Table of Contents
Exploring Geographic Information Systems
Second Edition
by Nicholas R. Chrisman
Preface
Call for participation in an exploration
Part 1: Building Blocks of Geographic Information
Introduction
- Explore a GIS in operation.
- Define a geographic information system in its historical
context.
Chapter 1: Measurement Basics
- Introduce reference systems for time, space and attributes.
- Extend Steven's levels of measurement to provide a richer
basis for attribute measurement.
Chapter 2: Measurement Frameworks
- Present a scheme to guide measurement of geographic phenomena.
- Provide examples of major measurement frameworks.
- Explain basic principles of two-dimensional topology.
Chapter 3: Representation
- Introduce the primitives used to represent spatial and
attribute measurements.
- Describe basic data structures: vector and raster.
- Follow steps that convert existing documents into digital
databases.
- Introduce components of data quality evaluation applied
to digitizing
Part 2: Transformations and Operations
Chapter 4: Attribute-based Operations
- Present operations that modify attributes without involving
spatial component.
- Demonstrate interactions of spatial and attribute components
caused by attribute operations.
Chapter 5: Overlay Integrates Disparate
Sources
- Review origins of map overlay analysis.
- Describe geometric operations that establish connections
between diverse sources.
- Present rules for combining attributes.
Chapter 6: Distance Transformations
- Construct vector buffers around isolated objects.
- Perform distance measurements and construct distance fields
for rasters.
- Introduce extended Voronoi representations of distance
relationships.
Chapter 7: Surfaces and Near Neighbors
- Describe properties of surfaces and how they are calculated.
- Review geometric component of neighborhood construction.
- Present rules for combining attributes discovered inside
a neighborhood.
Chapter 8: Comprehensive Operations
- Develop iterative operations that use neighborhoods to
reach more distant goals.
- Demonstrate linkage between location-allocation methods
and GIS
- Link goals of statistical analysis and GIS
Chapter 9: Transformations
- Review prior approaches to transformations in analytical
cartography.
- Describe operations to transform surface information between
measurement frameworks.
- Develop taxonomy for transformations: neighborhood and
attribute assumptions.
Part 3: The Broader Arena
Chapter 10: Evaluation and Implementation
- Review measures used to evaluate geographic information
systems.
- Describe procedures to implement a new GIS.
Chapter 11: Social and Institutional
Context
- Place geographic information in historical and cultural
context.
- Sketch the geography of geographic information worldwide.
- Consider institutional, social, and cultural consequences
of GIS.
Bibliography
Sources and Credits
Index
Version of 19 September 2001