Spatial data analysis: Raster data
Raster Spatial Data
Analysis
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ESRI’s Raster Grid
GRID – ESRI’s native raster file format for
geographic data
1.Discrete raster: geographic features can sometimes be
modeled using raster/grid
• Cells with the same integer values have the same
attributes
2.Continuous raster: geographic phenomena usually
modelled using raster/grid
• The value in the cells are real numbers (floating point)
Raster function classes
1. Measurements
2. Retrieval/ selection/ query
3. Classification
4. Neighborhood functions
5. Overlay functions
6. Connectivity functions
1- Distance Analysis
• USED TO ANSWER QUESTIONS RELATED TO DISTANCE
Proximity
Straight Line Distance Measurement
Cost Weighted Distance Measurement
Shortest Path
Proximity
• Can use raster distance functions to create zones based on
proximity to features; here, each zone is defined by the
closest stream segment
Distance Measurement
• Can create
distance grids
from any
feature theme
(point, line, or
polygon)
Distance Measurement
• Can also
weight
distance based
on friction
factors, like
slope
Density Functions
• We can also use sample points to map out density raster surfaces. For pixels
with no underlying sample point, the z value can simply be based on the
abundance and distribution of points.
• Pixel value gives the number of points within the designated neighborhood of
each output raster cell, divided by the area of the neighborhood
Density Functions
Density Functions
Raster Areal Functions
4 general types of raster areal function:
1.Local – single cell locations
2.Focal – locations within a neighborhood of cells
3.Zonal – locations within zones
4.Global – all locations/cells
Raster Areal Functions
Map Algebra
More advanced functions are also
available (power, logarithmic, etc.)
Map Query Examples
SINGLE LAYER NUMERIC EXAMPLE: ELEVATION > 270.5 M
SINGLE-CRITERIA, SINGLE LAYER
Map Query Examples
Results in a binary True/False layer
Map Query Examples
MULTI-CRITERIA, SINGLE LAYER, CATEGORICAL MAP QUERY: LOOKING FOR
ALL DEVELOPED LAND USE TYPES, USING ATTRIBUTE CODES (11, 12, 13)
WITH OR OPERATOR
Vertical
lines mean
OR
Map Query Examples
RESULTS IN A 1/0 BINARY LAYER, SHOWING URBANIZED AREAS
Map Query Examples
ONE CAN THEN CONVERT THIS OUTPUT TO FEATURE
CLASS OR SHAPEFILE
Map Query: multi-layer Examples
MULTI-LAYER QUERIES USE CRITERIA ACROSS TWO OR MORE
LAYERS; IN THIS CASE WE’LL QUERY LAND USE (CATEGORICAL),
ELEVATION (NUMBER) AND SLOPE (NUMBER)
Let’s say we want to
identify potential
habitat for a rare plant
that grows at higher
elevations, on steeper
slopes and in
coniferous forest
Raster Query: Slope
Raster Query: Multi-layer
examples
Multiple criteria, multiple layers
• Land Cover = Coniferous Forest (42)
• Elevation > 800
• Slope > 20%
Map Query Examples
AGAIN WE END UP WITH A 1/0 BINOMIAL QUERY LAYER
Map Calculation
WE CAN ALSO RUN CALCULATIONS BETWEEN LAYERS: HERE WE’LL
MULTIPLY THE K FACTOR (SOIL ERODIBILITY FACTOR) BY SLOPE;
LET’S JUST IMAGINE THIS WILL YIELD A MORE ACCURATE AND
SPATIALLY EXPLICIT INDEX OF ERODIBILITY THAT TAKES INTO
ACCOUNT SLOPE AT EACH PIXEL
Map Calculation
NOW WE SIMPLY TYPE IN THE EQUATION AND A NEW GRID IS
CREATED THAT CONTAINS THE RESULT OF THAT EQUATION
Map Calculation and Query
• We could then run a map query to find areas that have high
erodibility factors and urban land use.
Map Calculation
• DARKER AREAS FEATURE BOTH STEEP SLOPES AND ERODIBLE SOILS.
• ADVANTAGE OVER MAP QUERY APPROACH: RESULT IS A CONTINUOUS
INDEX OF VALUES, RATHER THAN JUST A “TRUE” / “FALSE” DICHOTOMY
Zonal Statistics
NOW, SAY WE HAD A PROPOSED SUBDIVISION MAP. WE COULD
OVERLAY IT ON OUR NEW INDEX LAYER AND FIGURE OUT WHICH
PROPOSED SUBDIVISIONS ARE PROBLEMATIC
Zonal Statistics
Soil erodibility level in each
urban planning zone….using
zonal statistics
Zonal Statistics
NOW WE CAN PLOT OUT THE SUBDIVISION BOUNDARIES (ZONES)
BY A SOIL EROSION STATISTIC. IN THIS CASE, CLEARLY THE MOST
MEANINGFUL ONE IS THE MEAN OF THE SOIL EROSION STATISTIC.
THIS REPRESENT THE MEAN VALUE, BY POLYGON, OF ALL THE SOIL
EROSION PIXELS UNDERLYING THAT POLYGON
3 (Re) classification
Classification – a technique of purposefully removing detail from an
input data set, in the hope of revealing important
patterns of spatial distribution
Classification- e.g. How many students are registered for
undergraduate, BSc(Hon), MSc studies, etc ?
Re-classification – e.g. soil type map being reclassified into crop
suitability map.
Note: ArcMap classification functions include spatial merging,
dissolving or aggregation features e.g. Wards to Districts
Reclassification
Re-class by ranges of values
You may want to reclassify a range of values to an alternative value
and another range to a different alternative value.
Reclassifying Raster Data
Why? …. Here we reclass into 5 groups
Lecture Materials by Austin Troy except where noted © 2008
Reclassification with Grids
Reclassification with Grids
Reclassification with Grids
Neighborhood Statistics (Focal)
• A method of summarizing raster data within a neighborhood by a
statistical measure, like mean, std dev.
– Neighborhood shape
– Neighborhood settings
• Window size
• Units
– Statistic types
Neighborhood Statistics
Statistic type: Mean
3x3 cell squared neighborhood.
Neighborhood
Processing cell
Neighborhood Statistics
Neighborhood statistics creates a new grid layer with the neighborhood
values
• This can be used to:
• Simplify or “filter down” the features represented
• Emphasize areas of sudden change in values
• Look at rates of change
• Look at these at different spatial scales
Neighborhood Filters
• Improve the quality of raster grids by eliminating
spurious data or enhancing features.
• Filter types
• Low pass filters
• High pass filters
Low Pass filtering
• Functionality: averaging filter
• Emphasize overall, general trends at the expense of local
variability and detail.
• Smooth the data and remove statistical “noise” or extreme
values.
• Summarizing a neighborhood by mean
• The larger the neighborhood, the more you smooth, but the
more processing power it requires.
• A circular neighborhood: rounding the edges of features.
• Resolution of cells stays the same.
• Using median instead of mean, but the concept is similar.
High Pass Filter
• Functionality: edge enhancement filter
• Emphasize and highlight areas of tonal roughness, or
locations where values change abruptly from cell to cell.
• Emphasize local detail at the expense of regional,
generalized trends.
• Perform a high pass filter
• Subtracting a low pass filtered layer from the original.
• Summarizing a neighborhood by standard deviation
• Using weighted kernel neighborhood
Low pass filter -- bathymetry
Why? …. filtering out anomalies
Bathymetry mass points:
sunken structures
After turning into raster grid
We see sudden
anomaly in grid
Say we wanted to “average”
that anomaly out
Try a low-pass filter of 5 cells
We can still see those anomalies but
they look more “natural” now
Try a low-pass filter of 25 cells
The anomalies have been “smoothed
out” but at a cost
We can also do a local filter in that one area
A low pass filter of the DEM done by taking the mean values for a
3x3 cell neighborhood: notice it’s hardly different
DEM Low pass
10 unit square neighborhood
20 unit square neighborhood
What about high pass filters?
Say we wanted to find the wrecks
All areas of sudden change, including
our wrecks, have been isolated
If we do a high-pass filter by subtracting from the original the
means of a 20x
20 cell
neighborhood, it
looks different
because more
local variance
was “thrown
away” when
taking a mean
with a larger
neighborhood
Dark areas represent
things like cliffs and
steep canyons
Using standard deviation is a form of high-pass filter because it is
looking at
local variation,
rather than
regional
trends. Here
we use 3x3
square
neighborhood
Here is the same function with 8x8 cell neighborhood.
Here, the
coarser
resolution due
to the larger
neighborhood
makes it so
that slope rates
seem to vary
more gradually
over space
Raster Overlay Queries
• The raster data model
performs overlay
operations more efficiently
than the vector model.
• Raster cells have a one-to-
one relationship between
layers
Source: ESRI
