Glossary for Geospatial Science

anti-aliasing:  (referring to a graphic display of lines) Anti-aliasing removes or greatly reduces the jagged, stair-step appearance of a digital line.  This stair-stepping is caused by plotting a uniform color and intensity line on a display device whose minimum resolution or cell size is easily resolved by the observer’s eye.

Anti-aliasing smoothes out the jagged edges of the line by filling in some of the intermediate and flanking cells in lower-intensity colors.  (See also: aliasing)