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BASIC TERMINOLOGIES USED IN GEOGRAPHIC INFROMATION SYSTEM(GIS)

PREPARED BY

DR. UPASANA CHOUDHURY

RESEARCH SCHOLAR (IT & GIS)

CENTRE OF EXCELLENCE ON LAND GOVERNANCE

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GIS- GIS stands for Geographic Information System. A system designed to capture, store, manipulate, analyze, manage, and visualize geographic data.
GEOSPATIAL-"Geospatial" refers to data or information that is associated with a specific location on Earth. It combines "geo" (Earth) and "spatial" (related to space), so it literally means "Earth space."
DATA- In GIS, "data" refers to the information that represents real-world geographic features and is essential for creating, analyzing, and visualizing maps.

Spatial Data- Spatial data, also called geographic data, specifies the physical location of features on Earth. It answers "where" something is located.
Vector Data- Represents features as points, lines, or polygons.
Raster Data- Represents data as a grid of cells or pixels, where each cell has a value.
Attribute Data or Non-Spatial Data- Attribute data provides descriptive information about spatial features and answers "what" each feature represents.

Shapefile- A shapefile is a popular, widely used file format for storing vector-based GIS data. Developed by ESRI (Environmental Systems Research Institute) in the 1990s, shapefiles store geographic features such as points, lines, and polygons.
Coordinate System- A system used to reference spatial data to specific locations on Earth, typically using latitude and longitude. Common coordinate systems include UTM (Universal Transverse Mercator) and Geographic Coordinate System.
Geographic Coordinate system(L/L)- A Geographic Coordinate System (GCS) is a reference framework that uses latitude and longitude to define locations on Earth. GCS takes into account Earth’s curved shape, making it ideal for global mapping and navigation.
Projected coordinate system- A Projected Coordinate System (PCS) is a coordinate system that represents Earth’s curved, 3D surfaces on a flat, 2D map.

UTM- The Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM) system is a coordinate system that divides the world into a series of zones (60 zones) to allow for precise location mapping.
Datum- A datum in GIS and cartography is a reference system that defines the size and shape of Earth and establishes a frame of reference for measuring locations on its surface.
Geocoding- The process of converting addresses into geographic coordinates (latitude and longitude) so they can be plotted on a map.
WGS84- WGS 84 (World Geodetic System 1984) is a global standard for mapping. WGS 84 is used worldwide for various applications including GIS, satellite navigation, and surveying.
GCP- A Ground Control Point (GCP) is a specific, accurately surveyed location on the Earth's surface that is used in GIS, remote sensing, and photogrammetry to ensure that map data and images are accurately aligned and georeferenced.

Georeferencing-The process of aligning spatial data to a known coordinate system so that it can be viewed, queried, and analysed with other geographic data.
Digitization-The art of transforming the analogue information into digital format. It involves tracing geographical features as digital data.
Feature types in GIS- In Geographic Information Systems (GIS), features are the distinct objects or phenomena that are represented within the spatial data. They can be classified into various types based on their geometric representation and the nature of the data they represent. The primary feature types are polygon features, line features and point features.
Polygon- Polygon has 2 dimensions. A polygon is a closed shape made by connecting multiple points in a path that returns to the starting point, representing areas.
Line- Line has 1 dimension. A line is a connected series of points that form a path or shape, representing linear features.
Point- Point has 0 dimension. A point is a single coordinate pair (latitude and longitude) that represents a precise location on Earth.

KML- Keyhole Markup Language is an XML-based file format used for representing geographic data in a way that is easily shareable and displayable in various mapping applications, most notably Google Earth.
XML- (Based Format) KML is based on XML (Extensible Markup Language), which makes it human-readable and easy to edit with simple text editors.
KMZ- KMZ is a compressed file format used to store KML (Keyhole Markup Language) data along with its associated resources (such as images and icons). The KMZ format is essentially a zipped version of KML files.
Layout- In GIS, a layout refers to the design and arrangement of map elements for presentation and communication purposes.
Geotagging- The process of adding geographic metadata to various types of media, such as photos, videos, websites, and other content, that indicates the specific geographic location where the media was created or captured. This geographic information is often represented in terms of coordinates (latitude and longitude) and can also include other details like altitude, accuracy, and place names.
Geodatabase- A geodatabase is a data storage system designed specifically for managing, storing, and analysing spatial (geographic) data and its associated attributes.