A
ANSI
American National Standards Institute
B
BLOB
Binary Large Object
Buffer
Geometric object that contains all points whose distance from another geometric object is less than or equal to a given distance
C
CLOB
Character Large Object
Closed curve
A curve value such that its start point is equal to its end point
Convex hull
Smallest convex set containing the geometric set associated with the geometric object
Curve
Bounded, connected 1-dimensional geometric primitive, representing the continuous image of a line, and therefore fully realizable as a 1-parameter set of points
E
End point
Last point of a curve
External routine
UDF, UDM, or external stored procedure that is written using C, C++, or Java
External stored procedure
A stored procedure that is written using C, C++, or Java
G
GEOS
Geometry Engine - Open Source
A C++ port of the Java Topology Suite (JTS) that aims to contain the complete functionality of JTS in C++, including all the OpenGIS “Simple Features for SQL” spatial predicate functions and spatial operators, as well as specific JTS enhanced topology functions.
GIS
Geographic Information System
I
ISO
International Organization for Standardization
L
linear ring
A linestring value that is closed and simple
linestring
A curve with linear interpolation between control points
LOB
Large Object
M
MapServer
An Open Source development environment for rendering spatial data for the web.
MapServer is Copyright © 1996-2008 Regents of the University of Minnesota
MBR
Minimum Bounding Rectangle
The MBR type represents the minimum and maximum X and Y coordinates of a geometry.
MGRS
Military Grid Reference System
N
Nonclosed curve
A curve value such that its start point is not equal to its end point
Null
A construct used to represent missing information. The true value of nulls is usually, but not always, UNKNOWN (see Database Design for a list of exceptions).
O
OGR
A C++ open source library (and command line tools) providing read (and sometimes write) access to a variety of vector file formats including ESRI Shapefiles, TIGER/Line files, and Mapinfo mid/mif and TAB formats.
OGR is part of GDAL (Geospatial Data Abstraction Library) Copyright © 2000, Frank Warmerdam.
P
Point
0-dimensional geometric primitive, representing a position, but not having extent
Polygon
A surface that uses linear rings to define its boundary
R
Ring
A curve value that is closed and simple
S
Shapefile
Simple GIS vector file containing points, lines, or areas.
Start point
First point of a curve
Surface
Bounded, connected 2-dimensional geometric primitive, representing the continuous image of region of a plane, and therefore fully realizable locally as a 2-parameter set of points
T
TIGER®
Topologically Integrated Geographic Encoding and Referencing system and digital database developed at the U.S. Census Bureau to support its mapping needs
TIGER/Line® files
A digital database of geographic features that are the public product created from the TIGER database
U
UDF
User-Defined Function
UDM
User-Defined Method
UDT
User-Defined Type
UPS
Universal Polar Stereographic
UTM
Universal Transverse Mercator
W
WKB
Well-Known Binary
WKT
Well-Known Text