There are 3 major ways to get data into a GIS.

1. digitizing
2. taking coordinate data from other files
3. transforming data from one format to another within the GIS

Digitizing

Digitizing involves several steps, and is used mainly to get vector data into a GIS.

The basic steps

• Taping and registering a map to the digitizing table
• Manually tracing map features
• Checking for and fixing coordinate errors
• Creating topology
• Adding attribute data

Getting data from other files

Many files exist that can be imported to a GIS. These may be raster or vector data.

• AutoCAD or other CADD files
• Survey data
• USGS Data formats
  • Digital Elevation Models (DEMs) - raster
  • Digital Line Graphs (DLGs) - vector
  • Global Names Information (GNIS) - attribute
• Census Data
  • TIGER
  • DIME
• Images
  • TIFF, GeoTIFF
  • Landsat or other remotely sensed data
• Other GIS files

Transforming data from one format to another within the GIS

Within the GIS, it is possible to convert between vector, raster, TIN, etc.

What kinds of analysis can be done with a GIS?

back to Attribute Data on to GIS Analysis