Spatial datamodel based schema creation for the forest change phenomenon

Geographic data consist of location and extent or degree, which are not hold up by a standardized modeling language like Unified Modeling Language (UML). Here, development of broad standard data models presents an interesting challenge since the level of complexity becomes high, and the resultant database schema becomes unusable. In this paper, an attempt is made to address the need of well documented and organized data based on certain standard formats. As UML became extensively used Case Tool both for academic and industry needs, now it became a standard modeling language defined by Open Management Group (OMG) and International Organization for Standardization (ISO). UML covers simple concepts and is very perceptive and easy to use. But association between object, definition of constraints, generalization among data concepts and its quality factors are important to be considered while modeling geographic data. So, to address this issue, this paper proposes UML based data model as a solution, extended to accommodate the spatial data which are derived from the remote sensing images. The solution implemented through the use of stereotyped classes to represent spatial data in a straightforward manner including support for geometries as well as the definitions of attributes, objects, classes and association relations among them. In this paper, UML profile based models are created for various features like Road, Forest, Waterbody, Builtup, Cultivation, Mining and Wasteland and the Extensible Markup Language (XML) code is generated which are stored in XML Metadata Interchange (XMI). Then using ArcGIS support, this code is converted into schemas and finally the schema is populated with data that is used in the study of deforestation factors using GIS and Remote Sensing. The final outcome of the model to database is physically implemented and few tables are also presented here.