Midterm vocab

Question 1

GIS

Answer 1

Organized collection of computer hardware,
software,
geographic data,
and personnel designed to efficiently
capture,
store,
update,
manipulate,
analyze,
and display all forms of geographically referenced information

Question 2

GIS outputs

Answer 2

Includes cartographic displays,
spatial analysis,
tabular reports

Question 3

ArcToolbox

Answer 3

A collection of geoprocessing tools for ANALYZING, EDITING, and CONVERTING data.

Question 4

ArcCatalog

Answer 4

A catalog window that is used to organize and manage various types of geographic information.

Question 5

Types of info in ArcCatalog

Answer 5

geodatabases,
raster files,
map documents,
layer files,
toolboxes,
models,
and Python coding scripts.

Question 6

ArcGIS Pro

Answer 6

The latest professional desktop GIS application from ESRI.

Question 7

Extent

Answer 7

The geographic limits of a map, bounded by coordinates including ranges of lat and long.

Question 8

Vector

Answer 8

Data type comprised of x-y coordinates, in the form of single points, lines, arcs, or polygons.

Question 9

Raster

Answer 9

Data type comprised of pixels organized into rows and columns, representing digital aerial photographs, imagery from satellites, digital pics, or scanned maps.

Question 10

.GPX file

Answer 10

GPS Exchange Format file - a text file with geographic information such as waypoints, tracks, and routes.

Question 11

Digital Elevation Model

Answer 11

Digital representation of ground surface topography or terrain. Uses a raster grid to store elevation values.

Question 12

ESRI Grid File

Answer 12

Raster format developed by ESRI for ArcGIS. Defines geographic space as an array of equally sized square grid points.

Question 13

Digitize

Answer 13

The process of converting geographic data from a hardcopy or scanned image into vector data by tracing the features.

Question 14

Latitude

Answer 14

The North/South component of a location on the surface of an ellipsoid. Also known as parallels.

Question 15

Longitude

Answer 15

The East/West component of a location on the surface of the Earth.

Question 16

Geographic Coordinate System

Answer 16

A system that uses a 3-D spherical surface to determine locations on the Earth.

Question 17

Coordinate system

Answer 17

Can be defined by either a sphere or a spheroid approximation of the Earth’s shape. A spheroid can help maintain accuracy for a map.

Question 18

Datum

Answer 18

A set of values that defines the position of the spheroid relative to the center of the Earth. Provides a frame of reference for measuring locations and defines the origin and orientation of lat and long lines. Each GCS is created using a datum.

Question 19

Datum, prime meridian, angular unit of measure

Answer 19

Components needed to create a GCS.

Question 20

Projected Coordinate System (PCS)

Answer 20

A flat, two-dimensional representation of the Earth using linear units of measure for coordinates.

Question 21

Projection on-the-fly

Answer 21

Performs the same process as the Project tool, only the data does not change. What ArcGIS does to resolve conflicts when you data is in a different coordinate system than your map.