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      • Table of Contents
      • How to Highlight and Take Notes
      • Acronyms
      • Figures
      • Glossary
      • File Icons
      • Footnotes and References
      • Supported Coordinate Systems
      • Chapter One Title Page
      • Section One - Introduction
      • Section Two - What is GIS?
      • Section Three - Why Do We Need A GIS?
      • Section Four - Putting it all Together: An Example
      • Section Five - Uses of GIS
      • Section Six - History of GIS
      • Chapter Two Title Page
      • Section One - Introduction
      • Section Two - Geodesy
      • Section Three - Mathematically Measuring the Earth
      • Section Four: Latitude and Longitude - One Example of a Geographic Grid
      • Section Five: Geodetic Datums: Combining Reference Ellipsoids and Geoids
      • Section Six: Geographic Coordinate Systems
      • Section Seven: Projection Methods
      • Section Eight- Projected Coordinate Systems
      • Section Nine: Just a Few Extras
      • Chapter Three Title Page
      • Section One - Introduction
      • Section Two - Vector Data
      • Section Three - Raster Data
      • Section Four - Discrete and Continuous Data
      • Section Five - Data Tables
      • Section Six - Introduction to Attribute Tables
      • Chapter Four Title Page
      • Section One - Introduction
      • Section Two - Data Models
      • Section Three - Meet ArcGIS Pro Catalog View
      • Section Four - Meet ArcGIS Pro Maps and Layouts
      • Section Five - What Are Relational Databases and Geodatabases
      • Chapter Five Title Page
      • Section One - Introduction
      • Section Two - Attribute Tables: An Overview
      • Section Three - Attribute Tables Basics
      • Section Four: Selecting Data in ArcMap - The Basics of Making Selections
      • Section Five: Using Selected Data
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Common File Types and Icons in ArcGIS

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  • Introduction to GIS
  • Textbook Reference
  • Common File Types and Icons in ArcGIS
Vector
PolylineA spatial file. Contains only polylines.
Green= shapefile; Blue= feature class
PolygonA spatial file. Contain only polygons.
Green= shapefile; Blue= feature class
PointA spatial file. Contains only points.
Green= shapefile; Blue= feature class
Triangulated Irregular Network (TIN)A vector representation of elevation over a landscape
Network DatasetNetwork Datasets are used to create complex analysis of transportation networks utilizing detailed attributes regarding how each feature interacts with the others.
Green= outside geodatabase; Black= inside geodatabase
Raster
Raster (Image file)Any image file. May or may not be associated with spatial data.
Yellow= outside geodatabase; Blue= inside geodatabase
Organization
GeodatabaseThe biggest “container” for spatial data. Can contain vector or raster data.
Feature DatasetA container for similar vector files. Can contain points, lines, or polygons (not rasters).
Raster CatalogCollections of rasters which are organized and defined by a key. Can not contain vectors.
TopologyA GIS topology is a set of rules and behaviors that model how points, lines, and polygons share coincident geometry.
Tables
Excel TableExcel table. Contains non-spatial data. Often is ‘joined’ or ‘related’ to spatial data.
Other Data Table (various kinds)Tables without the specific .xls file extension. May contain non-spatial numeric or text data, or may contain numeric data associated with a spatial object. Tables are not specifically spatial, but often make up a crucial part of spatial data.
Other Icons
Text FileText files are used for any sort of textual or paragraph data storage, such as metadata (information about the spatial data) or methods/other notes. While ArcGIS can read text files, they do not serve any sort of analysis purpose for us.