This is rather tricky.
For vector models, I would say using a line layer to represent the transects measured within a polygon of seagrass area.
As for water quality, I believe this should be raster? and could be continuous since our values are numerical and ranges for salinity, pH, DO etc.
To monitor the penguins nestboxes, we use points of long/lats to mark out location, on an aerial image vector layer.
Or a continuous raster could be used to indicate vegetation types and surrounding urban density areas.
I think i am still slightly confused at this stage 
On Roads Section ,through the application of a vector layer , i could run a proximity analysis around each of my road segments , through the creation of a buffer around it .
working with fire spread on the surface of wild grass(the spread of veld fires) data, the best spatial model to use is a raster-based model at different regimes and determining the spread of fire from neighboring cells moving from one cell to another. or a vector approach if we assume that the fire spreads continuously in a polygon
I collect both vector and raster data. For example, I want to know the forest type (or habitats) and within the habitats I want specific locations. So I will use vectors for the specific locations and rasters for the vegetation type.
I am guessing I will be representing vector data since I have to represent points of animal capture.
For planning purposes, i will be using raster data such as Google Earth images.
In the field, i will be collecting vector data such as points and polygons.
Dear teacher,
The vector spatial data is the best work to support my job. Because it is the real data that I have collected in the field. But the raster spatial data is used to verifying land set, slope, and so on.
Best regards,
Kroem Phon
My own field data is best represented by both vector and raster spatial data models. Primarily I will collect vector point data such as animal sightings (elephant, hippo, whale, poaching camp) as well as vector line data (connecting the vector points to see movement of a certain animal or to see movement of poachers). I will also represent thematic raster data based on vegetation type such as savannah, forest, and mangrove. My question is this: if I want to create polygons of the areas that contain a certain vegetation type (savannah or forest, for example), is this considered vector or raster? I know that a polygon is vector, but since I am talking about vegetation type would it also be raster?
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I do camera trap surveys so vector data collection. Each camera trap is a point, but they are in a transect set-up which is in a line, and from the predator ID images that we collect (as well as spoor and a whole load of other data) we can draw up the home ranges and suspected territories of a whole range of predators - these are then represented by polygons.
Quite a tricky question, in my field of work mapping to determine a home range for Caracal (rooikat). A collared cat GPS points & spoor tracking line is part of my vector data. An aerial image of the cat home range (study area), vegetation types within the area as preferred and important for a conducive territory it’s existence is considered; raster data. in conclusion Vector and Raster data is very important in my career field.
@foggygoggle what a very interesting question, earlier on I was confused too. polygons are considered vector because they are discrete they have endpoints. vegetation types which vary time to time is your raster, which will be the information within your Vector, therefore Vector and Raster are vital in your field work.
It’s just as similar to me that my field data is best represented in both vector and raster spatial data models. For I will collect vector point data such as animal location with radio-telemetry (to track the location of the animal as well as to see their movement and maybe the pattern of the home range too). However, can habitat types be represented for thematic raster, such as on tree brunches, perching on leaves, forest floor, etc.(for lizards)? @foggygoggle @xolanimanzini
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We Use both Vector and Raster, We track painted dogs using VHF, from the collared dogs and collect the data of their location as (points), which we then overlay with roads (lines) and protected areas, National Park (polygons). Then continuous Raster to show vegetation cover which we use to analyze habitat selection for the painted dogs
for location, i think a vector should be used and for density and plants a rector will do
My field data could be represented by both vector and raster spatial data models. For the location of seahorses the suitable model would be a vector by points, for the density of seahorses a continuous raster, and for type of habitat, a thematic raster.
So, I think I’d have vector data for the positions of artificial reef unit, which could be either points or polygons depending on how much detail I wanted. Then vector polygons for the other natural and artificial sites being studied. Then continuous raster data for an aerial photograph of the area. Hopefully that’s right!
I will say Vector data is what we mostly collect in the field. During our recce transect surveys, and wildlife camera trap. We collect for example points of animal dug, footprints, calls and even direct sightings etc. hunters camps too.
When we observe say the dung of a Blue duiker, a range of information is collected including the canopy cover and leaf cover.
However at the start of a survey day and at any survey point, we do record some covariates like weather condition. Am thinking raster data. Am I correct?
In my case, I need both raster and vectors. My urbanisation cathegories, green space/road/builiding/other concrete are vector polygons. My sampling points are vector points. I also need raster for climate data which are continuous. But to make the polygons I would need an Open map layer what is a thematic raster.
I’ll be using both vector and raster: point vector for my sample locations, and thematic raster for vegetation type
In many environmental GIS applications, there is often ambiquity between how different datasets should be handled. Vegetation classes/regions are often represented as Vector data defining discrete polygons, but reality is often different with their being a ‘transistion zone’ between different habitat/vegetation types rather than a definite “hard line” between the the two classes. Another example is topographic infoirmation. It may be repsented from survey data as height “points” but these are only sample locations from a continously variable “surface” which can then be interpolated from the “points” to generate a continuous surface represented as a “raster” which can then be converted to contours which are held as a “Vector” - three different formats to represent a single physical characteristic! - yes its complicated 
From a technical data structure, Raster data is a grid format, comprised of “pixels” (a row of pixels known as a 'raster) so an aerial photograph, scanned map, surface height model etc are stored as a Raster.
A Vector is a series of “verticies” (coordinate points) which make up a line (or vector). If the first and last vertices are the same, then the vector will enclose an area and is known as a “polygon”. So a vector can represent a Road, river, survey transect , or as a polygon - land parcel, animal territories, lakes etc.
There can be a lot of overlap in the way the data structures are used so a river can be represented as a vector line (say, the centre line of the river), but it can also be represented as a polygon (with a line running down the left bank, across the river, then up the right bank to form a long thin polygon, or as a raster with pixels coloured “blue” repsenting the watercourse.
For my data on nest box success, I think that I would use vector line data to represent data at each nest box site in the field and these would be points instead of lines or polygons. I could also use the raster data model to model the different habitats at each nest site and I think that this would be a thematic raster model instead of a continuous raster model.
It is a little ambiguous because there is so much data at each nest site to consider so I could see it being a difficult to choose between points or lines to connect the data of all the nest sites. However, since the nest box sites are separate from one another, I think points would be the best choice. There is less ambiguity when considering the habitat type because that is a definite theme instead of a continuation.
I guess my questions would be how to implement different data collected at each site into the representation such as species, clutch size, nest box material chosen, temperature etc. Would this have to be represented in separate maps for each type of data to focus on the specific data?
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Hi @Victor. I believe you are correct in that habitat types would be represented with thematic raster, but maybe @xolanimanzini would know better?
I hope to one day be collecting rare plant species data, which would include points/locations (vector) of identified rare species or polygons of the range/small area in which that species is found. Other data would include environmental (raster) data, including: year of the most recent fire, rainfall, slope, aspect, etc. I could see selecting which data model to use could get tricky. For example, when it comes to my data example, you could either make polygons of the years of fire (vector) or make it a raster with pixels identifying the year of the most recent fire.
A question I have is: if I’m surveying vegetation cover in selected quadrats, how would I turn that into a continuous vegetation cover raster over the entire study area?
For my master’s project, I collected vector data (point locations of bat sightings). But then I used a variety of different rasters (environmental data that were freely available) to input everything into a species distribution model. This included mean annual temperature, distance to the nearest river, distance to the nearest forest edge, slope, elevation, vegetation type, predator control, etc. Some rasters were continuous, such as distance to the nearest river/forest, slope, and elevation. Then, some were thematic (categorical) like vegetation type which was sorted into 10 different categories, and predator control which was split into 1- yes or 0- no.
Although I ended up using a raster form of this data in the end, often times this data started out as vector data. For example, distance to the nearest river started out as a vector (lines) of all the rivers in the area. Predator control is an example of data that I could easily represent with vector or raster files- they are polygons of an aerial 1080 drop that I had to convert to a raster of 1’s and 0’s for my manipulation, but I think either way is valid.
I may use both vector and Raster spatial data modeling to represent my field data. Locations of ( our beneficiaries’ homes, beehives & grass plots) would be represented by vector by points and for size of grass plots vector by polygons would be suitable model.
for elevations of beehives; locations and distances of the beehives to boundaries of the wolf habitat in the area, the appropriate model would be Raster & the layers be continuous.
Question- For the field survey data below I am not sure/confident if it would be represented by " vector by lines" or " Raster by continuous" data modeling. I would appreciate for the answer with justification. Thank you.
The field survey data is " the distance in meters beehive is located from the nearest boundary of the wolf habitat area" ,
I am recording camera trap locations which would be vector / points and also polygons for illegal land clearings. I think maybe i could use rasters to class land by land uses (thematic) and this could also be time-based (changing over time as more forest is sadlly cleared). So many uses!!
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HI Cee, if you are trying to represent sampling “points” then the format you will need is as a Vector point data rather than linear data (ie. you have a single point represented by a single co-ordinate).
If you wanted to represent a survey transect or route you took to take the samples, then this would use a “linear” vector format (a line represented by a number of ‘vertices’ which have co-ordinates for each segment of your route going from point A to Point B to Point C etc).
so then the next question - do you use vector / pologon points to define the information in the rasters… or rather little tiles that form the raster dataset? (not sure if i’m using the correct grammar there!!
For mine, squirrel sightings are vector points and habitat would be raster thematic as it is broadly blocked into habitat types. I am a little bit confused however on why an aerial photo would come up continuous raster - can anyone shed some light? Thanks
Im currently collecting data on different habitat types and areas of degradation on privately owned farms and wildlife ranches. I would use a thematic raster model to map the different habitat types and a polygon vector model for mapping areas of degradation
I’m afraid I don’t have any data of my own yet as I’m totally new to this line of work. I will see what data I can get hold of.
I’m looking at going into a marine biology field in particular so if anyone can suggest a good place for me to get any relevant data I’d really appreciate it. Thank you
I think I will use both vector and raster models for watershed analysis.
1. Examples of the vector data I will use for GIS modeling are:
Stream cross-sections
watershed boundaries
Soil type
Contour lines
Floodplains
Buffer areas- etcs
2. Examples of the raster data I will use are
Thickness of different types of soil layers
water table depth
Landcover data
Municipal/industrial discharge areas etc
This information can be used for conservation, land planning and zoning purposes.
I do nesting turtle survey so vector data collection can works for the gps point were the turtle nest are. we can draw up the hot spots at the beach represented by polygons. and in the case of erosion I guess can be represented by raster.
In my project, I collect vector data (point locations of count station) and the perpendicular distance of me to my study subject for getting the detection probability. Then, I will also try to use a variety of raster data (vegetation type, density and cover) into density surface modelling where some of them are thematic raster (vegetation type) and continuous raster (density and covers). I guess I will end up using continuous raster data (detection probability of birds in accounts of the raster data of my environmental variable) in the end. It is still a little but confusing to me, just trying to make sense of my data and different data type.
2 months back i was doing Ganges river Dolphin survey in River Ganga in India and for this we have taken the Gps coordinates of all the Dolphin counts together with the full length of the entire survey stretch, so in this a vector model in the form of Point and Line was relevant for me and together with this i have also gathered the river bank habitat and water quality parameters of the entire survey stretch which i think is good to represent in the Raster model.
I haven’t collected a lot of different data types as I am relatively new to the field but what I have collected so far works perfectly as a set of vector points. It is simply the coordinates of locations where we have seen particular species, so the points are discrete, measurable, and individual points.
For the coral reef data i think vector data using line transect is is best working.
In my study on coral reef,both types of geospatial data will be used.as i will be using line transect and identifying type of coral
I am measuring various proxies of soil ecosystem health along transects crossing fence-lines, to compare pastures. For this a vector model will be appropriate, with lines representing the transects. If I also use remote-sensing data, such as NDVI, this will be represented as a continuous raster layer.
With day to day sightings of the birds, i think a vector layer will be used with all the information on the single point in the attributes.
When we would like to see in what vegetation they like to spend more time in i think the Raster layer of different vegetation types and densities of vegetation will then be used.
I am in the field of enviromental management. I think in assessing the vegetation type raster data would be used and to assess the features such as roads, water bodies, wetlands, Vector model would be appropriate.
For my work I am currently mostly using vector models. Points for the location we have seen bats and polygons for the site location. Currently I am not using any raster data yet.
Exactly what I really need to get to practice using my own data
Considering that for my learning goal I assumed I could create a map of the distribution of the sponge species I studied for my PhD, I would say my geospatial data are vectors, in particular points (in case of single sponge specimens) and polygons (in case I’d find patches of individuals of the same sponge species). Would everyone agree on that?
I think for past avian fieldwork I would have used vector for the GPS points where mating calls were heard/ recorders were deployed and I would have used raster to describe the terrain and vegetation in the areas surveyed.
For my current work with seagrasses I would use vector for the survey transect locations and the seagrass bed area and raster to describe the aquatic vegetation in the area
If I was to get a job as a Site Manager (fingers crossed!) I would use Raster (thematic) to represent landcover including habitats, Raster (quantities) to represent elevation, Vector points to represent fauna sightings and Vector lines to represent ecological surveys done as line transects.
I hope I got that right. I still don’t understand why we should use Raster thematic instead of Vector polygons to record landcover types. Is it because Vector is based on coordinates whilst Raster is based on area?
I am assuming that for my future work, I will be using vector data to map feeding stations, home ranges and camera traps. Perhaps some raster for the vegetation/habitat type
The spatial data model that works best for my field data is the vector (for discrete features).
I do annual vegetation surveys in a Biodiversity Observatory, I use vector data a lot to know the occurrence of certain endemic species as well as the distribution of the most abundant families. And for that, I use points as a vector layer.
That’s right! I think the same
Probably raster for habitats, and vectors for MPA boundaries.
vector data - GPS points collected while conducting animal road counts
Raster file - vegetation types layers for the area i conduct ground counts on
I use both vector and raster spatial for my field data. I have my GPS on tracking mode to take a point of my swim pattern every 10 second. My GPS tracks are vector data. While I am swimming in the reef flats I conduct surveys to determine the type of macroalgae present every 30 second of my swim, the density of the macroalgae and the percent cover for hard live coral. The data collected from these surveys I would say are raster data.
I collected Vector data when conducting Texas horned lizard monitoring with radio telemetry and GPS equipment. I used points to map individual lizards within the study site throughout the season, and also drew polygons of home-ranges of each individual. I would also overlay the Vector data onto an aerial image of the study site, which would be considered continuous Raster data.
I’m working with vector data since I’m using GPS fixes of tagged wild cats and creating polygons of its home range area. Perhaps will use raster data as well to work on habitat selection models over a map of its range. Using several variables in individual raster files stacked on one another of the study site map.
Vector Data will include those features which can be viewed as points lines or polygons. It can be the Road, buildings, a dam or even a river.
So when talking about the rasta data this is the data that has to be viewed in a form of pixels by pixels we mean pictures.
So the two Geospatial data can be used at the same time or one can be used without the other, it depends on the map that one might be creating, however in most cases vector and raster data are used coincidentally in order to hxave a clear view of what the map is representing.
My field data will be represented in both vector and raster data model. Vector point and polygon data will be used for animal movement and home range. The location of the animals(lizard) will be tracked by using a transmitter. For raster data model, I will be using continuous and thematic both as well. The continuous raster data model will be used for climate change, weather and more on environmental data whereas thematic raster will be used for type of vegetation the lizard perch on.
So in my project I have localities data points for my samples which I can use for Vector model. I use the data to investigate the genetics structure or population connectivity and distribution of Pelagic and deep sea Jellyfish species. However, in an event of Jellyfish bloom occurrence of the same species I would use the data as polygons
In my project, both geospatial models will be used. As for animal’s home range and movement patterns all 3 vector spatial forms will be used. And for vegetation type thematic raster spatial form will be used.
I will use both vector and raster. I use vector while collecting data on the topography of my study area and raster for points counts. I am not too sure if I am getting this well.
Since am always engaged in conservation of wetlands and forest, vector model such as line for transect walk and polygon for patches of the forests and wetlands. Also category model Rasta will be used for vegetation class in these natural resources.
I believe I will use more vector geospacial data as I need to represent villages on QGIS. This can be done in points (to represent individual villages on the map.
For GPS locations of the elephants we observe then it is vector data and then ecotype thematic raster data would be used.
For Raster data I would represent the population density for elephants in Zimbabwe in each district. I would create a thematic map showing where there is highest population density of elephants or any other problematic animals and this will help solve problems related to wildlife human conflicts.
For Vector data i would represent the distribution of our national parks an their area in Zimbabwe. This will be ideal for conservationists in Zimbabwe to make decision based on known total area of our national parks and other conservational parks.
For the bird and bat surveys I volunteer for, point vectors can be used to denote the presence of species, and perhaps line vectors to show the movement of the same individual.
I imagine when all the survey data are collected by the project lead then they would create distribution maps where polygon vectors could be used.
I collect wetland locations. I would use a GPS to collect lat/long data. This would be represented as a vector and point types. It is an easy decision to make because it is straight forward. What may seem ambiguous may be other factors affecting the wetland like temperature and rainfall. I would collect these as points because of weather station data locations and interpolate to represent as raster. So, the stations where data about the rain would be in points but the actual rain etc would be interpolated and represented as raster,
The research team I am apart of at Colorado State University of Pueblo often deals with mapping prairie dog colonies and could use both vector and raster geospatial data models. The perimeter of such colonies can be mapped with polygons using the vector data model. Other factors such as the soil type or vegetation productivity of the prairie dog colonies would use raster geospatial models for mapping.
I understood vector models but am still slightly confused at the difference between thematic and continuous raster layers. What are some ways that you all differentiate between the two?
HI Laney, you can represent a number of different parameters within one symbol by for example, having different colours to represent nest box material , but have different sized symbols to represent clutch size.
An alternative would be to have a “figure” (Print Layout) with multiple map items added so that you can represent different parameters on different maps, but all on the single “figure”.
As wildlife officer I deal both with vector and raster data in a form points for animals sightings and lines for mapping movements of species like elephants and with raster thematic data which is mostly vegetation cover.
I’m working with isoscape modeling, so I use both tipes of geospatial data model.
On one hand, vector polygon data to represent Magellanic Penguin foraging areas (discrete data).
I’ll also use raster data to represent the isotope distribution through those areas (continuos data).
Well, since I’ll be using trap cameras, transects and GPS data of wild animals I’ll use raster, vectors and points. Raster of distribution of introduced mammals (continuous data), GPS will give me lines of distribution and area of movements. Trap cameras will give points of where mammals attack Magellanic penguins nests.
Some of the raster data I am collecting is the presence or absence of ravens (thematic), and age classification. The vector point data will be the raven nest GPS location, and number of ravens.
One question I have is, if there are better explanations between the continuous and thematic raster data?
I’ll be using aerial images which will be a raster data set as well as vector data sets in the form of polygons to represent the distribution of different plant species.
I don’t have any of my own field data just yet but I think I would most likely be using vector data models of points to represent observed locations of individuals and raster data models for vegetation (thematic) and climactic (continuous) data.
Both Vector and Raster apply in my area. Location of nesting sites, distribution of animals, location of lodges and camping sites are examples of vector. NDVI, plant and animals density maps are examples of raster.
I will be using both vector and raster data in my field.since i will be using transect line and determing types and forms of species lie in field areas
One of my objectives to my study is to determine habitat preference. So when doing field data collection, It would be vector data in the form of points (GPS locations are taken where rhinos are observed). To make home range I would use the point vector to make polygons. My other objective is to determine diet preference and this will be done by doing vegetation surveys and this would be thematic raster data.
I think for my research I will mainly use only vector data model: polygon, because I want to determine the home range of colugo
Tracking the movement of animals by using GPS pillar, i would use vector model data using points to track the movement.
I am using a point vector dataset for my field sites, a polygon vector of the coastline and continuous raster datasets for environmental variables such as average sea surface temperature and salinity.
For my seagrass mapping work I think that I can use vector (polygons) to show the seagrass meadow area. It would probably be more useful to use raster to show substrate, species mix, and percent coverage. I am still a little vague about what is considered “continuous” and what is considered “thematic”, but I think these 3 would be considered thematic.
for my data, we perform 20 m random line transect (with replicates) to count the number of species present per square m. I assume my data represents thematic raster?
I’d say that either vector or raster are important and useful for my studies due to they get complement each other and let us take more detailed information about an area of study. For instance, If we are assessing an oil spill track, we can use a vector spatial-data model to draw a polygon for marking the total affected area that it could be inland or offshore. Meanwhile It can be used a raster spatial-data model to classify land attributes, water bodies, and other kind of raster spatial-data in order to determine the possible impact from the oil spill in the affected zone.
I’d like to assume that I will be using both vector and raster data models in the future. When working with locations I’d use GPS to collect data and I will represent this is vector specifically points and if there are other factors affecting the locations such as rainfall, soil type, elevation, etc then I will use raster data model.
I would say I hardly use any raster layers, unless I’m pinpointing the elevation of my study area. I’m currently busy with a study on a certain weed species, trying to find it’s exact distribution in a certain area. Since I will be collecting data of individual plants, that will be a vector data and will be using points to achieve that.
Currently, the data I take in the field are vectors. These are the positions where the individuals of the different species were caught. However, I would like to associate this information with both vectors (rivers, lagoons, roads, rocky areas) and raster (soil hardness, ecoregions, altitude).
I haven’t collected my own field data yet as I’m still studying. However, one of my recent assignments used location data for Arabian oryx in a protected area so it used vector data - location points for the individuals, but also polygons to show their home range and the boundary fence of the protected area. It could be useful to incorporate raster data to look at why the oryx might be travelling to or inhabiting different locations.
Currently in my graduate thesis I use points to mark the locations of the places where I find tapir specimens. I also use polygons to be able to adequately represent the distribution of the species.
As an example, in the project of Mexican wolf reintroduction we generate shape layers to follow the movements of wolves that have a transmitter collar. Also, we generate shape points when we place trap cameras to track wolves and where we collect their droppings. As an example of a raster layer, we use the vegetation cover that is thematic and we use the elevation layer that is continuous.
Vector for the animal distribution points (discrete data) and raster for the occupancy range (continuous data).
vector data - GPS points for predator kill sites
im interested in seeing where the route of the parrots in my region travel since it can be only found at a particular beach i guess for that i would be using vector rather than raster.
For my project I used both vector and raster data models. Vector (point form) for the GPS points, which were locations of Erythrophleum africanum in the park. Then raster data model for (plant density, vegetation type, type of veg damage and distance of the point from a water hole).
they are both good to use but i think we should also look at the prons and cons of each in terms of data storage. for my field work i personally think i will go with Vector data as i understand that is not made up of grid of pixels but it comprised of vertices and paths which means that the graphical output is generally more aesthetically pleasing, it gives more geographic accuracy as data is not dependent on grid sizes than Raster data. so i think i will find it easy to use Vector data as it has multiple attributes eg: Points, lines and polygon i can easily work around with it as it consists of coordinates. Raster data works with pixels (grid cells) which means it values in the satellite images, each value in an elevation map represents a specific height eg: rainfall, landcover, soil type,etc. as we have 2 types of Raster data, namely: Thematic raster and Continuous raster thematic raster has distinct themes eg: it has 1 grid cell that represents a land cover, soil type, management zone, ecoregion with continuous raster are grid cells with gradual changing data eg: temparature, elevation, aerial photograph, probability of occupancy, density which i think i might consider to use it in future as is useful for updated data storage.
both if using GIS to visualize my sampling location(vector) with water parameter data (raster)
example: location of clam collected and sediment collection points. (vector), water parameter such as DO, salinity, pH (raster)
Working with Rhino home range I would use a polygon vector, and the vegetation usage within that home range would probably be represented with thematic raster.