Information System for Transportation

Many development projects have serious dependence on transport network. Authentic

information on the transport infrastructure is fundamental requirement for many
decision making process; therefore information is required to be reliable, updated,
relevant, easily accessible and affordable. Better information doesn’t guarantee better
decision-making capability but its absence precludes it. This demand for information
requires new approaches in which data related to transportation network should be
identified, collected, stored, retrieved, managed, analyzed, communicated and
presented. The road transport related data in particular involves activities like traffic
counting, sign inventories, accident investigation, recording of construction and
maintenance projects and funding, right of way surveys, bridge inventories, pavement
condition surveys, geometry design inventories, and other data collection and
maintenance activities.

Role of GIS
Geographic Information System (GIS) represents a new paradigm for the organization
of information and design of information systems, the essential aspect of which is use
of the concept of location as the basis for the structuring of information systems. The
application of GIS has relevance to transportation due to the essentially spatially
distributed nature of transportation related data, and the need for various types of
network level analysis, statistical analysis and spatial analysis and manipulation.

GIS for Transportation Engineering

The main advantage of using GIS is its ability to access and analyze spatially distributed
data with respect to its actual spatial location overlaid on a base map of the area of
coverage that allows analysis not possible with the other database management
systems. The main benefit of using the GIS is not merely the user-friendly visual access
and display

The geographic information system (GIS) could be used as a tool for highway
infrastructure management in a way similar to its current application in land-based
information. GIS procedures provide a coordinated methodology for drawing together a
wide variety of information sources under a single, visually oriented umbrella to make
them available to a diverse user audience

Thus, potential applications for GIS in transportation planning include the following:

 Executive information system.

 Pavement management system.
 Bridge management.
 Maintenance management.
 Safety management.
 Transportation system management (TSM)
 Travel demand forecasting
 Corridor preservation and right-of-way
  Construction management
 Hazardous cargo routing
 Overweight/oversize vehicles permit routing.
 Accident analysis
 Environment impact
 Land side economic impact and value-capture analysis and Others.

GIS Analysis Functions

Outline
1. Spatial Data Functions
o Format Transformations
o Geometric Transformations
o Projection Transformations
o Conflation
o Edge-matching
o Editing Functions
o Line Coordinate Thinning
2. Attribute Data Functions
o Retrieval
o Classification
o Verification
3. Integrated Analysis of Spatial and Attribute
Data
o Overlay
o Neighborhood Function
o Point-in-Polygon and Line-In-Polygon
 o Topographic Functions
o Thiessen Polygon
o Interpolation
4. Cartographic Modeling
5. Connectivity Functions
6. Output Functions

GIS analysis functions use the spatial and non-spatial attribute data to answer
questions about real-world. It is the spatial analysis functions that distinguishes GIS
from other information systems.

When use GIS to address real-world problems, you'll come up against the question
that which analysis function you want to use and to solve the problems. In this case,
you should be aware that wisely using functions will lead to high quality of the
information produced from GIS and individual analysis functions must be used in the
context of a complete analysis strategy. (Stan Aronoff, 1989)

1. Spatial Data Functions

Spatial data refers to information about the location and shape of, and relationships
among, geographic features, usually stored as coordinates and topology. Spatial data
functions are used to transform spatial data files, such as digitized map, edit them, and
assess their accuracy. They are mainly concerned with the spatial data.

Format Transformations
Format is the pattern into which data are systematically arranged for use on a
computer. Format transformations are used to get data into acceptable GIS format.
Digital Files must be transformed into the data format used by the GIS, such as
transforming from raster to vector data structure. A raster data often requires no re-
formatting. A vector data often requires topology to be built from coordinate data,
such as arc/node translations. Transformation can be very costly and time-consuming
with poor coordinate data.

Geometric Transformations
Geometric transformations are used to assign ground coordinates to a map or data
layer within the GIS or to adjust one data layer so it can be correctly overlayed on
another of the same area. The procedure used to accomplish this correction is
termed registration.

Two approaches are used in registration: the adjustment of absolute positions and the
adjustment of relative position. Relative Position refers to the location of features in
relation to a geographic coordinate system. Rubber sheeting (registration by Relative
Position) is the procedure using "slave" and "master" mathematical transformations to
adjust coverage features in a nonuniform manner. Links representing from- and to-
locations are used to define the adjustment. It needs easily identifiable, accurate, well
distributed control points. Absolute Position is the location in relation to the ground.
This registration is done by individual layers. The advantage is that it does not
propagate errors.

Projection Transformations
Map projection is a mathematical transformation that is used to represent a spherical
surface on a flat map. The transformation assigns to each location on a spherical
surface a unique location on a 2-dimensional map.

Map projections always causes some distortion: area, shape, distance, or direction
distortion. GIS commonly supports several projections and has software to transform
data from one projection to another. The map projections most commonly used for
mapping at scales of 1:500,000 or larger in North America is the UTM(Universal
Transverse Mercator) Projection. For maps of continental extent, the Albers,
Lambert's Azimuthal, and Polyconic projections are commonly used.

 
Conflation
Conflation is the procedure of reconciling the positions of corresponding features in
different data layers. Conflation functions are used to reconcile these differences so
that the corresponding features overlay precisely. This is important when data from
several data layers are used in an analysis.

1.Spatial Data

Data that define a location. These are in the form of graphic primitives that are

usually either points, lines, polygons or pixels.

· Spatial data includes location, shape, size, and orientation.

o For example, consider a particular square:

its center (the intersection of its diagonals) specifies its

location

its shape is a square

the length of one of its sides specifies its size

the angle its diagonals make with, say, the x-axis specifies its

orientation.

· Spatial data includes spatial relationships. For example, the arrangement

of ten bowling pins is spatial data.

2.Non-spatial Data

Data that relate to a specific, precisely defined location. The data are often

statistical but may be text, images or multi-media. These are linked in the GIS

to spatial data that define the location.

· Non-spatial data (also called attribute or characteristic data) is that

information which is independent of all geometric considerations.

o For example, a person’s height, mass, and age are non-spatial data
because they are independent of the person’s location.

o It’s interesting to note that, while mass is non-spatial data, weight is

spatial data in the sense that something’s weight is very much

dependent on its location.

It is possible to ignore the distinction between spatial and non-spatial data.

However, there are fundamental differences between them:

o spatial data are generally multi-dimensional and auto correlated.

o non-spatial data are generally one-dimensional and independent.