Untitled Flashcards Set

I. Introduction

🌎 What are GIS, GPS, and Remote Sensing?

• GIS (Geographic Information System): A computer tool that helps us see and understand maps and data.

• GPS (Global Positioning System): Helps us find locations using satellites (like Google Maps!).

• Remote Sensing: Uses cameras and sensors from planes or satellites to take pictures of the Earth.

👩‍🏫 Who Uses These?

• Meteorologists (weather forecasters)

• Scientists studying forests and oceans

• City planners making roads and buildings

🗺 What is VGI (Volunteered Geographic Information)?

• People share location data (like reporting a pothole in an app!).

• Not VGI: A weather report made by scientists.

🌍 What is Google Earth?

• A tool that lets you see anywhere in the world with satellite images.

📍 Geolocation vs. Geotags

• Geolocation: Finding a place on a map (like where your phone is).

• Geotags: Location info attached to a photo or post (like tagging a restaurant in a picture).

II. The Artistic Side of Maps

🖌 Cartography: The art of making maps!

👀 Visual Hierarchy:

• Making important things big and bold on a map (like big city names).

🗺 What Makes a Good Map?

• Easy to read

• Has a title, legend, and scale

• Uses colors that make sense

🔍 Small Scale vs. Large Scale Maps

• Small Scale: Shows a big area (like a world map).

• Large Scale: Shows a small area with more details (like your neighborhood).

📏 RF (Representative Fraction):

• A math way to show how big or small a map is (like 1:10,000 means 1 inch = 10,000 inches in real life).

📌 Types of Maps:

• Reference Maps: Show real places (like road maps).

• Thematic Maps: Show data (like a map of where most dogs live!).

🎨 Choropleth Maps & Cartograms:

• Choropleth Map: Uses colors to show data (like blue for rainy places, yellow for dry).

• Cartogram: Changes the size of places based on numbers (like a huge Texas if we map BBQ restaurants!).

III. Cartography & Shape of Earth

🌍 Geoid: Earth’s real shape—not a perfect sphere!

📍 Latitude vs. Longitude:

• Latitude: 🌞 Left to right (equator!)

• Longitude: 🧭 Up and down (like long poles!)

📍 Geodetic Datum, Geographic Coordinate System, Projected Coordinate Systems

• Geodetic Datum: Exact starting points for measuring Earth.

• Geographic Coordinate System: Uses latitude & longitude to find places.

• Projected Coordinate System: Turns our round Earth into a flat map.

🔄 Map Projections (Fixing Distortion!):

• Mercator: Good for direction, but makes Greenland huge!

• Winkel Tripel: Best for shapes and sizes (used by National Geographic!).

• Indicatrix: A tool that shows how much a map stretches or squishes places.

IV. GIS Data Models

📖 History of GIS:

• Started in the 1960s to help map and analyze places.

🗺 3 Types of Map Projections:

1. Cylindrical: Wraps the map like a cylinder (Mercator).

2. Conic: Puts a cone over part of Earth (good for US maps).

3. Azimuthal: A circle view from the top (used for poles).

🗺 Vector vs. Raster Data:

• Vector: Uses dots, lines, and shapes (like a road map).

• Raster: Uses pixels (like a satellite image).

🔗 Topology:

• How things connect in maps (like streets meeting at an intersection!).

V. GIS Data Models II

📊 Attribute Tables:

• Data tables that describe things on a map (like store names on a shopping map).

📁 File Extensions for Maps:

• Vector files: .shp, .kml

• Raster files: .tiff, .jpeg

📑 Metadata:

• Info about the data (like when a map was made, who made it).

📏 Types of Data:

• Nominal: Names (like cities: Phoenix, Tucson).

• Ordinal: Ordered (like small, medium, large).

• Interval: Numbers with no true zero (temperature: 0°F is not "nothing").

• Ratio: Numbers with a true zero (like weight, distance).

VI. Spatial Analysis

🗺 What is Spatial Analysis?

• Finding patterns in maps (like where most traffic accidents happen).

VII. Attribute Data

❓ Queries (Finding Data in a Map!)

• Basic Query: Asking one thing (Find all parks).

• Compound Query: Asking two things (Find parks in Phoenix).

🔢 Operators:

• =, >, <, >=, <= (For example: Find cities bigger than 1 million people!)

🤖 Boolean Operators:

• AND (Both things must be true)

• OR (Either thing can be true)

• NOT (Leave something out)

VIII. Vector Analysis

📍 Selection by Location:

• Find things near each other (like stores near your house).

⚙ Geoprocessing (Changing Maps!):

• Buffer: A safety zone around something (like 5 miles around a school).

• Dissolve: Merges things together (like combining states into regions).

• Union: Combines two layers (like a parks map + rivers map).

• Intersection: Shows only overlapping areas (like forests that are in a national park).

• Identity: Keeps one layer's shape and adds info from another.

• Symmetrical Difference: Keeps only the parts that don’t overlap!