GIS Dictionary

Definitions for GIS terms related to operations such as analysis, GIS modeling and web-based GIS, cartography, and Esri software.

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arc

See Also: path

  1. [data structures] On a map, a shape defined by a connected series of unique x,y coordinate pairs. An arc may be straight or curved. arc Illustration
  2. [data structures] A coverage feature class that represents lines and polygon boundaries. One line feature can contain many arcs. Arcs are topologically linked to nodes and to polygons. Their attributes are stored in an arc attribute table (AAT). Nodes indicate the endpoints and intersections of arcs; they do not exist as independent features. Together, the from-node and the to-node define the direction of the arc.