Geographic Information System: Geographic Information Systems are computer based decision support tools to capture, manipulate, process and display spatial or geo-referenced data. They contain both geometry and attribute data and are distinct in their capabilities to perform spatial operations of integration. Top

Cartography: It is the art of map preparation using actual (Real World) coordinates of the earth. Top

Raster Map: It can be considered as the image input to the GIS system which is not having any information associated with it. The raster map could be a scanned image or remotely sensed image. Top

Vector Map: It can be considered as the intelligent map which could provide you any real world information whatever you want. Top

Layers: Layers are superimposed on the raster map to show the real world entities e.g. Point, Line, Polygon, Text features etc. In-fact it represents the real world entities present on the earth and the associated information with those entities. Top

Virtual Layers: In OOP’s concept virtual layer means it does not exist in isolation but associated with a subclass of a class and make the group of objects of a subclass of a class distinguishable by giving them different display features e.g. color, pattern, or a complete different look. Note: Even if the virtual layers change the appearance of the objects of a subclass of a class the original representation of the objects still exits. Top

Interpolation: Interpolation is a method of approximation of point height from known random points to unknown grided points. The grided plot is generated by defining the maximum tolerance distance between any two points. The distance between any two points could be defined in degrees; kilometers; meters etc. when you are handling large maps then specify the tolerance distance in kilometers or degrees. Top

Contour: It is represented in the line feature with a constraint that no two lines must intersect with each other in any circumstance. This feature is used to represent many spatial information of the earth’s surface e.g. Height information, temperature information, whether forecasting information, information related to oceanography, hydrology etc and many more. Top

Mapping: In GIS arena this term is commonly applied for measurement of spatial (earth’s space) information in many contexts e.g. mapping of boundaries, analysis on the map using real life attribute associated to any real world entity etc. Top

Isochrones: These are the polygons whose vertices show the reach ability from any point under consideration to any node of the polygon under a certain distance or time limit. Top

Catchments Area: The vertices of the Isochrones show the catchments area. The term reach ability along the isochrones vertices and catchments area could be used interchangeably. Top

Buffer zone: Buffer zone is a topological tool which represents a uniform wide band surrounding an object representing an area of influence, whose geometry is defined by set distance from one or several selected objects. This distance is defined by the user as a constant, or field value, value. Top

Topology: The study of geometrical properties and spatial relations which remain unaffected by smooth changes in shape or size of figures. Top

DTM: This means “Digital Terrain Modal” of the mapped surface. It represents the 3D view of any terrestrial surface showing various features of that terrestrial surface in 3-Dimension. This is particularly useful in military applications e.g. plotting the path of convoy movement in high altitude zone or moorlands (Cross country movement). Top

DEM: This means “Digital Elevation Modal” of the mapped surface of the earth. It represents the elevation of earth surface in 3-Dimensional view, but before plotting DEM there must exist a 2-Dimensional contour plot on the map with exact height mapping. Top

Altitude: This represents the height of the points plotted on the earth surface. Top

X,Y,Z: This triplet represents the real world coordinates of the projected 3-D earth surface on to the plane. Here X, Y represents the locational information and Z represents the height of the earth surface. Top

Snap: In GIS arena this means capturing the information of any point under consideration. Top

Length: In GIS arena this represents the distance between the first and last point of a line. The coordinates of the first point of a line is stored in X and Y and the coordinates of the last point of a line is stored in X’ and Y’. Top

Area: This information is only associated with polygon object on the mapped surface showing the area of an entity like, Continent, Country, State, County, Districts etc. Top

Distance: This is used in GIS same as used in common language. Top

Distance to Selection: The Distance to selection field is used for expressing criteria about the distance between objects on the earth surface and other objects on the earth surface that have been selected. This is particularly useful in the selection of objects beneath a study area surface. Top

Navigation: In GIS arena navigation means creation of path between two or N-number of points on the plotted earth surface with taking the height factor of each point as a prime concern. Top

Position: The Position field related to any object on the earth surface is specifically used for topological queries so that you can search for all the objects satisfying a condition, AND that are contained in an object list (in that their location geometry is included in one of the selected objects). For example find all the Plots which intersect, or cross, a particular stretch of road. Find also all the buildings situated within a block (Neighborhood). Using a museum as the start object, search for all the Plots situated 100 meters away. Top

Cross Country: In GIS arena this means both off-road and on-road movements. This is specifically used in military convoy movement sense. Top

Display: In GIS sense this means showing or hiding objects plotted on the earth surface’s study area. Top

View: This means one can save a view of the location with displayed objects on the surface of study area at a particular instance of time. Top

Spatial data: Spatial data means a unit of record of objects of study area of the earth’s surface. Top

Spatial Database: Spatial database means related records of the objects of study area of the earth’s surface which may be any record associated with the mapped area. Top

Spatial Information: Spatial information means data or record or bunch of records making a sense in a particular analysis of the study area of the earth’s surface. Top

Analysis: This is the assessment of study area of the earth’s surface in a particular context. Top

Hydrology: This depicts the study of water related stuffs. In GIS arena this means study of water distribution, study of Ground water survey and many more. Top

Geometry: In GIS sense Geometry field represents the shape, size, location of the objects on the earth’s surface. Top

Grid: Grid is the lattice represented on the study area of the earth’s surface. Top

Graticule: Graticule is the grided surface on the globe showing the intersections of parallels of latitude and meridians of longitude. Top

Latitude: Latitudes or parallels of latitudes are the horizontal circles on the globe showing the measurement of object’s location horizontally on the earth’s surface in terms of radians measured from the centre of the earth. The biggest parallel of latitude on the earth’s surface is equator and the parallels of latitude dimension decreases gradually from the equator towards the North and South Pole. It is measured in terms of Degrees, Minutes and Seconds. Top

Longitude: Longitudes or meridians of longitudes are the vertical circles on the globe showing the measurement of object’s location vertically on the earth’s surface in terms of radians measured from the centre of the earth. The dimension of all meridians of longitudes is same and they converge with each other on the North and South Pole making a point of interaction on the earth’s surface on the North and South Pole. It is also measured in terms of Degrees, Minutes and Seconds. Note: The dimension of equator and meridians of longitude is same. Top

Parallels: Same as Latitude. Refer to latitude for more detail. Top

Meridians: Same as longitude. Refer to longitude for more detail. Top

Prime Meridian: This is the central meridian of longitude. The significance of prime meridian is that it divides the world into time zone with respect to GMT (Greenwich Mean Time). Note: Greenwich is the place in England from where the prime meridian passes through. So for time measurement the reference point is Greenwich in GMT time zone. Top

Pole: Poles are the two extreme points on the earth surface which is located in two directions namely North Pole and South Pole. It divides the earth surface into two hemispheres namely Northern hemisphere and Southern hemisphere. Note: With respect to directions the earth could be divided into four hemispheres namely Northern hemisphere, Southern hemisphere, Western hemisphere and Eastern hemisphere. Top

Anamorphism: Anamorphism is a method of producing a special type of thematic map in which the external boundaries is of less concern. The objective of anamorphism is to modify the External Boundary with respect to some attributed data means to expand or shrink the boundary with respect to a variable with some topological constraints such as: topology and adjacency of the boundaries should be maintained so that the area could be identifiable. Note: The shape of the concerned area could be distorted in case of extreme values. Top

Import: Import is a process of taking data from external database into GIS attribute table. Note: We can make various types of configuration and links in the importing process e.g. in the process of dynamic linking one could dynamically link the external database with the attribute table of the map so that the changes made to either of these database should be reflected into Bi-directional way. Top

Export: This is reciprocal to import. It means sending GIS data to external database for manipulations or treatment into external environment. Top

Roadmap: This resembles the basic map and coverage of an area to be mapped. Top

Network: In GIS arena logically it is the lattice of road constructed on the study area surface for the purpose of routing. Top

Resolution: Technically the meaning of resolution resembles to the active screen area coverage (e.g. 800*640 pixels…etc.) which depends upon the aspect ratio of the screen which is the rate of horizontal scanning versus vertical scanning of the screen. Top

Dynamic Linking: Dynamic linking is a mode of linking between two databases with the help of the configuration so that the two databases can share data in real time mode. Top

Sector: Sector is the section cut from a 3-Dimensional surface with specific angles. Top

Legend: In GIS arena legend is the only source for identifying objects of study area of the earth’s surface which are presented in the graphical format. In-fact the legends and annotations are the only source of the information of a map. Top

Statistical Analysis: It is the analysis made on the map with respect to one or more variables. It include all standard type of statistical functions e.g. calculation of mean, median, mode, standard deviation, all types of distributions, analysis of variance, student-t-test, chi-square-test etc. Top

Vehicle Tracking: This enables the users to track the vehicle of interest in real time mode using GPS (Global positioning System) module of GIS. Top

Annotation: Annotation is the addition of notes (text or diagrams), comments, and explanation with a geographic object for the sake of clarity of understanding of map’s object. Top

Geo-referencing: Geo-referencing is the process of converting spatial (Globe’s) coordinates into Geographic (Real World’s) coordinates system. So that an object of 3-Dimensional surface could be represented on to the plane paper map exactly or with minimal distortion. Top

Geo-coding: The Geocoding module of GIS will position individual objects on a map automatically, using an alphanumerical file as the source. Geocoding will enable you to generate, for example, a geographical display of your customer or prospect files, your shops, telephone boxes, bridges, etc. Top

Scale: In GIS arena the scale is the measurement of actual surface coverage on to a 2-Dimensional map with respect to the surface coverage on the earth. The scale takes a unit to measure the actual measurement of the earth’s surface coverage on to a map, which could be specified in terms of meter, kilometer, feet etc. Take for instance, the scale 1/1000 with meter as a unit corresponds to 1-meter on the map = 1000 meter on the surface. In the same way one could specify any unit of measurement. Top

Projection: In GIS sense Projection means projecting the 3-Dimensional earth’s surface on to a plane for obtaining Geographic (Real world) coordinates of the earth surface for mapping of the study area surface. There are various projection systems available in GIS which conform to preserve the maximum properties of the curved earth surface after projection on to a plane. Note: The direction of curvature or projection direction of earth’s surface depends upon the nature and direction of study area. Top

Digitization: Digitization is the process of making vector objects on to a raster sheet. These vector objects have a lot of real world and imported statistical information associated with them. The information of the vector objects are stored in the attribute table which is associated with each object. Top

R2V Conversion: This implies raster to vector conversion. This is same as digitization. Top

Coordinates System: Here by coordinate system we mean to say Geographic or real world coordinates obtained after projecting the curved earth surface on to a plane. The coordinates system corresponds to their respective projection systems. Top

Routing: Routing is a module of the GIS which is used to trace the optimal path or paths between any two or N-number of points under selection in static or real time mode. Top

Global Positioning System (GPS): GPS is the module of GIS used to track or position any thing on to surface using communication network, embedded technology, and workstation in real time mode. Top

Digital Atlas: Bunch of intelligent, informative maps enclosed in a book for reference or accessibility to those maps to various groups of information seekers. Top

Remote Sensing: Remote sensing is a technology which produces remotely sensed images or aerial images, this technology is often termed as Aerial Imagery. The quality of produced images through this technology could be determined by the resolution of the images e.g. 1 meter resolution (1/4000 scale) images could be sufficient for any type of analysis over rural or moorland areas but when one want to see building, roads, pavements etc of urban areas then the image should be of 25 centimeter resolution (1/1000 scale). Note: The resolution of the images depends upon the mapping requirements. Top

Attribute Table: In-fact this is the database of the map. The attribute table is associated with each object presented on the map. Top

Thematic: These are the maps prepared with some special contexts. These maps represents information in the form of some themes e.g. color ranges, Pie-chart, Bar-graph, Dot-density and many more which depicts the real world information in a easy to understand themes. Note: The themes may be easily incorporated on to the map using GIS. Top

Vertices: The vertices are the various ends of a polygon. Note: The polygon is an irregular structure and each of its vertex represent a specific closure. Top

Geographic Features: The Geographic features are the various features of the earth’s surface. Top

Study Area: By study area here we mean to say the area to be mapped on the earth’s surface. Top

Geo-registration: Geo-registration is the process of registering some of the coordinates of the raster image so that the raster image of an area to be mapped could be Geo-referenced and populated with the real world or Geographic coordinates in the process of R2V conversion. Top

Vector Re-registration: Vector Re-registration is the process of re-registering coordinates of the vector image so that the vector image of an area to be mapped could be Geo-referenced in different projection system and populated with the real world or Geographic coordinates with the respective projection system. Top

Screen Pixel: Screen pixel is the unit of the screen which represents any thing typed and various images on the screen. In simple term the resolution means the screen coverage and in GIS arena the resolution of the image depends on how much area a pixel is representing of the map. Top

Detection change: This term is most often used in terms of remote sensing. The detection change means changing of properties and resolution of image in two different aerially mapped image. Top

Overlaying: It resembles to superimposing layers over the surface to be mapped. The layers could be a polygon representing county, states, country etc, lines representing boundaries, roads, rail roads network etc, point representing cities, urban agglomeration etc, and text representing annotation. The purpose of layer superimposition is R2V conversion. Top

Distribution: In statistical sense it resembles the distribution of an entity to be mapped over a surface e.g. mapping of potential customers over a surface, mapping of sales catchments areas etc. Top

3D: This means 3-Dimension of the objects to be measured on the surface. The first two dimensions could be their locational information represented by X and Y coordinate and the third dimension could be their altitude information represented by Z. Top

3D Interpolation: 3-D interpolation means interpolating the points in 3-Dimension with their respective altitude and producing the result of interpolation in 3-Dimention. For more information on interpolation refer to interpolation. Top

Map-to-screen: This is the process of converting map’s coordinate into screen’s pixels location. Top

Screen-to-map: This is the process of converting screen’s pixel location into Geographic (Real World) coordinates. This includes the process of Geo-registration. Refer to Geo-registration for more detail. Top

Conversion factor: The conversion factor is the factor which when treated arithmetically changes the unit of measurement from one unit to another e.g. mile to inch, kilometer to meter etc. Note: In GIS arena this is not a simple arithmetic as used conventionally, it includes various factors to be considered when conversion factor is to be applied e.g. scale of the map is the major factor affecting this calculation. Top

Deformation: In GIS sense the Deformation means distortion of properties during the projection applied on the earth’s surface. Note: No projection system could preserve all the properties of the earth’s surface. Top

Ecology: A branch of biology concerned with the relations of organisms to one another and to their physical surrounding. Top

Informatics: The science of processing data for storage and retrieval. Top

Geology: The science which deals with the physical structure and substance of the earth e.g. the geological features of a place includes its soil types, rocks, minerals, seismic activity etc. Top

Scenario: An assumed sequence and development of events in the statistical analysis on some variables. Top

Combine polygon: This is the topological operation on polygon object. This operation combines the two polygons with respect to one polygon object to which the polygon is going to be merged. Top

Polygon Intersection: This topological operation finds the intersection portion of two polygons and creates a polygon showing the area of intersection or shared area by both polygons. Top

Subtract Polygon: This topological operation subtract one polygon from the other and creates a polygon from the result. Top

Point of capture: This is the point to be captured during the R2V conversion. We can define the altitude of the each point during this operation. Top