User Guidelines for GIS Data

Assumes installation of the relevant tools: InstallationGuidelinesGISData

Import Data

Geonames

1. Unzip the downloaded country file (a TAB-separated list) from ​http://download.geonames.org/export/dump/
   • e.g. PK.txt
2. Transform each line in this file into XML by regular expression:

   ^(\d*)\t([^\t]*)\t([^\t]*)\t([^\t]*)\t([0-9\.]*)\t([0-9\.]*)\t[^\t]*\t([A-Z]*).*
   
   into:
   
   <location>
          <id>$1</id>
          <name>$2</name>
          <asciiName>$3</asciiName>
          <localNames>$4</localNames>
          <lat>$5</lat>
          <lon>$6</lon>
          <featureClass>$7</featureClass>
   </location>
   
   

This can be done using an RE-capable editor (e.g. Kate), Perl or even Python. Note: Need to replace & with & and to remove any invalid characters

3. Transform into S3XRC-XML using XSLT, stylesheet is available at
   • ​http://pub.nursix.org/eden/geonames/geonames.xsl

To Do:

• ADM1->ADM4, PPLx to Levels L1->L4 (​done)
• Link to L1 -> L0
• Use hierarchy.txt to link L2->L1
  • unfortunately no data for L3/L4 :/
• Remove L2->L4 for unaffected areas

OpenStreetMap

We have a stylesheet to import .osm files, but this needs work to understand the admin hierarchy properly.

Shapefiles

Inspect the data using ​qGIS.

Use ogr2ogr to convert the data:

ogr2ogr -f CSV TM_WORLD_BORDERS-0.3.csv TM_WORLD_BORDERS-0.3.shp
ogr2ogr -f geojson TM_WORLD_BORDERS-0.3.json TM_WORLD_BORDERS-0.3.shp

If needing to reproject (e.g. for the ​Haiti Departements):

ogr2ogr -f CSV haiti_departments Haiti_departementes_edited_01132010.shp -s_srs EPSG:32618 -t_srs EPSG:4326 -lco GEOMETRY=AS_WKT

NB AS_WKT requires OGR v1.6+

Some tools for importing locations from CSV files are available in controllers/bulk_gis.py

• These will move to controllers/importer.py

WFS

It is possible to use the WFS Plugin to get data into qGIS & thence export into other formats

Display Data

Shapefiles

e.g. Country Outlines:

• ​http://thematicmapping.org/downloads/TM_WORLD_BORDERS-0.3.zip

Import into PostGIS (or use pgAdmin III GUI's Shapefile loader on plugins menu)

createdb gis
createlang plpgsql gis
psql -d gis -f /usr/share/lwpostgis.sql
psql -d gis -f /usr/share/spatial_ref_sys.sql
shp2pgsql -s 4326 -I TM_WORLD_BORDERS-0.3.shp public.countries | psql -U postgres -W -d gis

Get GeoServer to serve as WMS / WFS

• ​http://docs.geoserver.org/stable/en/user/gettingstarted/web-admin-quickstart/index.html

Set up TileCache

• tbc

Add WMS Layer to Sahana Eden

• tbc

Grid

tbc: BluePrintGISGrid

Topographic Maps

• ​http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Contours
  • Uses ​SRTM (​ASTER is a future possibility)
• Alternate approach: ​SRTM 2 OSM

Old Printed Maps

Old Printed Maps can be 'Rectified' to be overlaid on the base maps:

• ​http://warper.geothings.net/
• ​http://mike.teczno.com/notes/canvas-warp.html
  • Code: ​http://github.com/migurski/canvas-warp
• ​http://labs.metacarta.com/rectifier/

PostgreSQL management

• Create a new spatially-enabled database:

  createdb my_spatial_db
  createlang plpgsql my_spatial_db
  psql -d my_spatial_db -f /usr/share/lwpostgis.sql
  psql -d my_spatial_db -f /usr/share/spatial_ref_sys.sql
  

• Connect to Database (or use pgAdmin III GUI's PSQL Console on plugins menu)

  psql -d my_spatial_db -U username
  

• Add Spherical Mercator projection (check ​http://www.cadmaps.com/gisblog/?p=81):

  INSERT into spatial_ref_sys (srid, auth_name, auth_srid, srtext, proj4text) values (900913 ,'EPSG',900913,'GEOGCS["WGS 84", DATUM["World Geodetic System 1984", SPHEROID["WGS 84", 6378137.0, 298.257223563,AUTHORITY["EPSG","7030"]], AUTHORITY["EPSG","6326"]],PRIMEM["Greenwich", 0.0, AUTHORITY["EPSG","8901"]], NIT["degree",0.017453292519943295], AXIS["Longitude", EAST], AXIS["Latitude", NORTH],AUTHORITY["EPSG","4326"]], PROJECTION["Mercator_1SP"],PARAMETER["semi_minor", 6378137.0], PARAMETER["latitude_of_origin",0.0], PARAMETER["central_meridian", 0.0], PARAMETER["scale_factor",1.0], PARAMETER["false_easting", 0.0], PARAMETER["false_northing", 0.0],UNIT["m", 1.0], AXIS["x", EAST], AXIS["y", NORTH],AUTHORITY["EPSG","900913"]] |','+proj=merc +a=6378137 +b=6378137 +lat_ts=0.0 +lon_0=0.0 +x_0=0.0 +y_0=0 +k=1.0 +units=m +nadgrids=@null +no_defs');
  

  • List Databases

    \l
    

  • List Tables

    \d
    

  • List Table structure

    \d tablename
    select field/* from tablename where field = 'value';
    

PostGIS functions

• Centroids

  SELECT name, iso2, asText(ST_Transform(ST_Centroid(the_geom), 4326)) AS centroid FROM countries;
  

Data Sources

• VMap0: ​http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vector_Map
• Admin 0 & 1, Hydro features, Raster & Vector: ​http://www.naturalearthdata.com/
• Admin 1-4: ​http://geonames.org

OGC (WMS/WFS)

• ​http://geonetwork-opensource.org/geonetwork-nodes
• ​http://www.ogc-services.net
• BlueMarble & Mosaic (!LandSat7): ​http://onearth.jpl.nasa.gov/
• Hazard Layers: ​http://preview.grid.unep.ch:8080/geoserver/ows?service=WMS&request=GetCapabilities
• Hazard Layers: ​http://www.pdc.org/mde/services.jsp
• Massachusetts: ​http://lyceum.massgis.state.ma.us/wiki/doku.php

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GIS