point-in-polygon spatial overlay analysis adds to output layer
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 a) feature data
b) attribute data
c) both
Ans: b
5. Weights by rank can be employed using method
I. if rank is y than the weight is x-y+1
II. if rank is y than the weight is 1/y

a) only I
b) only II
c) neither I nor II
d) both I and II
Ans: d
6. Slivers is an error which results due to
a) point-in-polygon spatial overlay
b) line-in-polygon spatial overlay
c) polygon-in-polygon spatial overlay
Ans: c
7. The Boolean operator used for an intersection query is
a) OR
b) NOT
c) AND
d) XOR
Ans: c

8. In which type of overlay does the new layer show only the common features of
the input layers?
a) intersect
b) clip
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c) negation
d) union
Ans: a

Summary:
Overlay refers to the digital integration of location and attribute information of
several spatial layers. Thus, overlay analysis helps in analyzing various input layers
and provide new information like a wildfire vulnerability or hazard map. Overlay
operations available for use with data include the point-in-polygon, line-in-polygon
and polygon-in-polygon models. The methods to combine the various datasets
based on Boolean overlay include Union, intersection, difference, exclusion and
negation. The more complex method may include the weighting overlay analysis,
where in each dataset is not given equal importance. Allocation of weights can vary
considerably depending on the interests of the experts who are assigning the
weights. and influence the results. The MCE method tries to bring some rational to
weighting scheme based on the consistency ratio index calculated based on the
method given by Saaty, 1980.

Reference Books:
1. Geographic Information Systems An Introduction, 1990, Prentice Hall, New
Jersey
by Star, J. & Estes, J.
2. Introduction to Geographical Information Systems
by Kang-Tsung Chung
3. An Introduction to Geographical Information Systems, 2006
by Heywood, I.; Cornelius, S.; Carver, S. 20

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