GIS Concepts in Layman's Terms

Clip: Taking a larger GIS layer and referencing it to specific locations desired.

Digitize: Creating a new feature class (polygons, lines, etc.) from scratch.

Field Calculator: a feature within an attribute table that enable quick calculations to be performed on other attribute columns.

Flow Direction: An analysis technique within spatial analyst that uses a digital elevation map to show the direction of where water will flow based on the change in in slope to its steepest adacent cell.

Intersect: Combines features falling within the same spatial extent of two common layers.

Merge: Taking adjacent data layers and combining them into one new layer.

Projection: A method used to take spatial referenced materials from a spheroid (Earth) and represent it on a flat surface.

Reclassification: Changing how certain attributes are represented.

Spatial analyst: A tool within ArcGIS that performs various spatial analyses.

Summarize: a feature within an attribute table that enables a user to quick analyses questions or queries from a selected attribute column and how they relate to other attributes.

Transformation: A method used to change the way that geologically reference materials from one projection to another.