BScIT Semester 6,

PGIS Unit 1,
Chapter 01
Introduction

By
Pushpa Mahapatro
 • 1963: Computing comes of age (Establishment of the Urban and
Regional Information System Association URISA and and the first
GIS Conference in Ottowa, Canada in 1963).
History of • 1964: Canada GIS-Roger Tomlinson “Father of GIS”
GIS • 1964: Harvard Lab for Computer Graphics and Spatial Analysis
• 1970s GIS software evolves rapidly (more GIS companies appeared
• e.g. Intergraph, ESRI, Governmental departments introduced GIS
• e.g. The US Bureau of the Census)
• 1980s GIS software advances significantly (more budget and human
resources allocated for GIS, by the end of 1980s more than 4000
GIS/CAD software are introduced)
• Digital data becomes available (TIGER, World Data Bank, DIME)
• 1990s (integration of Raster and Vector based systems, Multi-media
• GIS, software become more user friendly)
• 2000: Web-based GIS
Disadvantages of the manual methods

Data can not

Long time for
be managed
processing
efficiently

Low
Subject to
cost/benefit
human errors
ratio
 Why GIS: Advantages of GIS

Data can be High

Time Accuracy
managed cost/benefit
minimization improvement
efficiently ratio
 Software

Operating System Graphic software Statistical

Database software
(OS) - (CAD, packages (SPSS,
(dBASE, Oracle)
WindowsY2K/NT Microstation) SAS, Minitab)

Word processing Image processing GIS systems Presentation (Ms

(Ms Word, Word (IDRISI, ER (Arc/Info, ArcView, PowerPoint, Coral
Perfect) Mapper) MapInfo) Draw)
 Selection of a GIS system

Selection of a GIS systems depends on many factors e.g. the budget,

purpose, and functions of the system

For small companies and educational institutions, low cost

systems are suitable

e.g. ArcView and IDRISI

For big companies a GIS system that provides multi-functions is

necessary this may be at a high cost e.g. Arc/Info NT 8.0
 GIS functions
• Data acquisition/Input (spatial and non-spatial)
• Data processing (manipulation ,data management)
• Data analysis (Spatial & statistical analysis)
• Data storage (Store data more efficiently)

• Data output (Maps, graphs, tables, reports)

 Foresters - timber inventory

Fire, police, ambulance - 911 and emergency vehicle routing

GIS Military - logistics and battle plans

Applications Telecommunications - siting cellular transmission towers

Local to national scale government - city planning, zoning, natural resources,

etc.

Academia - used by many other disciplines outside of geography

 • Principles of Geographic
An introductory Text Book Information Systems
1.1 The
• As the name suggests, a GIS is a

nature of tool for working with geographic

information.
• GIS have rapidly developed since
the late 1970’s in terms of both

GIS technical and processing capabilities,

and today are widely used all over
the world for a wide range of
purposes.
 Areas:

An urban planner: might want to assess the extent of urban fringe growth in her/his city

A biologist might be interested in the impact of slash- and-burn practices on

the populations of amphibian species in the forests of a mountain range to

obtain a better understanding of long-term threats to those populations;

A natural hazard analyst might like to identify the high- risk areas of annual monsoon-
related flooding by investigating rainfall patterns and terrain characteristics;
A geological engineer might want to identify the best localities for construction

A mining engineer could be interested in determining which prospective

copper mines should be selected for future exploration

A geoinformatics engineer hired by a telecommunications company may want to

determine the best sites for the company’s relay stations

A forest manager might want to optimize timber production
using data on

soil and current tree stand distributions

A hydrological engineer might want to study a number of

water quality parameters of different sites in a freshwater
lake to improve understanding of the current distribution
1.1.1 Some fundamental observations

Our world is dynamic. Many aspects of our daily lives and our
environment are constantly changing, and not always for the
better.

Some of these changes appear to have natural causes (e.g.

volcanic eruptions, meteorite impacts), while

others are the result of human modification of the

environment
There are also a large number of global changes for
which the cause remains un-clear: these include
global warming, the El Nino/La Nina events, or at
smaller scales, landslides and soil erosion.

In summary, we can say that changes to the

Earth’s geography can have natural or man-
made causes, or a mix of both .
 1.1.2 Defining GIS

A GIS is a computer-based
system that provides the
following four sets of •Data capture and preparation
capabilities to handle geo-
referenced data:

Data management, •Data manipulation and analysis

including storage and
maintenance •Data presentation
This implies that a GIS user can expect support from the system to enter
(geo-referenced) data, to analyse it in various ways, and to produce
presentations (including maps and other types) from the data.

This would include support for various kinds of coordinate systems and
transformations between them.
 Data capture and
preparation
In the El Nino case, data capture
This is achieved by placing buoys
refers to the collection of sea
with measuring equipment at
water temperatures and wind
various places in the ocean.
speed measurements.

It measures a number of things:

wind speed and direction; air For the sake of our example we
temperature and humidity; and will focus on sea surface
sea water temperature at the temperature (SST) and wind
surface and at various depths speed (WS).
down to 500 metres.

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The buoys have been anchored, so they are stationary.

Occasional malfunctioning is caused by high seas and bad

weather or by the buoys becoming entangled in long-line
fishing nets.

All the data that a buoy obtains through its thermometers

and other sensors, as well as the buoy’s geographic position
are transmitted by satellite communication daily.
 Data management

How best to represent our

It refers to the storage and Data to be put in digital
data, both in terms of
maintenance of the data form, that is, it has been
their spatial properties and
transmitted by the buoys converted into computer-
the various attribute
via satellite readable format, so that
values which we need to
communication. we can begin our analysis.
store.
 Data manipulation and analysis

Two lower figures provide

The data being presented are comparisons with ‘the normal
The initial (buoy) data have
based on the monthly averages situation’, which probably
been generalized from 70 point
for SST and WS (for two means that a comparison was
measurements
months). made with the December
averages of several years.
 Steps:

Data is geo-referenced if it The average SST for each The monthly average SST
is associated with some month was computed, was taken together with
position on the Earth’s using the daily SST the geographic location, to
surface, by using a spatial measurements for that obtain a geo- referenced
reference system. month. list of averages.
3. Through spatial interpolation, the estimated SST of other
positions in the study are were computed.

4. Obtained data about average SST for the month of December

for a series of years. This too may have been spatially interpolated
to obtain a ‘normal situation’ December data set of a fine
resolution.
Data presentation

• The data presentation phase deals with putting it all

together into a format that communicates the result of
data analysis in the best possible way.
 What the message
who the audience
is that we want to
is,
portray,

what kind of
which rules of
presentation
aesthetics apply,
medium will be
Issues: used,
and

what techniques
are available for
representation
 1.1.3 GISystems, GIScience and GIS applications

geographic information system — in the

‘narrow’ sense—in terms of its functions as a

computerized system that facilitates the phases of
data entry, data management, data analysis and data
presentation specifically for dealing with
georeferenced data.
The discipline that deals with all aspects of the handling of spatial
data and geoinformation is called geographic information science.

Include geoinformatics, geomatics, and spatial information

science

It is also important to be aware of the difference between a

geographic information system and and a GIS application
• Project-based GIS applications usually have a clear-cut
purpose, and these applications can be short-lived: the
research is carried out by collecting data, entering data in
the GIS, analysing the data, and producing informative
maps.
 1.1.4 Spatial data and geoinformation

Data: representations that can be operated upon by a

computer.
spatial data: contains positional values, such as (x,y) co-
ordinates.
geospatial data: refers to spatial data that is
georeferenced.
Information: data that has been interpreted by a human being. Humans work with
and act upon information, not data. Human perception and mental processing leads
to information, and hopefully understanding and knowledge.

• Geoinformation: is a specific type of information resulting

from the interpretation of spatial data.
 Key components Data quality parameters:

attribute accuracy
positional accuracy temporal accuracy
(e.g. in labelling of
(both horizontal and (that the data is up
features or of
vertical), to date),
classifications),

Completeness (if the

Lineage (history of logical consistency
data set represents
the data including (that the data is
all related features
sources), logically structured)
of reality)
 Reasons:

Even when source data, such as official topographic maps, have been
subject to stringent quality control, errors are introduced when these
data are input to GIS.

Unlike a conventional map, which is essentially a single product, a GIS

database normally contains data from different sources of varying
quality.
3. Unlike topographic or cadastral databases, natural resource
databases contain data that are inherently uncertain and
therefore not suited to conventional quality control procedures.

• 4. Most GIS analysis operations will themselves introduce

errors.
 1.2 The real world and representations
of it

• GIS is as a tool to help us make decisions e.g. best

location for a new facility
• We need to restrict ourselves to ‘some part’ of the real
world simply because it cannot be represented
completely.
• All the data it can possibly generate for us in the future
will be based upon the information which we provide the
system with.
 Modelling’ is a term used in many different ways
and which has many different meanings.

1.2.1 Models
A representation of some part of the real world
and can be considered a model because the
representation will have certain characteristics in
modelling common with the real world.

We can change the data or alter the parameters of

the model, and investigate the effects of the
changes.
Model types:

A database can store a

Map: A map is a miniature
Databases are another considerable amount of
representation of some
important class of models. data, and also provides
part of the real world.
various functions to

operate on the stored data.

The collection of stored
data represents some real
world phenomena, so it
too is a model
1.2.2 Maps

• Maps are perhaps the best known (conventional)

models of the real world.
• Their conception and design has developed into a science
with a high degree of sophistication. A disadvantage of
the traditional paper map is that it is generally restricted
to two-dimensional static representations, and that it is
always displayed in a fixed scale.
 A map is always a graphic representation at a certain level of detail,
which is determined by the scale. Map sheets have physical boundaries,
and features spanning two map sheets have to be cut into pieces.

Cartography, as the science and art of map making, functions as an

interpreter, translating real world phenomena (primary data) into
correct, clear and understandable representations for our use.
• Digital maps: With the advent of computer
systems, analogue cartography developed into
digital cartography, and computers play an
integral part in modern cartography.
• Alongside this trend, the role of the map has
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also changed accordingly, and the dominance
of paper maps is eroding in today’s
increasingly ‘digital’ world.
 1.2.3 Databases

A database is a repository for storing large amounts of data. It comes

with a number of useful functions:

A database can be used by multiple users at the same time—i.e. it

allows concurrent use,

A database offers a number of techniques for storing data and allows

the use of the most efficient one—i.e. it supports
storage optimization
 3. A database allows the imposition of rules on the stored data; rules that will be
automatically checked after each update to the data—i.e. it supports data integrity,

A database offers an easy to use data

manipulation language, which allows the
execution of all sorts of data extraction and data
updates—i.e. it has a query facility,

A database will try to execute each query

in the data manipulation language in the
most efficient way—i.e. it offers query
optimization.
Databases can store almost any kind of data.

A database may have many such tables, each of which

stores data of a certain kind.

It is not uncommon for a table to have many thousands

of data rows, sometimes even hundreds of thousands.
1.2.4 Spatial databases and
spatial analysis

• A GIS must store its data in some way. For this purpose the previous
generation of software was equipped with relatively rudimentary facilities.
• Spatial databases (also known as geodatabases) have
emerged.
• They can store representations of real world geographic phenomena for use
in a GIS.
• They use additional techniques
• A geodatabase is not the same thing as a GIS, though both
systems share a number of characteristics. These include
the functions listed above for databases in general.
• A GIS, on the other hand, is tailored to operate on
spatial data. It ‘knows’ about spatial reference
systems, and supports all kinds of analyses that are
inherently geographic in nature, such as distance and
area computations and spatial interpolation.
Geographic information
and Spatial data types

Chapter 2
2.1 Models and representations of the
real world

These representations are

GISs to help analyse and made up of spatial data,
understand more about stored in memory in the
processes and phenomena form of bits and bytes, on
in the real world. media such as the hard
drive of a computer.
• In order to better understand both our representation of the
phenomena, and our eventual output from any analysis, we can use
the GIS to create visualizations from the computer representation,
either on-screen, printed on paper, or otherwise.
• Representation is depends on two issues:
• What original, raw data (from sensors or otherwise) is available
• what sort of data manipulation is required or will be undertaken
2.2 Geographic phenomena

• 2.2.1 Defining geographic phenomena

• A GIS operates under the assumption that the relevant spatial
phenomena occur in a two- or three-dimensional Euclidean space .
• Euclidean space can be informally defined as a model of space in which
locations are represented by coordinates—(x,y) in 2D; (x,y,z) in 3D—and
distance and direction can defined with geometric formulas. In the 2D case,
this is known as the
• Euclidean plane, which is the most common Euclidean space in GIS
use.
• geographic phenomenon as a manifestation of an entity or process of
interest that:
• Can be named or described ,
• Can be georeferenced, and
• Can be assigned a time (interval) at which it is/was present.
• Objectives of the application:
• The relevant phenomena for a given application depends entirely on
one’s objectives.
• In water management, the objects of study might be river basins, agro-
ecologic units, measurements of actual evapotranspiration,
meteorological data, ground water levels, irrigation levels, water budgets
and measurements of total water use.
2.2.2 Types of geographic phenomena

A (geographic) field is a
geographic phenomenon for
Firstly, In order to be able to
which, for every point in the
represent a phenomenon in a
study area, a value can be
GIS requires us to state what it
determined. Examples are air
is, and where it is.
temperature, barometric
pressure and elevation
 (Geographic) objects populate
the study area, and are usually A simple rule-of-thumb is that
well-distinguished, discrete, natural geographic phenomena
and bounded entities. The are usually fields, and man-
space between them is made phenomena are usually
potentially ‘empty’ or objects.
undetermined.
2.2.3 Geographic fields

• A field is a geographic phenomenon that has a value

‘everywhere’ in the study area. We can therefore think of
a field as a mathematical function f that associates a
specific value with any position in the study area. Hence if
(x,y) is a position in the study area, then f(x,y) stands for
the value of the field f at locality (x,y).
• Types of fields:
• Continuous field, the underlying function is assumed to
be ‘mathematically smooth’, meaning that the field
values along any path through the study area do not
change abruptly, but only gradually.
• Good examples of continuous fields are air temperature,
barometric pressure, soil salinity and elevation.
 For example, if the field is
A continuous field can even be elevation, this measure would be
differentiable, meaning we can slope, i.e. the change of elevation
determine a measure of change in per metre distance; if the field is
the field value per unit of distance soil salinity, it would be salinity
anywhere and in any direction. gradient, i.e. the change of
salinity per metre distance.
 Discrete fields divide the Typical examples are land
study space in mutually classifications, for instance,
exclusive, bounded parts, using either geological
with all locations in one classes, soil type, land use
part having the same field type, crop type or natural
value. vegetation type.
Data types and values:

Nominal data values are values

that provide a name or identifier Ordinal data values are data
so that we can discriminate values that can be put in some
between different values. We natural sequence but that do not
cannot do true computations allow any other type of
with these values. Also called as computation.
categorical data.
3. Interval data values are quantitative, in that they allow
simple forms of computation like addition and
subtraction.
4. Ratio data values allow most, if not all, forms of arithm
etic computation.
Qualitative and quantitative Data:
Ordinal data refers to a ranking
scheme or some kind of
Interval and ratio data is known as
Nominal and categorical data hierarchical phenomena. Road
‘quantitative’ data, as it refers to
values as ‘qualitative’ data networks, for example, are made
quantities.
up of motorways, main roads,
and residential streets.
 2.2.4 Geographic objects

When a geographic phenomenon is not present everywhere

in the study area, but somehow ‘sparsely’ populates it, we
look at it as a collection of geographic objects.

Orientation (in
Location Shape (what Size (how big is
which direction
(where is it?), form is it?), it?), and
is it facing?).
• For example:
• Which part of the road
network is within 5 km of a
petrol station? (A coverage
question)
• What is the shortest route
between two cities via the
road network? (A
connectedness question)
• How many cars can
optimally travel from one
city to another in an hour?
(A capacity question)
• Example2?
2.2.5 Boundaries

Where shape and/or size of

contiguous areas matter, the Location, shape and size are
notion of boundary comes into fully determined if we know an
play. This is true for geographic area’s boundary, so the
objects but also for the boundary is a good candidate
constituents of a discrete for representing it.
geographic field.
 A crisp boundary is one
Fuzzy boundaries contrast
that can be determined
with crisp boundaries in
with almost arbitrary
that the boundary is not a
precision, dependent only
precise line, but rather
on the data acquisition
itself an area of transition.
technique applied.
 2.3 Computer representations of
geographic information

1 2 3 4
In order to represent Try to store as many Try to find a symbolic like (3.0678 x2 + 20.08x
such a phenomenon (location, elevation) representation of the − 7.34y) or so—which
faithfully in computer observation pairs as elevation field function, can be evaluated to
memory, we could possible as a formula in x and y give us the elevation at
either: — any given (x, y)
location.
Drawbacks:
• The first suffers from the fact that we will never be able to store all
elevation values for all locations; after all, there are infinitely many
locations.
• The second approach suffers from the fact that we do not know just
what this function should look like, and that it would be extremely
difficult to derive such a function for larger areas.
Interpolating sample values:
But smarter interpolation functions
A simple and commonly used
(involving more than a single stored
interpolation function takes the
value), can be used as well, as may
elevation value of the nearest
be understood from the SST
location that is stored.
interpolations.
 2.3.1 Regular tessellations

A tessellation (or tiling) is a partitioning of space into mutually exclusive cells

that together make up the complete study space. With each cell, some
(thematic) value is associated to characterize that part of space.

Three regular tessellation types are illustrated in Figure

In a regular tessellation, the cells are the same shape and size. The
simplest example is a rectangular raster of unit squares, represented in a
computer in the 2D case as an array of n × m elements
To improve on this continuity issue, we can do two things:

•Make the cell size smaller, so as to make the ‘continuity gaps’ between the
cells smaller, and/or

•Assume that a cell value only represents elevation for one specific location in
the cell, and to provide a good interpolation function for all other

locations that has the continuity characteristic.

 2.3.2 Irregular tessellations

These are partitions of space into mutually disjoint cells, but now the
cells may vary in size and shape, allowing them to adapt to the spatial
phenomena that they represent.

More adaptive, which typically leads to a reduction in the amount of

memory used to store the data.

A well-known data structure in this family—upon which many more

variations have been based—is the region quadtree.
 Quadtree

Figure shows a small The procedure

This procedure stops
8×8 raster with four quadrants, which produces an upside-
when all the cells in
three possible field are called NW, NE, SE, down, tree- like
a quadrant have the
values: white, green SW structure, known as a
same field value.
and blue. quadtree.
Quadtrees are adaptive because they apply the spatial
autocorrelation principle, i.e. that locations that are near in space
are likely to have similar field values. quadtree provides a nested
tessellation : quadrants are only split if they have two or more values.
 • An attempt is made to explicitly associate
2.3.3 Vector georeferences with the geographic phenomena.
A georeference is a coordinate pair from some

representations geographic space, and is also known as a vector.

Triangulated Irregular Networks
• It is one of the standard implementation techniques for digital terrain models, but it can be
used to represent any continuous field.
• It is built from a set of locations for which we have a measurement, for instance an elevation.
The locations can be arbitrarily scattered in space, and are usually not on a nice regular grid.
 Point representations

Points are defined as single coordinate pairs (x,y) when we work in 2D, or coordinate
triplets (x,y,z) when we work in 3D.

Points are used to represent objects that are best described as shape- and size-less, one-
dimensional features. It depends on the purposes of the spatial application and also on
the spatial extent of the objects compared to the scale applied in the application.
 Line representations

Line data are used to

The two end nodes and
represent one- GISs therefore
zero or more internal
dimensional objects such approximate such features
nodes or vertices define a
as roads, railroads, canals, (finitely!) as lists of nodes.
line.
rivers and power lines.

Other terms for ’line’ that

are commonly Nodes and
vertices used in some GISs
are polyline, arc or edge.
Area representations
• When area objects are
stored using a vector
approach, the usual
technique is to apply a
boundary model. This
means that each area
feature is represented by
some arc/node structure
that determines a polygon
as the area’s boundary.
A simple but natıve representation of area features
would be to list for each polygon simply the list of lines
that describes its boundary.

Data redundancy:
• The line that makes up the boundary between them is the
same, which means that using the above representation the
line would be stored twice, namely once for each polygon.
• The boundary model is an
improved representation
that deals with these
disadvantages. It stores
parts of a polygon’s
boundary as non-looping
arcs and indicates which
polygon is on the left and
which is on the right of
each arc.
2.3.4 Topology and spatial
relationships
• General spatial topology:
• Topology deals with spatial
properties that do not
change under certain
transformations. For
example, features drawn
on a sheet of rubber can be
made to change in shape
and size by stretching and
pulling the sheet.
• Some properties of these features do not change:
• Area E is still inside area D,
• The neighbourhood relationships between A, B, C, D and
E stay intact, and their boundaries have the same start and
end nodes, and
• The areas are still bounded by the same boundaries, only
the shapes and lengths of their perimeters have changed.
 Topological properties:
Topological relationships are built from
simple elements into more complex These relationships are invariant under
elements: nodes define line segments, a continuous transformation, referred
and line segments connect to define to as a topological mapping.
lines, which in turn define polygons.
 Aspects of topology:

Using simplices, we will look

at how simple elements Examine the logical aspects
(points) can be combined to of topological relationships
define more complex ones using set-theory.
(lines and polygons).
• To provide ‘topological sensitivity’ simple building blocks have
been proposed with which more complicated representations
can be constructed:
• We can define within the topological space, features that are
easy to handle and that can be used as representations of
geographic objects. These features are called simplices.
• When we combine various simplices into a single feature, we
obtain a simplicial complex.
The topology of two dimensions:

• Interior and exterior:

• Interior of a region R as the
largest set of points of R for
which we can construct a disk-
like environment around it
(no matter how small) that
also falls completely inside R.
• Example: A and B meet
A set of rules
defines the
topological
consistency of
that space.
The three-dimensional case:

Many application domains make use

Solid representation is an important
of elevational, but these are usually It has an additional z-value with each
feature for some dedicated GIS
accommodated by so-called 2half D 0-simplex (‘node’).
application domains.
data structures.

Two of these are worth mentioning

here: mineral exploration, where
solids are used to represent ore
bodies, and urban models, where
solids may represent various human
constructions like buildings and
sewer canals.
• A solid can be defined as a true 3D object. An important class of solids in
3D GIS is formed by the polyhedra, which are the solids limited by planar
facets.
 • Map scale:
2.3.5 Scale • can be defined as the ratio between the
distance on a paper map and the distance of
and the same stretch in the terrain.
resolution • A 1:50,000 scale map means that 1 cm on
the map represents 50,000 cm, i.e. 500 m,
in the terrain.
• Large-scale’ maps means that the ratio is large,
so typically it means there is much detail, as in
a 1:1,000 paper map.
• ‘Small-scale’ in contrast means a small ratio,
hence less detail, as in a 1:2,500,000 paper map
• When digital spatial data sets have been
collected with a specific map-making purpose in
mind, and these maps were designed to be of a
single map scale, like 1:25,000, we might
suppose that the data carries the
• characteristics of “a 1:25,000 digital data set.”
2.3.6 Representations of
geographic
fields • Raster representation of a
field: A raster can be
thought of as a long list of
field values: actually, there
should be m × n such
values.
• The integer values
for m and n , and a
data type indicator
for interpreting cell
values.
Vector representation of a
field:
• An isoline is a linear feature
that connects the points
with equal field value.
When the field is Isoline
elevation or contour lines.
 2.3.7 Representation of geographic objects

The representation of geographic objects is most

naturally supported with vectors.

Tessellations to represent geographic objects:

• Remotely sensed images are an important data source for
GIS applications. Unprocessed digital images contain
many pixels, with each pixel carrying a reflectance value.
Vector representations for geographic
objects:
2.4 Organizing and managing spatial data

• A spatial data layer is either a representation of a

continuous or discrete field, or a collection of
objects of the same kind.
• The data is organized so that similar elements are
in a single data layer. For example, all telephone
booth point objects would be in one layer, and all
road line objects in another.
• Data layers can be overlaid
with each other, inside the
GIS package, so as to study
combinations of
geographic phenomena.
• The spatial relationships
between different
phenomena, require
computations which
overlay one data layer with
another.
2.5 The temporal dimension

• Geographic phenomena are also dynamic; they change

over time.
• Examples of the kinds of questions involving time include:
• Where and when did something happen?
• How fast did this change occur?
• In which order did the changes happen?
• Representing time in GIS:
• Spatiotemporal data models are ways of organizing
representations of space and time in a GIS.
• The most common of these is a ‘snapshot’ state that
represents a single point in time of an ongoing natural
or man-made process.
• We may store a series of these snapshot states to
represent change
 Different ‘concepts’ of time:
In continuous time, no such discrete
elements exist, and for any two
Discrete time is composed of
Discrete and continuous time : Time different points in time, there is
discrete elements (seconds,
can be measured along a discrete always another point in between.
minutes, hours, days, months, or
or continuous scale. Derive temporal relationships
years).
between events and periods such
as ‘before’, ‘overlap’, and ‘after’.
Valid time and transaction time: Valid time (or world time ) is the time when an event really happened,
or a string of events took place. Transaction time (or database time) is the time when the event was
stored in the database or GIS.

Linear, branching and cyclic time: Time can be considered to be linear, extending from the past
to the present (‘now’), and into the future. Branching time— in which different time lines from a
certain point in time onwards are possible—and cyclic time—in which repeating cycles such as
seasons or days of a week are recognized.
Thank you…