- Vector Files
- Files that contain referenced data in numeric form that can be scaled up to the resolution of the data
- Raster Files
- Files that contain picture information (such as an orthophoto) or data sampled at a specific resolution as point sources
- Text Files
- Text files can be used to bring in simple geospatial data (such as points) or to merge in adjunct information, and usually contain lists of values (or fields)
- GPS Data
- GPS Devices provide location information sampled at a particular point in time. For most purposes, these are Waypoints (point sources marked by the GPS User) and tracks (historical timestamped record of the devices travels).
- Database Information
- Databases can contain many of the types of data already described above. Although they usually most similarly resemble Text Files (fields of data and possibly simple geospatial data), some database formats exist that contain complex geometry.
- Entity (Entities)
- Entities are geospatial objects in Cartographica. They may contain geospatial and non-geospatial data.
- Geospatial Data
- Geospatial data is a special kind of data that contains location information. Points, Lines and Polygons are all geospatial data.
- Point (Points)
- A point is a geospatial data member that contains and X and Y coordinate (commonly longitude and latitude, respectively) that specifies its location.
- Line (Lines)
- A line is a geospatial data member that contains a list of X and Y coordinates that specify the positions of the start and end of each line segment that it includes. Lines have no inherent width in geospatial terms and therefore are pure geometric entities. Although commonly used to represent things such as roads, they do not provide outlines of the actual roads in this capacity, but instead represent the vector that aligns with the road. Commmonly, road data will use Centerline (CL) vectors that represent the middle of the road being represented.
- Centerline (CL) data
- It is common to represent roads as a Line that is based on the center of the road. Although this does not provide for an accurate rendition of the sides of the road, it generally provides sufficient information about the direction and length of road segments that are being represented
- Polygon (Polygons)
- A polygon is a geospatial data member that contains an ordered list of X and Y coordinates that specify the positions of the start and end of each line segment that outlines the area of the polygon. In some more complex polygons, another complete polygon may be describe that acts to create a hole in the first (larger) polygon, thus making it partially hollow. The direction of the line segments (vectors) that represent the closed polygons are significant, in that a right-handed polygon encloses areas that are "inside" of the polygon and a left-handed polygon encloses areas that are "outside" of the polygon.
- Extent
- The Extent is the minimum rectangle that bounds all points.
- Layer
- A layer is a collection of similar data are grouped together. In Cartographica, layers may be turned on or off and may be styled by the user.
- Layer Stack
- The Layer Stack is the pile of layers that exist in every Cartogrpahica Mapset. The stack is represented visually by a list on the left side of the Map Window. Individual Layers in the stack may be moved up or down by dragging and may be individually turned on and off.
- Georeferenced
- Georeferenced information is information which has geospatial references in it. Examples are GeoTIFF files that contain lists of geographic points referencing real-world coordinates against individual pixels in the TIFF files.
- Orthophoto
- An arial photographthat has been geometrically corrected to a uniform scale.
- GPS (Global Positioning System)
- A system of satellites used to provide accurate positioning information for locations on or near the earth. Usually accurate in 2D, much less so in 3D.
- Glonass
- Russian GPS system.
- Galileo
- European GPS system.
- TIGER
- Topologically Integrated Geographic Encoding and Referencing system. Funded by the US Census Bureau, TIGER is the source of much of the street data that is publicly available in the US.
- USGS
- The United States Geological Survey (USGS) is a US government agency charged with providing reliable scientific information to describe and understand the earth.
- Geodetic
- TBA
- NOAA
- The National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is a US government agency focused on the conditions of the oceans and the atmosphere. The National Weather Service (NWS) is the most famous department of NOAA
- NWS
- The National Weather Service.
- Ordnance Survey
- Ordnance Survey is the UK mapping agency. Technically, it is a Crown Corporation and has a special type of quasi-governmental existence.
- Projection
- A method by which coordinates are converted from a geocentric or geodetic coordinate system to a projected coordinate system. Due to the curvature of the Earth, projection is necessary to create maps that have consistent distances. As such, projections tend to be useful only for small, well-defined areas or large areas over which the accumulated errors are either insignificant or well understood.
- Geocentric Coordinate System
- A Coordinate System that is based on latitude and longitude, but without regard for a specific datum.
- Geodetic Coordinate System
- A Coordinate System that is based on latitude and longitude related to a particular datum.
- Geocode
- Encoding information based on interpreting addresses against known coordinates of similar addresses.
- Timecode
- Encoding information by comparing the time that the information was gathered to a known set of position data, and interpolating for times that are between readings. This is used by Cartographica to find photo locations based on GPS track data and photo EXIF timestamps.
- Coordinate(s)
- TBA
- ODBC
- Open DataBase Connectivity is a standard that allows software to use a single standard API to communicate with a wide variety of database programs and servers.