METHODOLOGY FOR ASSOCIATING A CONVENTIONAL DATABASE TO A GEOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION SYSTEM: THE SAGA/UFRJ CASE STUDY

Resumo

Many aspects of our environment can be integrated as data recorded in a database. By environment it is understood not only the natural one but also the environment built by the man. In this sense we refer both to raw data concerning the rain forest as well as to data relating land ownership information. These data are very important for statistical analysis, but they usually lack of a fundamental point: the territorial expression. Thus, there must exist some type of linkage, relating graphical information (usually a map that represents a region of interest georeferenced to any cartographic system) to conventional information (represented by information records containing ancillary data in tabular form: vegetation species ofa forest, parcel owner data, etc.).
This paper presents a methodology for integrating such diverse data in the context of a raster Geographical Information System (GIS), the SAGA/UFRJ [8,9,10], developed at the Laboratory of Geoprocessing of UFRJ. This methodology covers all the steps of the work, from the initial planning phase, passing by the logical project of the conventional database, to the logical project of the integration of the data to the GIS.
Another important aspect discussed in this paper refers to the user characterization, showing that even the most experienced users need the help from a geoprocessing specialist (analyst) in some phase of their work. This is fundamental to reduce excessive expectatives and turns casier the execution of a work.