GIS terms starting with S

57 terms

satellite image A picture of the earth taken from an earth-orbital satellite. Satellite images may be produced photographically or by on-board scanners (e.g., MSS).
satellite imagery Imagery that is collected using a space-borne remote system that is in orbit around the Earth.
Scale Ratio of map distance to Earth distance. Thus, in a 1:24,000 scale map, one centimeter, inch, or foot equals 24,000 centimeters, inches, or feet on the…
scale bar A map element that shows the map scale graphically.
Scanning Scanning is the process of converting a hard copy paper document into a digital image for use in a computer system.
scratch file A temporary file holding intermediate data during an operation, such as when calculating arc intersections, or building feature topology.
section An area equal to 640 acres or 1 square mile.
section line A line on a surface defining the position of a profile.
Section table (SEC) Section table for the section feature class in a coverage. The SEC holds attributes about sections.
selection coverage A coverage whose area overlaps that of a map library. It identifies the area to extract data from, or insert data into, a map library.
Selective Availability (S/A) A U.S. Department of Defense program to limit the accuracy of autonomous position fixes computed by civilian receivers.
setuid A process which can set its effective user to super-user (root). That is, although any user can run the process, the process can then execute operations…
shade symbol A pattern used to shade polygons in ARC/INFO. Shade symbol patterns include crosshatch, repeating, and solid fill.
Single Member District (SMD) Single Member Districts are boundaries, within ANCs, developed by the DC City Council.
single precision Refers to a level of coordinate accuracy based on the number of significant digits that can be stored for each coordinate.
sliver polygon A small areal feature commonly occurring along the borders of polygons following the topological overlay of two or more coverages.
slope An inclined surface usually defined by the ratio of the horizontal distance to the vertical distance, i.e. 2:1 (2 horizontal units to 1 vertical unit).
snapping The process of moving a feature to coincide exactly with coordinates of another feature within a specified snapping distance, or tolerance.
soundex A phonetic spelling (up to six characters) of a street name, used for address matching.
spatial analysis The process of modeling, examining, and interpreting model results. Spatial analysis is useful for evaluating suitability and capability, for estimating…
spatial data Information about the location and shape of, and relationships among, geographic features, usually stored as coordinates and topology.
Spatial Data Transfer Standard/Topological Vector Profile (SDTS/TVP) A United States Federal standard designed to support the transfer of different types of geographic and cartographic spatial data.
spatial feature See geographic feature.
spatial indexing A means of accelerating coverage drawing, spatial selection, and feature identification by generating feature-based indexes for one or more feature…
spatial interaction An analytical technique that estimates the number of interactions occurring between an origin and destination locations.
spatial modeling Analytical procedures applied with a GIS. There are three categories of spatial modeling functions that can be applied to geographic features within a…
spatial order An index assigned to features based on their relative closeness in two-dimensional space.
spatial query See map query.
spike 1. An inflorescence in which the main axis is elongated and the flowers are sessile. 2.
spline A mathematical curve used to smoothly represent spatial variation. A spline operation inserts vertices to create a curve in an arc.
SQL/MM An international standards effort, sponsored by ISO to extend SQL to support multimedia applications, including access and manipulation of geographic data.
Square A unit of land defined by the DC Surveyor that normally consists of a single city block and contains record and tax lots.
SSD OBSOLETE. Space Systems Division. (Now USAF/SMC.)
SSL See definition for: Secure Sockets Layer (SSL)
Standard interchange format (SIF) a spatial data exchange format. A standard or neutral format used to move graphics files between computer systems.
Standardized raster graphic (SRG) a digital representation of a map or chart, which is captured by automatic digitization (scanning), stored on a digital storage media, and displayed on a…
State Plane Coordinates (SPC) A map projection that measures distance in feet. By providing an SPC easting (x) and northing (y), the state name, and the zone number, any location in…
station file An AML file containing commands needed to establish the environment for graphic display and graphic input.
Status The legal standing of a patent appplication or patent. MPEP 102.
stop Stops are locations visited in a path or tour; they may represent customers on a delivery route or cities in a highway system.
stop impedance The time it takes for a stop transfer to occur. This is used to compute the impedance of a path or tour.
stop transfer The number of things or packages transferred at a stop. This is used to find the total number of transfers on a path or tour.
street centerline A real or imaginary line that is equidistant from the sides (usually pavement edges) of a travel path.
Street Name Alias n alternative or abbreviated name for a street. Examples of this include MISS for Mississippi or MLK for Martin Luther King Jr.
string A series of alphanumeric characters of any length enclosed by quotes.
Structured Query Language (SQL) A syntax for defining and manipulating data from a relational database. Developed by IBM in the 1970s, it has become an industry standard for query…
subclass Each asset class - stock, bonds, and cash equivalents, for example - is made up of a number of different groups of investments called subclasses.
Summary Metadata This is a shorter set of metadata to provide the basic information about a dataset.
Supply The availability of services or goods at centers. An example of a type of supply is the availability of milk at grocery stores, cars at a car dealer, or…
surface A geographic phenomenon represented as a set of continuous data, such as elevation or air temperature over an area.
surface data Information about variations in the surface of the Earth that are referenced to a known coordinate system and vertical datum.
surface model Digital abstraction or approximation of a surface. Because a surface contains an infinite number of points, some subset of points must be used to…
SYBASE A relational database management system to which ARC/INFO has access through the DATABASE INTEGRATOR.
symbol A graphic pattern used to represent a feature. For example, line symbols represent arc features; marker symbols, points; shades symbols, polygons; and…
symbol environment Defines the types of map symbols and their characteristics during a graphic display session in ARC/INFO.
system tables Tables which contain information about a database, such as the data dictionary and database transactions.
Systems network architecture (SNA) Networking protocol popular in IBM environments.