EMS : Glossary

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Term

Definition

AJAX

Asynchronous JavaScript And XML

API

Application Programming Interface

application programming interface (API)

Functions that one application exposes to another

asynchronous

Two-way communication in which parties respond at their convenience, such as a telephone conversation. Not synchronous

bounding box

A rectangular geographical area, defined by the latitude and longitude coordinates at two opposite corners

CBD

Central Business District

EMS

Enhanced Mapping Service

Enhanced Mapping Service (EMS)

The name used for the Whereis® API internally, and applied to its JavaScript namespace

extent

Geographical area, synonymous with "bounding box"

geocode

Return the latitude and longitude coordinates that correspond to a given address. The term is also used to denote a datatype that fully defines a location, in terms of its latitude and longitude, street address, granularity, and its border with other locations of a similar type.

geodetic datum

Mathematical definition of the Earth's shape

geometry

Shapes and points that can be described on a map, such as the points that make up the line of a route

granularity

Describes a location's scale, in particular whether a set of latitude and longitude coordinates should be taken to apply to a property, street, intersection, suburb, state or region

id

identifier

intersection

Street that intersects with another street

LGA

Local Government Area, such as "Boddington Council", "Hobsons Bay Council", and so on.

JavaScript object notation (JSON)

A lightweight data transmission format

JSON

JavaScript Object Notation

OpenLayers

An open source, object-oriented, JavaScript library that facilitates the display of maps and map data on a web page

pan

Change the position of an image without changing the size or position of the frame you're viewing it through

POI

Point Of Interest

point of interest (POI)

Place, service, or product that can be represented by an icon on a map, defined by the icon's image and the latitude and longitude coordinates at its rendered position

rank

Calculate an order for sets of longitude and latitude coordinates according to their distance from a reference point

resolutionA measure of scale, given in degrees longitude per pixel.

reverse geocode

Return the address or addresses that correspond to a given set of latitude and longitude coordinates. A reverse geocode operation returns a geocode object

route

Travel directions from a start point to an end point, which may pass through one or more waypoints

small scale

Map scaled so that real-world entities look small. A small scale map depicts a wide area without much detail

uniform resource locator (URL)

The address of a document, image, or other entity. An HTTP URL is a web address, which you could type into your browser address bar in order to return the entity itself

URL

Uniform Resource Locator

viewport

Precisely defines the bounding box of a viewable map, including real-world distances, and pixel resolution

waypoint

A geographical position, defined by its latitude and longitude, through which a route must pass

WGS84

World Geodetic System 1984

World Geodetic System 1984 (WGS84)

One of several geodetic datums that describes the shape of the Earth. WGS84 is the standard currently used for global positioning systems, enabling international agreement as to the precise location on the Earth represented by any particular set of longitude and latitude coordinates

zoom

Change the scale of an image without changing the size of the frame you're viewing it through. Zoom in to view a larger scale map of a smaller area. Zoom out to view a smaller scale map of a larger area

z-order

Numbered order, from front-most to back-most or vice versa, in which a graphical system should render overlapping two-dimensional objects

 

 

 

 

 

 
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