MODULE 7.
SPATIAL DATA QUALITY
How well do spatial
objects/models represent
the real world?
6.1 Introduction
• The purpose of any GIS application is to provide
information to support planning and management.
• It is also intended to reduce uncertainty in
decision making.
• With the voluminous amounts of geospatial data
being created and served to the GIS community,
care must be taken by individual users to ensure
that the data employed for their project is suitable
for the task at hand
• GIS Data quality refers to the ability of a
given dataset to satisfy the objective for
which it was created.
• With the voluminous amounts of geospatial
data being created and served to the GIS
community, care must be taken by individual
users to ensure that the data employed for
their project is suitable for the task at hand
• Data quality is a pillar in any GIS
implementation and application as reliable
data are indispensable to allow the user
obtaining meaningful results
• Four primary components that characterize
data quality are –
Accuracy
Precision
Consistency
Completeness
6.2 Spatial Data Quality Components
6.2.1 Spatial Accuracy
• Accuracy of data is among the
most important of technical issues
in GIS
• Accuracy in GIS is the degree
to which information on a map
matches real-world values.
• Spatial accuracy refers to
quantifying errors in the locations
of boundaries.
• Data accuracy, as the essential standard of data
quality, therefore refers to the consistency of data
with reality.
• Because more conformity means more accuracy, so
the accurate data must reflect the information you
require.
• This also means that the data is error-free and has a
reliable and consistent source of information.
• Therefore, even though it may not be possible to get
100% truth, you should target to reach the optimum.
• Spatial Data accuracy means data without error that can be
used as an authentic source of information to make critical
decisions.
• Spatial data accuracy measures “how close the estimate of a
parameter from sample data is to its true value
A lake feature that has been shifted .
6.2.2Temporal accuracy
• The temporal accuracy refers to data that
has a time components
• Temporal accuracy is often equated with
‘currentness’
• Temporal accuracy addresses the age or
timeliness of a dataset.
• To address temporal accuracy, many
datasets undergo a regular data update
6.2.3Thematic accuracy
• Thematic accuracy refers to how well the class name on
the map correspond to what is really on the ground
• Thematic accuracy deals with evaluating the accuracy of
the attributes or labels of mapped features by comparing
them to a reference that is assumed to be true.
• In remote sensing applications, thematic accuracy refers
to the accurate measurement of the mapped land cover
category at a specific location in comparison to the actual
classification of these reference locations on the ground.
• For example a forest should not be captured as a golf
course
6.3 Precision/reliability
• Data Precision is the agreement among repeated
measurements of the same variable.
• Precision refers to the variance of a value when
repeated measurements are taken.
• Precision is how consistent results are when
measurements are repeated.
• As you can see in the Figure "Accuracy and
Precision", the blue darts are both precise and
accurate, while the red darts are precise but
inaccurate.
Accuracy is
measuring near the
target/true value
while Precision is
getting consistent
results of repeated
measurements.
• Precision is how close measure values are to
each other, basically how many decimal places
are at the end of a given measurement.
• Failure to understand the tension between
precision and accuracy can have profound
negative effects on how one processes data, and
the final outcome of geospatial analysis.
• There are three types of precision – SPATIAL
RESOLUTION, TEMPORAL RESOLUTION AND
THEMATIC RESOLUTION
a) Spatial resolution
• This defines the
minimum size of
objects on the
ground that can be
detected.
• The smallest
object that can be
resolved by the
sensor,
b) Temporal resolution
• Temporal resolution refers to the frequency at which
imagery is recorded for a particular area.
• Higher temporal resolution simply means that the
satellite revisits and captures data of a specific site
more frequently
• Higher temporal resolution simply means that the
satellite revisits and captures data of a specific site
more frequently.
• A satellite with temporal resolution of 1 day is said to
have a higher temporal resolution relative to a satellite
with temporal resolution of 15 days.
The amount of time needed
to revisit and acquire data for
the exact same location
c) Thematic resolution
• The thematic resolution of mapped data
determines the amount of detail of
geospatial information, and it influences
various aspects of landscape
classification and the relevance of
derived pattern attributes to particular
ecological questions
6.4 Data completeness
• Relationship between object in the database
and the abstract universe of all such objects
• The presence or absence of features, their
attributes, and relationships in a data model.
• Comprehensive inclusion of all features within
the GIS database is required to ensure
accurate mapping results. Simply put, all the
data must be present for a dataset to be
accurate.
EXAMPLE –
• Are all of the counties in Kenya represented in
a map?
• Are all of the stream segments included in the
river network?
• Are all roads under study included in the map?
• Are all satellite images included in the
spatiotemporal analysis
6.5 logical consistency
• Compliance with topological rules as an aspect
of data quality called logical consistency.
• Topology is the spatial relationships between
adjacent or neighboring features.
• Features that do not conform to the rules
should be identified and corrected. For
example –
a. Overshoots and gaps in road networks of gaps in land
parcels is not permitted.
b. Roads or rivers should connect at nodes?
END OF PRESENTATION
THANK YOU AND GOOD LUCK