UNIVERSITY EXAMINATIONS: 2014/2015
ORDINARY EXAMINATION FOR THE BACHELOR OF SCIENCE
IN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
BIT 2307 GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION SYSTEMS
DATE: APRIL, 2015 TIME: 2 HOURS
INSTRUCTIONS: Answer Question ONE and any other TWO
QUESTION ONE
a) Using your own definition and application, explain the term geographic information
System (3 Marks)
b) Explain the meaning of the following terms with reference to GIS;
i) Georeferencing (2 Marks)
ii) Attribute data (2 Marks)
iii) Raster data (2 Marks)
iv) Geo-spatial data (2 Marks)
c) Aside from the production of maps, the GIS also perform geospatial analysis. Give
Examples of these analyses. (5 Marks)
d) Attribute data stored in the GIS consists of three basic types. Name any two of these
(2 Marks)
e) Explain how the following tasks can be accomplished using Qgis
i) Set the selection color of a project. (3 Marks)
ii) Set the image so that it doesn’t update until whole image is drawn. (3 Marks)
iii) Create a new layer in a project. (3 Marks)
iv) Set the project CRS to UTM, zone 37 S, ellipsoid clark 1880, unit meters
(3 Marks)
QUESTION TWO
a) Describe the use of two Qgis plugins. (6Marks)
b) Many GIS applications are in existence today, both commercially and in open source.
List the various types of these applications. (4Marks)
c) Give the meaning of the following terms
i) Remote sensing (2Marks)
ii) DEM (2Marks)
iii) OTF (2Marks)
iv) GPS (2Marks)
v) Overlay (2Marks)
QUESTION THREE
a) Explain the advantages that might arise from having a computer-based database to
store and manage geo-spatial data. (10Marks)
b) i) Explain how to symbolize a layer using QGIS (2Marks)
ii) Describe the steps involved in the creation of a GIS database (8Marks)
QUESTION FOUR
a) Define the term topology (2Marks)
b) Explain the three major elements that characterize topology (6Marks
c) The earth is not flat or smooth, and presenting its entities in 2-dimensional form
results in different types of errors. Explain the following types of error visualizations
and for each indicate the projection types used to solve the errors;
i) The ‘circular room’ visualization (4Marks)
ii) The ‘square room with flat walls’ visualization (4Marks)
iii) The ‘tepee’ visualization (4Marks)
QUESTION FIVE
a) Explain the major sources of spatial data. (8Marks)
b) Name any four types of spatial entities used to represent geographic features
(4Marks)
c) Explain the advantages and disadvantages of using raster data for spatial representation
(8Marks)
