Geo Visualization

Geographical data is any data that contains geographical information.

There are 2 categories of geographical information:

1. Spatial Objects

   • shape and spatial extent matters

   • the map is the main object of interest

   • for example: counties, regions, buildings, lakes etc.

2. Non-Spatial Geolocated Objects

   • shape and spatial extent do not matter

   • the map is only used as reference

   • for example: cars, people, animals, weather stations etc.

Types of Spatial Objects

• Regions For example: country borders

• Locations For example: latitude, longitude

• Identifiers Names/labels given to spatial objects, for example: zip code, street name, borough

Geocoding is the process of translating an identifier to a specific location (for example state name to location), while Reverse Geocoding is the process of translating a location to an identifier (for example location to state name).