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Essential vocabulary

The terms and abbreviations defined below are used in ArcGIS Topographic Mapping.

BUA

Acronym for built-up area.

CTM

Initialism for Civilian Topographic Map (CTM). The Topographic Mapping extension supports CTM map products at the following map scales:

  • CTM25—1:25,000

  • CTM50—1:50,000

EC

Initialism for entity catalog.

Extraction guide

A document that provides extraction guidance for all the features in a data specification. The instructions in the guide may include information about the dimensions for features for a specific feature class as well as their attributes. The purpose of the extraction guide is to provide a logical approach to feature extraction that results in consistent data collection.

EVC

Initialism for Evasion Chart.

GAIT

Acronym for Geospatial Analysis Integrity Tool.

ICM

Initialism for Image City Map.

JNC

Initialism for Jet Navigation Chart.

JOG

Initialism for Joint Operations Graphic.

MGCP

Initialism for Multinational Geospatial Co-production Program.

MTM

Initialism for MGCP Topographic Map. The Topographic Mapping extension supports MTM map products at the following map scales:

  • MTM25—1:25,000

  • MTM50—1:50,000

  • MTM100—1:100,000

NGA

Initialism for National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency.

NRN

Initialism for NGA reference number.

ONC

Initialism for Operational Navigation Chart.

Shapefile

A shapefile is a vector data storage format for storing the location, shape, and attributes of geographic features. A shapefile is stored in a set of related files and contains one feature class.

TDS

Initialism for topographic data store. A TDS is a digital repository that stores information, at different map scales, about land area, including elevation, contours, rivers, roads, and other landmarks. The topographic features collected adhere to the TDS EC, a structured list that defines all the different types of geographic features that can be stored. It is a subset of the National System for Geospatial Intelligence (NSG) EC.

TM

Initialism for Topographic Map. The Topographic Mapping extension supports TM map products at the following map scales:

  • TM25—1:25,000

  • TM50—1:50,000

  • TM100—1:100,000

TPC

Initialism for Tactical Pilotage Chart.

TRD

Initialism for Technical Reference Document. The MGCP TRD includes documentation for the MGCP Data Model, MGCP Data Extraction, and MGCP Quality.

Vertex

A vertex is a point of x,y coordinate pairs that define the shape of a line or polygon feature.

Z-value

The value for a surface location that represents an attribute other than position. In an elevation or terrain model, the z-value represents elevation; in other surface models, it represents the density or quantity of a particular attribute.