Glossary for Geospatial Science

vector format:  A data structure for representing point and line data by means of 2- or 3-dimensional geometric (Cartesian x,y or x,y,z) coordinates with topological requirements (see the following definition for vector topology).  In connection with GIS and computer graphics, “vector” can refer to a set of line segments joined end-to-end to make a curved path in space.  Vector objects also have a set of attributes (such as ID number, color, drawing style) attached to them.