SR

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!