GIS - Answers System of hardware and software that links mapped objects to attribute
information
why use gis - Answers make assumptions and draw conclusions
aspatial data - Answers data that is not tied, or is only incidentally tied, to a location on the
earth's surface, ie. billing for a company
spatial data - Answers data with a discrete location and coordinates.
discrete data - Answers objects existed in a defined location, ie. lines and points, uses vector
data
Continuous Data - Answers data exists everywhere, ie. elevation, uses raster
vector model - Answers each feature is linked to a data table in a 1 to 1 relationship, consists of
points, lines, and polygons.
raster model - Answers breaks geographic areas into small cells or pixels, stores continuous
data. can also use reclassified discrete data.
geometric accuracy - Answers how closely x-y values of a data set correspond to an actual
location
thematic accuracy - Answers accuracy of attributes stored in a table, ie. population. includes
potential bias.
planimetric feature - Answers physical manifestations that can be seen from above, in real life
and on a map.
Cadastral Features - Answers politically/legally defined features, no real manifestations.
Jenks natural breaks - Answers
finds natural gaps to break up data - Answers
statistical classificatiotn - Answers puts same number of features in each class using standard
deviation, good for income data.
MAUP - Answers Modifiable Areal Unit Problem. The same basic data will map differently when
aggregated in different ways
Two types of effects: