Types of Transformation with real world examples:

1. Geometric Transformation:
Geometric transformation involves the process of altering the shape, size, orientation, or
position of geometric objects or features within a spatial dataset. Here are two real-world
examples:

a. Satellite Image Rectification:

Description: Satellite images often suffer from geometric distortions due to factors such as
sensor orientation, Earth curvature, and terrain relief. Rectification is the process of
transforming the image to remove these distortions and align it with a known map projection
or coordinate system.

Example: Consider a satellite image captured over a mountainous region. The terrain relief
causes geometric distortions, such as perspective effects and elevation variations. Through
geometric transformation, the image can be rectified to correct for these distortions, ensuring
accurate spatial relationships and measurements for applications like land cover mapping,
environmental monitoring, and urban planning.

b. Georeferencing Historical Maps:

Description: Historical maps, drawn before the widespread use of standardized coordinate
systems and map projections, often lack precise spatial reference information. Georeferencing
is the process of assigning spatial coordinates to points on the historical map by aligning it
with a modern reference map or dataset.

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Example: Suppose you have a scanned copy of a historical map depicting a city from the 19th
century. By georeferencing the map, you can align it with a contemporary map of the same
area, such as a digital orthophoto or a GIS dataset. This involves identifying common features
on both maps (e.g., prominent landmarks, street intersections) and using geometric
transformation to match corresponding points. Once georeferenced, the historical map can be
used for spatial analysis, cultural heritage preservation, and studying changes in urban
morphology over time.

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 2. Coordinate transformation:
Coordinate transformation involves the conversion of coordinates from one coordinate
system to another. Here are two real-world examples:

a. GPS Navigation:
Description: GPS devices use latitude and longitude coordinates (geographic coordinates) to
determine the position of a receiver on Earth's surface. However, maps and navigation
systems often use projected coordinate systems, such as Universal Transverse Mercator
(UTM), State Plane Coordinate System (SPCS), or local grid systems, for more accurate
distance measurements and map representations.

Example: When you use a GPS navigation app on your smartphone to get driving directions,
the app receives your current location as geographic coordinates (latitude and longitude) from
the GPS receiver. The app then performs a coordinate transformation to convert these
geographic coordinates to the projected coordinate system used by the digital map. This
transformation allows the app to display your location accurately on the map, calculate
distances, and provide turn-by-turn directions based on the projected coordinate system.

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 b. Parcel Mapping for Land Surveying:
Description: Land surveyors use coordinate transformation to accurately represent land
parcels and property boundaries on maps and legal documents. Survey measurements are
often collected in the field using total stations or GPS receivers and referenced to a local
coordinate system or survey control points. These measurements need to be transformed to a
standard coordinate system for compatibility with cadastral maps, property records, and GIS
databases.

Example: A land surveyor conducts a boundary survey for a new housing development using
GPS equipment to collect coordinate data for property corners and boundary lines. The
survey data is initially referenced to a local coordinate system established for the project area.
Before finalizing the survey report and property plats, the surveyor performs a coordinate
transformation to convert the survey data from the local coordinate system to a standardized
coordinate system, such as the State Plane Coordinate System (SPCS) or a global datum like
WGS84. This ensures that the survey measurements are compatible with existing cadastral
data, property records, and GIS layers maintained by government agencies and land
management organizations.

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 3. Topological transformation
Topological transformation involves altering the spatial relationships and connectivity of
geographic features while preserving their geometric shapes. Here are two real-world
examples:

a. Network Simplification in Transportation Planning:

Description: Transportation networks, such as road networks and public transit systems, are
often complex and detailed. In transportation planning and analysis, it's common to simplify
these networks to improve computational efficiency or to abstract them for higher-level
analysis.

Example: Consider a city's road network, which consists of numerous interconnected streets,
intersections, and highways. To model traffic flow or analyse accessibility, it may be
beneficial to simplify this network by reducing it to a skeleton representation consisting only
of major roads and key junctions. This topological transformation involves removing minor
roads and simplifying complex intersections while preserving essential connectivity and
spatial relationships. The simplified network can then be used for route planning, traffic
simulation, or urban transportation modelling.

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 b. Polygon Overlay in Environmental Management:
Description: Polygon overlay, also known as spatial intersection or union, involves
combining or merging multiple polygonal layers to identify spatial relationships and
overlapping areas between features.

Example: In environmental management, conservation planners often use polygon overlay to

assess habitat suitability, identify protected areas, and prioritize conservation efforts. For
instance, consider a conservation project aimed at identifying areas of high biodiversity value
by overlaying habitat distribution maps, ecological corridors, and land cover data. The
topological transformation involved in this process includes intersecting the habitat polygons
with the ecological corridors to identify critical wildlife corridors, unioning the resulting
polygons with the land cover data to assess habitat connectivity, and determining overlap
with existing protected areas to identify gaps in conservation coverage. This analysis helps
prioritize conservation actions and allocate resources effectively to protect ecologically
important areas and species habitats.

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Source: Honeck, E., Moilanen, A., Guinaudeau, B., Wyler, N., Schlaepfer, M. A., Martin, P., ... & Lehmann, A.
(2020). Implementing green infrastructure for the spatial planning of peri-urban areas in Geneva,
Switzerland. Sustainability, 12(4), 1387.

4. Raster transformation
Raster transformation involves modifying raster datasets through operations such as
resampling, reprojecting, or geometric adjustment. Here are two real-world examples:

a. Satellite Image Orthorectification:

Description: Satellite images often suffer from geometric distortions due to factors such as
sensor orientation, Earth curvature, and terrain relief. Orthorectification is the process of
geometrically correcting satellite images to remove these distortions and make them
compatible with map projections or ground truth.

Example: When satellite images are acquired, they contain distortions caused by the satellite's
position, altitude, and sensor characteristics. Orthorectification involves rectifying these
images by referencing them to a digital elevation model (DEM) and applying corrections for
terrain relief and sensor geometry. This process ensures that the resulting images have
accurate scale, shape, and spatial registration. Orthorectified images are widely used in

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applications such as land cover mapping, environmental monitoring, urban planning, and
natural resource management.

Source:

Source: https://www.intermap.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Ortho4image1.png?
width=1334&name=Ortho4image1.png

b. Digital Elevation Model (DEM) Resampling:

Description: Digital Elevation Models (DEMs) represent terrain elevation data as a grid of
regularly spaced elevation values. DEMs may have different spatial resolutions, which can
affect the level of detail and accuracy in terrain representation. Resampling is the process of
changing the spatial resolution of a DEM by interpolating elevation values to create a new
grid with a different cell size.

Example: Consider a project that requires integrating DEM data from multiple sources with
different spatial resolutions. To ensure consistency and compatibility, the DEMs need to be
resampled to a common spatial resolution. This involves interpolating elevation values to
generate a new grid with uniform cell sizes while preserving important terrain features and
characteristics. Resampled DEMs are used in various applications, including flood modelling,
slope analysis, viewshed analysis, and terrain visualization.

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 5. Attribute transformation
Attribute transformation involves modifying the attributes or properties associated with
spatial features in a geographic dataset. Here are two real-world examples:

a. Population Density Calculation:

Description: Population density is a commonly used attribute in spatial analysis, representing
the number of people per unit area in a given geographic area. Calculating population density
involves transforming population counts and geographic areas into a density measure.

Example: Consider a project aiming to analyse population distribution and density across a
city. Population data is available in the form of population counts for each census tract or
administrative unit within the city. To calculate population density, the population counts are
divided by the corresponding area of each unit, resulting in population density values (e.g.,
people per square kilometre or square mile) for each tract or unit. This attribute
transformation allows analysts to identify areas of high and low population density and to
make informed decisions in urban planning, resource allocation, and public policy.

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 b. Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) Calculation:

Description: NDVI is a vegetation index commonly derived from remote sensing data,
which measures the presence and health of vegetation in a given area. It is calculated based
on the ratio of the difference between near-infrared (NIR) and red reflectance to their sum.

Example: In agricultural monitoring, NDVI is used to assess crop health, monitor vegetation
growth, and detect changes in land cover. Remote sensing imagery, such as multispectral

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satellite images, provides reflectance values for NIR and red bands. NDVI values are
calculated for each pixel by applying the NDVI formula. The resulting NDVI raster
represents vegetation density and health, with high NDVI values indicating dense, healthy
vegetation and low values indicating sparse or stressed vegetation. This attribute
transformation enables agricultural experts and land managers to monitor crop conditions,
assess environmental impacts, and make informed decisions in crop management and land
use planning.

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References:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5vmP3i4Phnc&ab_channel=AdamCasbarian

https://in.images.search.yahoo.com/search/
images;_ylt=AwrPrFQ.T9dlBSwSp.C7HAx.;_ylu=Y29sbwNzZzMEcG9zAzEEdnRpZAMEc
2VjA3Bpdn

https://in.images.search.yahoo.com/search/
images;_ylt=Awr1UYbWT9dl9SYUJBW7HAx.;_ylu=Y29sbwNzZzMEcG9zAzEEdnRpZA
MEc2VjA3BpdnM-?p=attribute+transformation+with+

https://in.images.search.yahoo.com/search/images;_ylt=AwrKF4vpT9dlyjgnBbu9HAx.

https://www.cuemath.com/geometry/transformations/

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