Mapping A-Z Guide

We recently compiled this A-Z list of mapping terms as a quick guide for our geospatial developer community. We’ve seen a lot of changes in mapping and location technology since we set up our mapping team in 2008. As customisation features and location services continue to expand, we’ll continue to update this guide. Use it if you’re just getting started with maps, or are looking to integrate additional services to your app.

ASSET: A moving/mobile object which may include vehicles, GPS devices, or people. If a company is tracking and routing a vehicle fleet, then each unique vehicle is referred to as an asset.

BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE: Spatial analysis tools to build visual dashboards and KPIs in business applications such as CRM and ERP solutions to better analyse, plan, and monitor business processes and performance by location.

FLEET MANAGEMENT: Routing and tracking services to build solutions to manage small and large fleets with advanced features including matrix routing, geocoding, real-time traffic and truck routing.

GEOCODING:  To look up a location either with a partial address (forward geocoding) or a lat/long (reverse geocoding) to gain an accurate location. Geocoding can be performed in batch mode if there are multiple addresses to resolve.

GEOFENCING: Monitoring of mobile assets entering or leaving a certain geographic area, of any size, anywhere in the world.

JAVASCRIPT:  Mapping services use JavaScript for loading an interactive map including markers, routing, traffic, and custom map styling, on a website or app.   

LAT/LONG:  By combing the Latitude and Longitude information, a position point is obtained and can then be displayed on a map or used in a route calculation. 

MATRIX ROUTING:  If a company requires multiple distances and travel times for the purpose of planning locations/routes they can use a matrix routing service. The API outputs the journey times and distances in the form of a table known as a matrix. 

MOBILE SDK: SDKs for Android and iOS to natively integrate fully featured map controls into mobile applications including positioning, 3D mapping and voice guided turn by turn navigation.

POINT OF INTEREST DATA (PoI): Information about the function and geographical location of a place, for example, parks, shops, cafes, petrol stations, hotels. 

ROUTING:  The shortest or fastest routes available to multiple destinations at a time, or specialist routes and facts for people, transit, and commercial vehicles. Truck Routing takes into consideration specific attributes of the vehicle such as height, length, hazmat load, in relation to road restrictions and compliancy.

ROUTE OPTIMISATION:  To create the optimal route based on the availability of one or more vehicles, calculated with real-time traffic, isochrones, matrix routing and batch routing.

SEARCH:  Provide details about nearby PoI, render locations on a map and geocode addresses to get corresponding lat/lon coordinates.

TRACKING:  To track mobile assets using visualisation of vehicles/devices on a map or automated solutions that identify the nearest asset to send to a job (eg., a taxi application).

WAYPOINT:  A single stop in a multi-drop route.  

The Grey Matter team of mapping specialists can support you to bring your location-enabled applications to life, and to deploy and scale for your business success. Contact them to discuss your use case, to help get you set up, or arrange a services consultation: call +44 (0)1364 655 133 or email [email protected]