GIS Dictionary

[ESRI software] A geometric element defined by a pair of x,y coordinates.

[ESRI software] In Survey Analyst, part of the validation of survey data. This type of analysis is used to authenticate the relationships between survey points, coordinates, and the physical locations … Read more

[linear referencing] In linear referencing, a feature that occurs at a precise point location along a route and uses a single measure value. Examples include accident locations along highways, signals … Read more

1 [ESRI software] A map feature that has neither length nor area at a given scale, such as a city on a world map or a building on a city … Read more

[ESRI software] A field in the Survey Analyst Survey Explorer dialog box that allows a user to specify the name of a particular survey point.

[data capture] A method of digitizing in which the digitizer selects particular points, or vertices, to encode.

[ESRI software] In Survey Analyst, a visual indicator, after each keystroke, of whether or not a point with the typed name already exists in the survey dataset.

[ESRI software] In Survey Analyst, a unique part of every survey project. Points have a common name space across all projects of a survey dataset. However, different points in different … Read more

[graphics map display] A unit of measure for fonts, nearly equal to 1/72 of an inch.

[3D GIS] Act of reducing point data in a dataset. Point thinning reduces the number of point measurements needed to represent a surface for a given area.

[spatial analysis] A spatial operation in which points from one feature dataset are overlaid on the polygons of another to determine which points are contained within the polygons.

[map projections] A planar projection with its central point located at either the north or south pole.

A satellite orbit with an inclination near 90 degrees that passes over each polar region.

[geodesy] The distance from the earth’s geometric center to either pole.

1 [data models] On a map, a closed shape defined by a connected sequence of x,y coordinate pairs, where the first and last coordinate pair are the same and all … Read more

1 [data models] A map feature that bounds an area at a given scale, such as a country on a world map or a district on a city map. 2 … Read more

[data editing] The process of superimposing two or more geographic polygon layers and their attributes to produce a new polygon layer.

[data models] In a polygon coverage, the list of topologically connected arcs that define the boundary of a polygon feature and the label point that links it to an attribute … Read more

A three-dimensional object or volume defined by a number of plane faces or polygons.

[ESRI software] In ArcGIS software, a shape defined by one or more paths, in which a path is a series of connected segments. If a polyline has more than one … Read more

[ESRI software] In ArcGIS software, a digital map feature that represents a place or thing that has length but not area at a given scale. A polyline feature may have … Read more

[Internet] A Web resource that provides access to a broad array of related resources and services.

[Internet] A Web component that processes requests and generates dynamic content. Portlets are used in portals as pluggable user interfaces to add specialized content, such as weather information, news, or … Read more

[surveying] The latitude, longitude, and altitude (x,y,z coordinates) of a point, often accompanied by an estimate of error. Position may refer to an object’s orientation (facing east, for example) without … Read more

[geocoding] A series of letters or numbers, or both, in a specific format, used by the postal service of a country to divide geographic areas into zones in order to … Read more

[data editing] During versioned geodatabase editing, the process of applying the current edit session to the reconciled target version.

[mathematics] The number of times a value is to be multiplied by itself, indicated by an exponent. For example, 2 3=2*2*2.