GIS for Data Collection

Good fieldwork data collection is well planned. The special feature of GIS is that each piece of data is tied to a particular location. So GIS can help you plan both where you will collect data and how you will collect data. To get the most of out GIS, there are a few technical terms that it is useful to know.

Fieldwork involves collecting data, including:

measurements
observations
recordings

In GIS, a piece of data is called an attribute. There are four possible types of attribute: integer, float, string and date. Choosing the right attribute type is important as the wrong choice can make it harder to map your data correctly in GIS.

What data you collect	What does the data look like? (called the data format)	GIS calls this
A count of the number of houses within an area. An environmental quality survey score.	A whole number	Integer (or Short or Long)
The length of a pebble on a beach	A number with a decimal point (GIS might allow you to define the number of decimal places)	Float (or Double or Decimal or Real)
Answers to a question within a questionnaire – “Where have you come from?” A description of your mood.	A set of characters of any type in any order – Text or text and numbers	String (or Text)
1^st May 1982 30^th January 2017, 15:55:54	A date and/or time	Date

In GIS each piece of data (e.g. measurement, observation or recording) has a location. There are three possible types of location: point, line and polygon. Which you use will depend on the features you are describing, and the coarseness of the scale you are working. Your data collection might use a combination of points, lines and polygons.

Point	A single location	Locations of individual trees
Line	Several linked points in a known order	Route taken through a town for a dérive
Polygon	Several linked points in a known order to form a closed shape	Area of uniform land use or a census output area

So in summary, you will need to make some decisions about your data collection.

What data to collect (what attributes?)
How to record that data (what attribute types?)
How to record locations (what location types and location format?)

As well as deciding what type of location to use, you will need to decide on the most appropriate format to define them.

Examples of using GIS to plan data collection

(a) Beach sediment

Sampling locations for pebble measurements have been chosen on map in the classroom, you need to navigate to each sampling point to collect data.

Location Type	What location format?	Considerations
Point	Latitude and Longitude or Ordnance Survey grid reference	Use GPS app or appropriate map to navigate to location. You will need to convert OS grid references to Lat/Long for most GIS – Convert at doogal.co.uk Batch Reverse Geocoding

(b) Glacial striations

Record the location and orientation of striations identified in the field.

Location Type	What location format?	Considerations
Point	Latitude and Longitude or Ordnance Survey Grid Reference	Use GPS app or appropriate map to identify current location. You will need to convert OS grid references to Lat/Long for most GIS – Convert at doogal.co.uk Batch Reverse Geocoding

(c) Questionnaires

Recording and mapping visitor response to “Where have you come from?” question.

Location Type	What location format?	Considerations
Point	Full Postcode, e.g. SY4 1HW	Less error prone than asking for name of place. Some GIS can use or you can convert to Lat/Long online at doogal.co.uk Batch Geocoding

(d) Footpath erosion

Mapping severity of footpath damage within a sensitive area.

Location Type	What location format?	Considerations
Lines	Latitude and Longitude or Ordnance Survey Grid Reference	Record as a series of individual points; make sure you know the order.

(e) Land use

Mapping land use.

Location Type	What location format?	Considerations
Areas	Latitude and Longitude or Ordnance Survey Grid Reference	Record as a series of individual points; make sure you know the order. For areas ensure points form a closed loop.

(f) Environmental quality

Assessing environmental quality as part of a study of deprivation.

Location Type	What location format?	Considerations
Areas	Census Output Area (or Super Output Area)	Identify Census areas to be studied in advance (using secondary data). Ensure you have a map showing area boundaries.

Adding data

Recording location could be done by noting down the latitude and longitude of every point where you collect data, storing locations in a GPS device or using existing boundaries (such as census output areas) to define your sampling areas.

By creating a spreadsheet containing your located data you can add your field data to a map in ArcGIS Online.

Creating a spreadsheet to add point data to ArcGIS online.

Adding a spreadsheet containing point data to ArcGIS Online can be done in three different ways.

Creating a spreadsheet to add Census area data to a map.

With ArcGIS Online, you can use the Survey 123 app to collect your data directly onto a map. Survey 123 is available for Android, iOS and Windows, and allows you to collect spatial data quickly and simply.

Full examples

(a) Questionnaire

A questionnaire used as part of an investigation into the sphere of influence of a seaside town might include

Question	Location or Attribute	Type	Recording Data
Where have you come from?	Location	Point	Record full postcode
How did you get here?	Attribute	Text	Closed question, choose from list
Why have you chosen to visit Tenby?	Attribute	Text	Open question, record full response
When did you arrive?	Attribute	Date	Record arrival date
How long did it take you to get here?	Attribute	Float	Record travel time in hours (or parts of). E.g. 3.5 hours
How long are you going to stay?	Attribute	Integer	Record number of days. E.g. 1 day

(b) Field survey in hydrology

A student investigating infiltration rates in contrasting areas of a catchment might record the following.

Observations or Measurements	Location or Attribute	Type	Recording Data
Location of measurement	Location	Point	Latitude and longitude
Infiltration rate (mm/hour)	Attribute	Float	Calculated from infiltration tube measurements
Soil Texture	Attribute	Text	From soil texture test
Soil Depth	Attribute	Integer	Soil Depth (mm)
Gradient	Attribute	Integer	Measured with clinometer

Finding secondary data sets

Many organisations responsible for the collection and distribution of data use Geographical Information Services on their websites to allow public access to their data. These GIS Services let you explore the data provided by that organisation. It may also be possible to download data for use in GIS packages.

Rivers and flooding (river and sea)

Check My Flood Risk – Flood risk map – England – Uses Environment Agency Data

National Resources Wales – Flood risk map – Wales

Scottish Environmental Protection Agency – Flood risk map – Scotland

Flood M a ps NI – Flood Hazard & Flood Risk Maps for NI

Gauge Map – River level monitoring and rainfall gauges – UK

National River Flow Archive – River gauging stations, long term flow data and catchment spatial data

Population statistics

DataShine Census – 2011 Census data mapped – England and Wales

DataShine Scotland – 2011 Census data mapped – Scotland

Index of Multiple Deprivation 2015 Explorer – England

Indices of Deprivation for UK Countries – Interactive maps of deprivation in England (2015), Scotland (2016) and Wales (2014)

ONS 2011 Census Data – The starting point for access to 2011 Census data by release and in all available formats

Police.uk – Crime map – Explore and compare crime and outcomes of crime in England, Wales and Northern Ireland

Soil and geology

UK Soil Observatory Soils Map Viewer – over 100 map layers contributed by a range of providers, covering topics such as soil carbon content, moisture, texture, and land cover

Soilscapes Soil Type Viewer – 1:250,000 scale, simplified soils data set covering England and Wales

British Geological Survey Geology of Britain Viewer – combines a number of key British Geological Survey data sets in a single viewer

Changing landscapes

Old Maps Online – Access historic maps

B r itIce – A “glacial map” recording land forms and evidence resulting from the last British Ice Sheet

National Trust Mapping Our Shores – Coastal land use maps from 1965 and 2014 covering England Wales and Northern Ireland

Windy – Forecast and monitoring maps for a range of factors including wind, waves and precipitation

National environment agencies

MAGIC– The MAGIC website provides authoritative geographic information about the natural environment from across government in England, Scotland and Wales

Natural Resources Wales Interactive Maps – NRW interactive maps give easy access to environmental data sets in Wales

Scotland’s Environment Web – Map – View any combination of different environmental map layers, published by a range of Scottish organisations and agencies.

ESRI Living Atlas and ArcGIS Online

The ESRI Living Atlas brings many secondary data sets into one place.

Through the living atlas you can access a (growing) selection of secondary data, adding data from different sources onto one map in the ArcGIS Online Map Viewer – this is particularly useful if you are looking to compare data from several different sources.

Try searching the Living Atlas for;

Index of Multiple Deprivation
UK Census
Flooding
CORINE Land Cover

You can also search ArcGIS Online for data created by others and shared publicly. Be aware that these layers are not quality controlled, so consider the source and quality of any data sets you use.

If you have downloaded data from elsewhere you might be able to add it to the ArcGIS Online Map Viewer – Compatible formats include .CSV File, Shapefile and .GPX File. There are three main ways of adding data from your computer to the Map Viewer.

The quickest and simplest way of adding data from a spreadsheet is via the “drag and drop” – this only works with data saved in .CSV file format, and gives limited functionality in ArcGIS Online.

Adding data via the map viewer – this will work with data in .CSV File, Shapefile and .GPX file format, and gives limited functionality in ArcGIS Online.