Area - A description of the dimension or content of a polygon.
Coordinate System - A fixed reference framework superimposed onto the surface of an area to designate the position of a point within it by using x and y coordinates. The State Plane Coordinate System and the system of latitude and longitude used on the Earth's surface are common examples.
Data - A collection of facts, concepts or instructions in a formalized manner suitable for communication or processing by human or automatic means. Generally used in the GIS field as a reference to all spatial information.
Feature - A spatial element which represent a real-world entity by having specific characteristics. Often used synonymously with the term object. A generalized description of a point, line or polygon.
Field - A location in a data record in which a unit of information is stored. For example, in a database of addresses, one field would be 'city'.
Geocoding - The process by which the geographic coordinates of a location are determined by its address, postal code, or other explicitly non-geographic descriptor.
Legend - The description of the symbology representing features on a map.
Map - A graphic representation of geographically distributed phenomena. The information displayed may be in the form of symbols or signs.
North Arrow - The graphical representation of which direction north is on the map.
Scale - The ratio or fraction between the distance on a map, chart or photograph and the corresponding distance in the real world.
Scale Bar - A map element which shows the scale of a map graphically.
Set - A group of features and their data.
Spatial - (pro. Spay-shawl) An adjective. Of, relating to, or occurring in space.
Table - A means of organizing data in rows and columns in which each row represents an individual entity, record, or feature and each column represents a single field or attribute value.
Query - A way of selecting features based on a set of common characteristics. For example, the act of selecting all the buildings that have an area greater than 2000 sq. ft. out of a database.
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