Seamless geospatial data methodology for topographic map: A case study on Baghdad

Abstract

Abstract Researchers have been focused on evaluating topographic maps in order to identify property and infrastructure and address issues relating to property disputes and its ramifications for a given country. However, over time, the requirements for map production have changed and evolved, and there is a need for an increased level of quality and standard in the map making process. Several cities in Iraq, including Baghdad (capital), do not comply with the existing standards set by the Department of Survey Mapping in Iraq (DSMI). One of the main concerns and issues is with the quality of mapping which is mainly due to inaccurate digitizing procedures. Therefore, the aim of this study is to produce seamless topographic maps using vector data to overcome the problem of no-overlapping that often occurs in producing maps. However, there is another issue regarding edge matching and the lack of standards being met according to the MS1759 procedure. To address this issue, ArcGIS 10.3 software is used as a tool to process data, analyze the index maps, and to produce seamless geospatial data using seamless methods. The database is set up using the characteristics and code properties from the MS1759 standard. The orthophoto image is used as the base map in which the series of maps used is MY Series and its area is of Baghdad. The results indicated that seamless topology is far easier to handle than the base cartography. It also demonstrated that using this method aids in analyzing the data in a far more detailed manner than existing techniques. Overall, the study concludes that seamless topographic map has a better GIS ready quality and the produced map is far more qualitative than the existing map of the Baghdad.