F21DF: Database and Information Systems
Coursework 2: GIS
Coursework is marked out of 50
Weight: 15% of final mark
Deadline: 15:30 on 26 Nov 2019 (Edinburgh)
Individual assessment (not group)
Coursework Overview
This coursework continues on from the GIS lab – you should complete the GIS lab before attempting this
coursework. To complete this coursework you should use PostgreSQL with either pgAdmin or the psql
console, in conjunction with QGIS (desktop GIS).
Collaboration and Plagiarism
For this coursework reports and code must be your own individual work – this is not a group project. If some
text or code in the coursework has been taken from other sources, these sources must be properly
referenced. Failure to reference work that has been obtained from other sources or to copy the words and/or
code of another student is plagiarism, and if detected will be reported to the School’s Discipline Committee. If
found guilty of plagiarism, the penalty could involve voiding the course.
Students must never give hard or soft copies of their coursework reports or code to other students on the
course. Students must always refuse any request from another student for a copy of their report and/or code.
Submission
Ensure you include the SQL used to calculate the answers in each case.
Please submit to VISION as a PDF naming the file with your surname and initials (e.g jones_ac.pdf)
Tasks:
1) Highest Flickr photo density [3 marks]
Which cell has the highest Flickr photo density? Give the result as the centroid point coordinate in the
British National Grid Coordinate system (i.e. the same as the points are stored in).
Include the SQL you used to determine the result.
2) Route lengths [3 marks]
Load the following datasets from www.macs.hw.ac.uk/~pb56/ into your PostgreSQL database
• routeb.sql
• routec.sql
(you should have already loaded routea.sql during the lab)
How long is each of the routes – routea, routeb, routec – in metres? (show the SQL you used)
3) Route popularity [3 marks]
Use the flickr photo data to show the popularity of each route according to how many photos have been taken
along the route within a 25m buffer. You should normalise this by route length (i.e. photos per metre).
Give the SQL used and show your results in order from most popular route to least popular route.
(Preferably do this as a single SQL statement.)
4) Temporal Patterns [3 marks]
Make a new table and add a point at Nelson Monument on Calton Hill which is British National Grid
coordinates (326253.33,674110.63).
TIPS:
To set the coordinate system (spatial reference ID – SRID) use the EPSG code 27700 for British National Grid.
Check the online help for ST_SETSRID( ) – e.g. http://postgis.org/docs/ST_SetSRID.html
How many photos have been taken within 200m of this location for each day of the week?
(Show your SQL for all steps)
5) Data Aggregation [3 marks]
Use the supplied hexagon grid to calculate the most popular locations for photos where the tag includes each
of the following terms – giving the centroid of the most popular cell in each case (i.e. 4 queries and outputs).
• Castle
• Calton Hill
• Royal Mile
• Meadows
(For each term show your SQL and the cell centroid with the highest count.)
6) Visualization [20 marks]
Make an interesting visualisation of the Flickr data – this should include a map using QGIS to show the spatial
pattern of the term across Edinburgh and may include other visualisations or summaries you think are useful.
For example you could focus on 1 of the terms from task 5.
• Remember to check the lecture slides for tips about map design
• Treat the output as if it is to be displayed stand alone at A4 size (i.e. small poster)
• Export your design as an image to include in your report as a full A4 page – you may add additional
features using Powerpoint / Word or other editor.
Additional base map layers are available and can be downloaded from:
http://www.macs.hw.ac.uk/~pb56/f21df.html as either a Geopackage or a ZIP file of layers.
(See notes on next page for how to use a Geopackage)
7) Write up [15 marks]
Give an overview of your poster (from task 6) and explain the decisions you made regarding its design, and
what you wanted it to show/why. Highlight any issues and how you might be able to improve your analysis of
the Flickr dataset.
• Limited to 2 sides of A4 @ 10 point font and 2cm margins.
• Maximum of 500 words (excluding figures/tables/references).
• You can use bullet points, figures, tables, references, etc.
Notes on GEOPACKAGEs
The Geopackage is based on a SQLite database and contains a number of Vector and Raster layers. You can
load these into QGIS if you wish to augment your maps. The datasets are too large to load in the MACS
PostgreSQL server so please don’t do that but just link to your copy of the downloaded Geopackage.
To load from a Geopackage you need to use QGIS 3.x as explained below – if you are using QGIS 2.x then
download a zip file of the basemap layers instead (then unzip onto your drive space).
To load VECTOR data from the Geopackage
Details on loading the VECTOR layers are as follows:
Layer menu > Add layer > Vector (or CTRL+SHIFT+V)
– Change the source to the Geopackage location you downloaded
– Click ADD
– Choose 1 or many of the available layers and click OK
To load RASTER data from the Geopackage
Details on loading the RASTER layers are as follows:
Layer menu > Add layer > Raster (or CTRL+SHIFT+R)
Change the source to the Geopackage location you downloaded
General Tips:
• Use the QGIS table of contents to change the layer order and symbology settings, as per the lab
• You can set each layer’s transparency from the layer properties
• You can filter vector layers to show only a subset of items (see video links at the end of the lab sheet)
• You may wish to try out some QGIS spatial tools such as adding a Hillshade to the Digital Elevation
Model.
———–End of Coursework ———