GIS Terminology
Getting Started with ArcGIS
Essentials of Cartography
Geoprocessing
Misc
100

A coordinate-based data type that represents geographic features as points, lines, and polygons.

What is Vector data.

100

An ArcGIS Desktop interface that represents geographic information as a collection of layers and other elements in a map.

What is ArcMap.

100

Essential element located at the top of a map, used to identify what the map is representing.

What is a Title.

100

Use this tool to cut out a piece of one feature class using one or more of the features in another feature class as a cookie cutter.

What is Clip.

100

A mobile app used to gather data in the field and synchronize the results with a web map.

What is Collector for ArcGIS.

200

A universal vector data storage format for storing the location, shape, and attributes of geographic features. This format is stored in a set of related files.

What is a Shapefile.

200

An ArcGIS Desktop application that provides a catalog window that is used to organize and manage various types of geographic information.

What is ArcCatalog.

200
Graphic symbols—varied by color, size, and other properties—to represent geographic features on a map.


What is Symbology.

200
A zone around a map feature measured in units of distance.


What is a Buffer.

200
A cloud-based mapping and analysis solution. Used it to make maps, analyze data, for sharing and collaboration.


What is ArcGIS Online (AGOL).

300

A database or file structure used primarily to store, query, and manipulate spatial data. This is the native spatial data format of ArcGIS (Esri).

What is a Geodatabase.

300

Accessed via ArcMap or ArcCatalog, a window to find, manage, and execute geoprocessing tools.

What is ArcToolbox.

300

Used to identify where the information in the map came from.

What is a Source.

300

Combines multiple input datasets into a single, new output dataset. This tool can combine point, line, or polygon feature classes.

What is Merge.

300
Let you combine authoritative maps with narrative text, images, and multimedia content. Make it easy to harness the power of maps and geography to tell your story.


What are Story Maps.

400

A spatial data type that defines space as an array of equally sized cells arranged in rows and columns (ie, image).

What is a Raster.

400

Lists all the layers on the map (ArcMap) and shows what the features in each layer represent. Helps you manage the display order of map layers and symbol assignment, as well as set the display and other properties of each map layer. 

What is the Table of Contents.

400

Used to show the size or distance of a geographic area.

What is a Scale Bar.

400
The process of assigning non-spatially referenced data (eg, typically a scanned image) to a spatially-referenced location.


What is Georeferencing.

400
A scripting language incorporated into many GIS software applications to automate geoprocessing tasks.


What is Python.

500

In geodatabases, the arrangement that constrains how point, line, and polygon features share geometry. Defines and enforces data integrity rules. 

What is Topology.

500

Accessed via ArcMap or ArcCatalog, an application used to create, edit, and manage workflows, string together sequences of geoprocessing tools, feeding the output of one tool into another tool as input.

What is Model Builder.

500
A mathematical transformation that takes spherical coordinates (latitude and longitude) and transforms them to an XY (planar) coordinate system.


What is Projection.

500
The process of transforming a description of a location - such as a pair of coordinates, an address, or a name of a place - to a location on the earth's surface.


What is Geocoding.

500

A digital model or 3-D representation of a terrain's surface incorporating elevation data.

What is a Digital Elevation Model (DEM)

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