2018 QUARTER 03

A B C D E F G H I K L M N O P R S T U V W
DM-21 - Modeling three-dimensional (3-D) entities
  • Identify GIS application domains in which true 3-D models of natural phenomena are necessary
  • Illustrate the use of Virtual Reality Modeling Language (VRML) to model landscapes in 3-D
  • Explain how octatrees are the 3-D extension of quadtrees
  • Explain how voxels and stack-unit maps that show the topography of a series of geologic layers might be considered 3-D extensions of field and vector representations respectively
  • Explain how 3-D models can be extended to additional dimensions
  • Explain the use of multi-patching to represent 3-D objects
  • Explain the difficulties in creating true 3-D objects in a vector or raster format
  • Differentiate between 21/2-D representations and true 3-D models
DM-33 - Modeling tools
  • Compare and contrast the relative merits of various textual and graphical tools for data modeling, including E-R diagrams, UML, and XML
  • Create E-R and UML diagrams of database designs
  • Create conceptual, logical, and physical data models using automated software tools
DM-19 - Modeling uncertainty
  • Differentiate among modeling uncertainty for entire datasets, for features, and for individual data values
  • Describe SQL extensions for querying uncertainty information in databases
  • Describe extensions to relational DBMS to represent different types of uncertainty in attributes, including both vagueness/fuzziness and error-based uncertainty
  • Discuss the role of metadata in representing and communicating dataset-level uncertainty
  • Create a GIS database that models uncertain information
  • Identify whether it is important to represent uncertainty in a particular GIS application
  • Describe the architecture of data models (both field- and object-based) to represent feature-level and datum-level uncertainty
  • Evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of existing uncertainty models based on storage efficiency, query performance, ease of data entry, and ability to implement in existing software
AM-44 - Modelling Accessibility

Modelling accessibility involves combining ideas about destinations, distance, time, and impedances to measure the relative difficulty an individual or aggregate region faces when attempting to reach a facility, service, or resource. In its simplest form, modelling accessibility is about quantifying movement opportunity. Crucial to modelling accessibility is the calculation of the distance, time, or cost distance between two (or more) locations, which is an operation that geographic information systems (GIS) have been designed to accomplish. Measures and models of accessibility thus draw heavily on the algorithms embedded in a GIS and represent one of the key applied areas of GIS&T.

KE-15 - Models of benefits
  • Describe recent models of the benefits of GIS&T applications
  • Explain how profit considerations have shaped the evolution of GIS&T
  • Outline the elements of a business case that justifies an organization’s investment in an enterprise geospatial information infrastructure
  • Discuss the extent to which external costs and benefits enhance the economic case for GIS
AM-13 - Multi-criteria evaluation
  • Describe the implementation of an ordered weighting scheme in a multiple-criteria aggregation
  • Compare and contrast the terms multi-criteria evaluation, weighted linear combination, and site suitability analysis
  • Differentiate between contributing factors and constraints in a multi-criteria application
  • Explain the legacy of multi-criteria evaluation in relation to cartographic modeling
  • Determine which method to use to combine criteria (e.g., linear, multiplication)
  • Create initial weights using the analytical hierarchy process (AHP)
  • Calibrate a linear combination model by adjusting weights using a test data set
DC-16 - Nature of Multispectral Image Data

A multispectral image comprises a set of co-registered images, each of which captures the spatially varying brightness of a scene in a specific spectral band, or electromagnetic wavelength region. An image is structured as a raster, or grid, of pixels. Multispectral images are used as a visual backdrop for other GIS layers, to provide information that is manually interpreted from images, or to generate automatically-derived thematic layers, for example through classification. The scale of multispectral images has spatial, spectral, radiometric and temporal components. Each component of scale has two aspects, extent (or coverage), and grain (or resolution). The brightness variations of an image are determined by factors that include (1) illumination variations and effects of the atmosphere, (2) spectral properties of materials in the scene (particularly reflectance, but also, depending on the wavelength, emittance), (3) spectral bands of the sensor, and (4) display options, such as the contrast stretch, which affect the visualization of the image. This topic review focuses primarily on optical remote sensing in the visible, near infrared and shortwave infrared parts of the electromagnetic spectrum, with an emphasis on satellite imagery.  

AM-05 - Neighborhoods
  • Discuss the role of Voronoi polygons as the dual graph of the Delaunay triangulation
  • Explain how Voronoi polygons can be used to define neighborhoods around a set of points
  • Outline methods that can be used to establish non-overlapping neighborhoods of similarity in raster datasets
  • Create proximity polygons (Thiessen/Voronoi polygons) in point datasets
  • Write algorithms to calculate neighborhood statistics (minimum, maximum, focal flow) using a moving window in raster datasets
  • Explain how the range of map algebra operations (local, focal, zonal, and global) relate to the concept of neighborhoods
FC-19 - Networks defined
  • Define different interpretations of “cost” in various routing applications
  • Describe networks that apply to specific applications or industries
  • Create a data set with network attributes and topology
  • Define the following terms pertaining to a network: Loops, multiple edges, the degree of a vertex, walk, trail, path, cycle, fundamental cycle
DM-67 - NoSQL Databases

NoSQL databases are open-source, schema-less, horizontally scalable and high-performance databases. These characteristics make them very different from relational databases, the traditional choice for spatial data. The four types of data stores in NoSQL databases (key-value store, document store, column store, and graph store) contribute to significant flexibility for a range of applications. NoSQL databases are well suited to handle typical challenges of big data, including volume, variety, and velocity. For these reasons, they are increasingly adopted by private industries and used in research. They have gained tremendous popularity in the last decade due to their ability to manage unstructured data (e.g. social media data).

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