Study Guides: Landscape Architecture: GIS

What is GIS?

GIS is a computer system that captures, stores and displays data relating to positions on the Earth’s surface. GIS can show and overlay different kinds of data on one map, which allows the user to more easily see, analyse and understand patterns and relationships.

GIS can use any information that includes location. The location can be expressed in many different ways, such as latitude and longitude, address, or postcode. Map and tabular information can also be entered into GIS. File types that are compatible with GIS include .geotiffs, .lyr, .gbd, .ecws, .shp, .kml and more.

Software

ArcGIS by ESRI is the industry standard GIS software. It's quite expensive, and so it may not be feasible to purchase the software for at home use, however students of architecture and the built environment will have ArcGIS available on some lab computers.

There is an open source version of ArcGIS called QGIS which makes for an acceptable substitute for ArcGIS if you need to work at home, and projects created on one piece of software will be interoperable on the other.

LinkedIn Learning produces video training courses with accompanying practice files for ArcGIS and GIS concepts more generally:

ArcGIS ArcGIS by ESRI is the industry standard GIS software
QGIS QGIS is a freeware GIS software
LinkedIn Learning Contains training modules in how to use ArcGIS software, as well as understand GIS more generally.

Datasets

There's a huge amount of freely available GIS compatible data out there. Below you can find some links to data sources, filed by location. Check out the headings below to find the right dataset for you.

New South Wales

Data.NSW Contains Spatial Data on NSW in KML form
NSW Spatial Data Catalogue The NSW Spatial Data Catalogue (NSDC) is the central repository for the publication of metadata describing NSW Local and State Government spatial data.
SixMaps Spatial Viewing tool that includes cadastral, topographic, imagery, place names and addressing data.

Australia

Data.Gov.Au National datasets portal. Contains geological, geographical, ecological and administrative GIS data. Also contains the National map which overlays spatial datasets, population, land use, forest data and more.

Worldwide

ARCGIS Open Data Searchable open data portal containing 60000 datasets.
Diva GIS Worldwide spatial data searchable by country.
ESRI Data and Maps European and North American datasets, including night maps, highways, cities, demographics, gdp, shopping centres, water and more.

LIDAR

LIDAR stands for Light Detection and Ranging. It's a remote sensing method that uses light in the form of a pulsed laser to measure ranges (variable distances) to the Earth. These light pulses—combined with additional data recorded by airborne instruments — generate precise, three-dimensional information about the shape of the Earth and its surface characteristics.

LIDAR Resources

There are many LIDAR datasources available, including:

Open Topography Data Catalogue Open Topography is one of the biggest open data portals for free LiDAR data.
Earth Explorer Provided by the US Geological Survey, but has worldwide data available. First, enter your search criteria (kml, coordinates, etc.). Next, select the checkbox for LiDAR in the data sets tab. Finally, click the results tab to see what LiDAR datasets are available.
Foundation Spatial Data This service has LIDAR data available for major urban centres in Australia, that can be saved and exported.

These data sources can be used by ArcScene, which is also available from the UTS Architecture and Built Environment labs. LIDAR files can also be transferred into Autodesk Tools, allowing you to convert data into 3 dimensional models.

ArcScene ArcScene is a part of ArcGIS
Autodesk Autodesk is a design software for architectural design, MEP engineering, structural engineering, infrastructure design and construction

Landscape Architecture: GIS