GIS EXAM QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS WITH CERTIFIED SOLUTIONS

GIS EXAM QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS WITH CERTIFIED SOLUTIONS What is GIS? Definition must involve three elements: (1) GIS is a computer system, (2) GIS uses spatially referenced or geographical data, (3) GIS carries out various management and analysis tasks on these data A geographic information system is a system designed to capture, store, manipulate, analyse, manage, and present spatial or geographic data Why GIS can be difficult to define? Difficult to define because any definition of GIS will depend on who is giving it and their background and stance; definition also likely to change as technology advances GIS is frequently used in applications such as siting new industrial developments; What are the advantages of using GIS in this context? After identifying relevant siting factors and collecting appropriate data, digitising of data is possible GIS software can be used to combine data layers, representing different siting criteria After this overlay, the result is a map showing a number of locations suitable for the siting of a new industrial development All of this would be difficult/impossible to do so by hand What type of questions could GIS help environmental managers address? Where particular features are located; What geographical patterns exist; Where have changes occurred over a given period; Where do certain conditions apply; What will the spatial implications be if an organisation takes certain action What are the components of GIS? Hardware, software, spatial and attribute data, procedures for data management, analyses and implementation, people to operate the GIS What is Spatial Data? Data or information that identifies the geographic location of features and boundaries on Earth What is Attribute Data? Gives information about non-geographical characteristics, for example details of temperature, wind speed or direction Characteristics of spatial data What is Spatial referencing? Can be used to describe position. For example if the latitude and longitude of an object are known, the relative position of other objects and the proximity to features of interest can be deduced What are Spatial entities? To work in a GIS environment, real world observations (objects or events that can be recorded in 2D or 3D space) need to be reduced to spatial entities. Can be simplified into three basic spatial entity types: points,