You have been made the GIS Manager for “Texas Infrastructures”. The company is interested in
implementing a project that identifies the best route for siting a rail track from the city Fort
Worth to the city of Stephenville. As the GIS Manager, describe how you will implement the
project with a GIS. Your description must identify the type of data you may need, data sources,
GIS methods (please describe these), and possible end product (maps, tables, charts) etc
Solution
A geographic information system (GIS) is a computer system for capturing, storing, checking,
and displaying data related to positions on Earth’s surface. GIS can show many different kinds of
data on one map. It allows multiple layers of information to be displayed on a single map.
We may need data about people, such as population. We may need information about the land,
such as the location of streams, different kinds of vegetation and different kinds of soil. Also the
information about the sites of factories, farms, schools, roads, and electric power lines.
Various sources of the data can be maps(location of rivers and roads, hills and valleys), satellite
images (that show land use pattern) and census records (like population, info about schools,
factories etc.).
Data in many different forms can be entered into GIS. Data that are already in map form can be
included in GIS. Digital data (like satellite images) can be entered into GIS. GIS can also include
data in table form. Modern GIS technologies use digital information, for which various digitized
data creation methods are used. The most common method of data creation is digitization, where
a hard copy map or survey plan is transferred into a digital medium through the use of a CAD
program and geo-referencing. We can trace the geographic form on a separate digitizing tablet
(heads-down digitizing). With the wide availability of ortho-rectified imagery (from satellites,
aircraft and UAVs), we can use heads-up digitizing. Heads-up digitizing involves the tracing of
geographic data directly on top of the aerial imagery.
Once all of the desired data have been entered into a GIS system, they can be combined to
produce a wide variety of individual maps, depending on which data layers are included. Any
GIS data layer can be added or subtracted to the same map.
We can use the result of the GIS to locate the best route for the rail track based on the availability
of land, topography, population (so that track is not too close to populated areas) etc.
You have been made the GIS Manager for “Texas Infrastructures”. The .pdf
1. You have been made the GIS Manager for “Texas Infrastructures”. The company is interested in
implementing a project that identifies the best route for siting a rail track from the city Fort
Worth to the city of Stephenville. As the GIS Manager, describe how you will implement the
project with a GIS. Your description must identify the type of data you may need, data sources,
GIS methods (please describe these), and possible end product (maps, tables, charts) etc
Solution
A geographic information system (GIS) is a computer system for capturing, storing, checking,
and displaying data related to positions on Earth’s surface. GIS can show many different kinds of
data on one map. It allows multiple layers of information to be displayed on a single map.
We may need data about people, such as population. We may need information about the land,
such as the location of streams, different kinds of vegetation and different kinds of soil. Also the
information about the sites of factories, farms, schools, roads, and electric power lines.
Various sources of the data can be maps(location of rivers and roads, hills and valleys), satellite
images (that show land use pattern) and census records (like population, info about schools,
factories etc.).
Data in many different forms can be entered into GIS. Data that are already in map form can be
included in GIS. Digital data (like satellite images) can be entered into GIS. GIS can also include
data in table form. Modern GIS technologies use digital information, for which various digitized
data creation methods are used. The most common method of data creation is digitization, where
a hard copy map or survey plan is transferred into a digital medium through the use of a CAD
program and geo-referencing. We can trace the geographic form on a separate digitizing tablet
(heads-down digitizing). With the wide availability of ortho-rectified imagery (from satellites,
aircraft and UAVs), we can use heads-up digitizing. Heads-up digitizing involves the tracing of
geographic data directly on top of the aerial imagery.
Once all of the desired data have been entered into a GIS system, they can be combined to
produce a wide variety of individual maps, depending on which data layers are included. Any
GIS data layer can be added or subtracted to the same map.
We can use the result of the GIS to locate the best route for the rail track based on the availability
of land, topography, population (so that track is not too close to populated areas) etc
