Geographic Information Systems (GIS) for Libraries Seti Keshmiripour Graduate Library Assistant Research and Instructional Services UNT Libraries Spring 2014
Jul 16, 2015
GeographicInformationSystems(GIS)forLibraries
Seti Keshmiripour
GraduateLibraryAssistant
ResearchandInstructionalServices
UNTLibraries
Spring2014
Overview Background Definition GISData Layers AreasofGISApplications GISApplicationsinLibraries GISReferenceLibrarian GISToolsandSoftware HowtofindGISData Examples
Background
ThehistoryofGISgoesbackto60s Pioneers:Canada,HarvardUniversity,andEnvironmentalSystemResearchInstitute(ESRI)
GISproducers ESRI
Intergraph
ERDASImagine
HexagonGeospatial
MapInfo
Smallworld
Definition
GISanalyzedata,findpatterns,andassesstrendsinordertoanswerquestionsandmakedecisions.
GISprovidestoolstocreate,share,andusegeographicinformationwithothers.
GIScomponents:hardware,software,data,peopleandworkflows
Geographicalinformationincludes spatialinformation:wheresomethingis
attributeinformation:whatsomethingis
SpatialData‐ Vector
Representsfeatureswithdistinctboundariessuchashousesandrivers
Basedoncoordinate:Longitude&Latitude Points Polylines Polygons
SpatialData‐ Raster Rasterrepresentscontinuousdatawithoutdistinctboundariessuchaselevationandprecipitation.Itisagridofcells.
Cellsarearrangedinrowsandcolumns.Eachcellcontainsavalue.
AttributeData
Attributedetermineswhatsomethingisandusuallycontainsnameandtime.
Layers
Layerisasetoflogicallyrelatedgeographicfeaturesandtheirattributes
Thevisualrepresentationofageographicdatasetinanydigitalmapenvironment.
Differentlayersofinformationarecombinedtogethertoshowtheareasthatmatchesourcriteria.
AreasofGISApplication ResourcesManagement LandUsePlanning Defense UtilitiesandEnvironmentalMonitoring WildlifeBiology PublicHealth DemographicAnalysis BusinessPlanningandMarketing Agriculture WeatherandClimate Crimelocation DataVisualization …
GISApplicationsinLibraries
ResearchandAdministration UsingGISfordecisionmaking
Services Locatingbooksormappinglibrarycollection
Mappingsubjectcontent
Mappingandnetworkingsuppliersanddistributers
Userstudy
DatabasesandTools ProvidingaccesstosoftwaresuchasArcGIS
Offeringworkshopsandtrainingsessions
AssistingresearchersbyprovidingaccesstoGISandspatialdatabases
GISReferenceLibrarian
Tohaveknowledgeofgeospatialconceptsandtools
Tohaveskillstostructureproblemsinreferenceinterview
Knowledgeofgeospatialresources Web‐baseddatabasesandlibraries Nonweb‐baseddatabasesandlibraries
Tohelpusertofindgeographicaldatasets,geo‐spatialdata,etc.
GISTools&Software ArcGIS QGIShttp://www.qgis.org/en/site/ GRASSGIS(GeographicResourcesAnalysisSupportSystem)http://grass.osgeo.org/
Marblehttp://marble.kde.org/ OSGeo (OpenSourceGeospatialFoundation):“wascreatedtosupportthecollaborativedevelopmentofopensourcegeospatialsoftware,andpromoteitswidespreaduse”. http://www.osgeo.org/
HowtofindGISData
Governmentagencies,Organizations,Privategeographicagencies USCensushttps://www.census.gov/ ESRIhttp://www.esri.com/ DentonCountyGIShttp://dentoncounty.com/dept/main.asp?Dept=127
NorthCentralTexasCouncilofGovernments(NCTCOG)http://gis.dfwinfo.com/
What’sdone
CornellUniversityGeospatialInformationRepository(CUGIR)http://cugir.mannlib.cornell.edu/
HarvardGeospatialLibraryhttp://calvert.hul.harvard.edu:8080/opengeoportal/
WashingtonGeospatialDataArchive(WAGDA)http://wagda.lib.washington.edu/
UniversityofArizonaElectronicAtlashttp://uair.arizona.edu/item/292543
Examples
Hypotheticalsituation#1:DentonCountyisplanningonbuildinganewpubliclibrary.Theyneedtodecidewhereitshouldbelocatedinordertoservethelargestpopulation?
Proximityofthenewsitetotheareaswithhigherpopulationdensityisthecriterionfordecisionmaking.
Map of the U.S. census tracts (source: ESRI)
Making a layer of the census tracts of Texas
Making a layer of the census tracts of Denton county
Locations of the current public libraries and population density (darker area, higher population density)
Potential location
Examples
Hypotheticalsituation2:DentonCountypubliclibrariesisplanningonincreasingthebudgetofHispaniccollections.Whichpubliclibraryshouldreceivemorebudget?
ApubliclibrarylocatedneartheareaswithhigherHispanicpopulationdensityshouldreceivemoremoney.
Locations of the current public libraries and Hispanic population density (darker area, higher Hispanic population density)
Potential location
Potential location
References ESRI(2014).Retrievedfromhttp://www.esri.com/
Hanson,A.,Heron,S.,&Reehling,P.(2008). Integratinggeographicinformationsystemsintolibraryservices:Aguideforacademiclibraries.Hershey:InformationSciencePub.
LibrariesinDentonCounty(2014).Retrievedfromhttp://dentoncounty.com/other/libraries.asp
Phadke,D.N.(2006). GeographicalInformationSystems(GIS)inlibraryandinformationservices.NewDelhi,India:ConceptPublishingCompany.