Indicates questions asking about the use and meaning of specific technical words in GIS.
Questions tagged [terminology]
103 questions
25
votes
15 answers
How do you explain what GIS is?
Whenever I do a presentation about anything related to GIS, I consider the level of knowledge of GIS of the audience. The worst times are definitely when I need to explain GIS to a group that has almost no knowledge about it. I said virtually,…
Ragi Yaser Burhum
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10
votes
3 answers
Difference between lon and lng
When browsing the web and documentation I see the abbreviation lon and lng used for the longitude part of geometry.
I was wondering if there is any difference between lng and lon.
stUrb
- 2,269
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8
votes
7 answers
Best definition for GIS today?
What is the best definition of Geographical Information Systems?
Has the definition changed at all since I was taught it 10yrs back?
The technology has changed a lot and it is more powerful than it used to be, but has that changed the overall…
jakc
- 9,858
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5
votes
1 answer
Proper name for area defined by coordinate pair and radius
In defining geography objects within software, I have things such as a City Area, which is an area defined by the bounds of a city, or a County Area, defined by the county boundary.
What is the proper term for an area defined by a center coordinate…
Brad
- 152
- 5
3
votes
0 answers
What is a shaved polygon?
Just trying to find a definition.
I was asked this in an interview and I assumed it was a polygon created by incorrectly modifying a another polygon in a coverage.
According to my best googling resulting in this code:…
DarkSheep
- 186
- 4
3
votes
1 answer
Terminology for "projection" on different 2d planes (no sphere involved)
I'm building software and want to use good terminology for variables, tables, etc.
Most of my work involves blueprint drawings on which I render shapes (pins, polygons, etc). The same set of pins can be represented on different blueprints which has…
Michael
- 141
- 4
2
votes
1 answer
What do you call two isochrone maps that shows the intersection between two points as a "meeting" line?
I've learned today what isochrone maps are but now I sort of want to combine two isochrone so that a line forms right where the maps meet in the middle time wise.
As in, if each point travels the same amount of time then where will they meet? Under…
Ramon Smits
- 123
- 3
2
votes
0 answers
What's the usual term for "ground plan based"
I don't know if "ground plan based" is the right word in the following context:
A computer program reads a ground plan and produces a result ground plan. The result groundplan's deviation from the input ground plan must be within a prescribed…
TerenceChill
- 21
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2
votes
1 answer
Refering to 0° of longitude/latitude in a range
This is more of a question in diction...
In scientific writing, is there a preferable way to write a range, bounded by 0° longitude, in a way similar to "5° W to 10° E" if there is no cardinal direction for 0.
The two ways that seem most reasonable…
ryanjdillon
- 433
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2
votes
3 answers
What is the opposite of height?
Considering that depth denotes the distance below sea-level to a point on an object located below sea level, and considering that height denotes the distance to some point above the surface of the earth as measured from a point on surface of the…
Hal
- 139
- 5
1
vote
0 answers
Is there an equivalent term to 'imagery' in context with maps and cartography?
Is there an equivalent term to imagery in context with maps or cartography?
Mappery seems not to exist. (I'm from Germany, and some miles away from being a native-English speaker)
To explain that a little bit more: Imagery can be used very…
jaysigg
- 497
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1
vote
1 answer
Continents and islands
What would you call the polygon corresponding to a coastline theme? Land mass? It corresponds to continents and islands, but I'm not sure about the best word. The opposite of the sea.
Uffe Kousgaard
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1
vote
0 answers
Generic term for spatial data
I'm building an application that can accept a shapefile/mapinfo/feature class/spatialite table/etc. So - various formats from various vendors/organizations.
So let's say the user is going through a wizard to import data (or visualizing that data…
deroses
- 211
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- 7
0
votes
2 answers
Describing geographic characteristics by lat/long?
I'm not sure of the right terminology to use to google for a database of information.
The data in the database should list geographic characteristics of an arbitrary lat/long. Stuff like height relative to sea level, country name, mountainous,…
anon
0
votes
1 answer
Where is GIS categorized?
I am always in doubt as to where to categorize GIS. For instance, when you use a search engine to look for a job, you are asked to choose the category your job falls in. Or when you search for a book on an online library:
The above list contains…
multigoodverse
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