Data Collection, Processing and Management
A key component of GIS mapping is the collection, processing and management of geographic data. Data consists of numbers, text or symbols, but geographic data requires the addition of a spatial component; geographic data must refer to a unique place. Commonly, this can be a city, county, state, or country, though it can also be a specific point on a map collected by GPS, a street address, aerial photography, satellite imagery, or various other forms of spatial data.
As data is the base of any map, significant time is involved in collecting the proper data and processing it to clean up any errors, resolve formatting issues, to remove any irrelevant data, and to format it to work with the mapping program. Once data has been collected, it has to be managed in order to keep it updated and available for when it is needed. For larger mapping projects, data is often stored in a Geodatabase, which allows for better control of the data, clear organization, and other additional management capabilities.