Geographic data and information

Geographic data and information is defined in the ISO/TC 211 series of standards as data and information having an implicit or explicit association with a location relative to Earth (a geographic location or geographic position).

It is also called geospatial data and information, georeferenced data and information, as well as geodata and geoinformation.

Approximately 90% of government sourced data has a location component. Location information (known by the many names mentioned here) is stored in a geographic information system (GIS).

There are also many different types of geodata, including vector files, raster files, geographic databases, web files, and multi-temporal data.

Fields of study

Geographic data and information are the subject of a number of overlapping fields of study, mainly:

• Geocomputation
• Geographic information science
• Geoinformatics
• Geomatics
• Geovisualization

This is in addition to other more specific branches, such as:

• Cartography
• Geodesy
• Geography
• Geostatistics
• Photogrammetry
• Remote sensing
• Spatial data analysis
• Surveying
• Topography

See also

• Earth observation data
• Geographic feature
• Georeferencing
• Geospatial intelligence

Further reading

• Roger A. Longhorn and Michael Blakemore (2007), Geographic Information: Value, Pricing, Production, and Consumption, CRC Press.

External links

• Media related to Geographic data and information at Wikimedia Commons