From the course: Real-World GIS (2014)

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Understanding coverage data

Understanding coverage data - ArcGIS Tutorial

From the course: Real-World GIS (2014)

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Understanding coverage data

Esri has released three vector data models for GIS users. I will show each of the models to you, so you have a firm grasp on how to understand vector GIS data, its possibilities, and its limitations. The first vector data model offered by Esri, is the coverage model, and it was introduced with Arc/INFO. Just like the software name sounds, arcs describe geometry objects like points, lines, and polygons whereas, info describes attribute information about the arcs. To learn more about coverages you can search the ArcGIS help for what is a coverage. If a coverage file contains points of cities we might see those points on a map and then be able to query any of those points for their attributes. The coverage data model contains the point information of the location and the attribute information related to the point. Lets look at a coverage file together. Any coverage file will have a common file extension. Dot COV. Here in windows we can see a complex file structure associated with one…

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