The following words and terms, when used in this chapter, shall have the following meanings, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise.

1. (1) Albers equal area conic projection--A map projection developed by Albers in 1805 and commonly used in mapping of the United States by the U.S. Geological Survey. While some distortion is inherent in all map projections, a characteristic of the albers equal area conic projection is that scale distortion is minimized.
2. (2) Datum--A smooth mathematical surface that closely defines the mean sea-level surface of the earth throughout a certain geographic region of interest (such as North America). Accurate ground positional measurements must be made with reference to a specific datum appropriate to the region.
3. (3) Geographic information system (GIS)--A system of computer hardware, software and procedures used to store, analyze and display geospatial data and related tabular data in a geographic context to solve complex planning and management problems in a wide variety of applications.
4. (4) Geospatial data(set)--Data which describes some aspect of the earth's surface (or near-surface regions), or which can be identified with a specific location on or near the earth's surface. A geospatial dataset employs a defined, earth-based coordinate system which allows its use in a geographic information system.
5. (5) Geospatial dataset enhancement--Substantial alteration of a geospatial dataset which increases its usefulness through the addition of attribute (tabular) data fields, improvements in spatial accuracy, or extension of geographic coverage.
6. (6) Geospatial dataset maintenance--Addition to, or alteration of, a geospatial dataset as part of a routine business process.
7. (7) Geospatial metadata--A description of the characteristics of a geospatial dataset, recorded in a standard format. Characteristics include data content, quality, purpose, condition, format, spatial coordinate system, availability, etc. The Federal Geographic Data Committee has defined a formal content standard for digital geospatial metadata for use by federal agencies.
8. (8) GeoTIFF--A TIFF-based image format for geo-referenced raster imagery.
9. (9) GIS map product--A geographic representation, in paper or electronic format, displaying features from one or more digital geospatial datasets. Small scale images that are clearly intended only for graphic illustration within a larger publication are not considered to be GIS map products.
10. (10) JPEG--A standardized image compression mechanism. JPEG stands for Joint Photographic Experts Group, the original name of the committee that wrote the standard.
11. (11) Lambert conformal conic projection--A map projection developed by Lambert in 1772 and commonly used in mapping of the United States by the U.S. Geological Survey. While some distortion is inherent in all map projections, a characteristic of the lambert conformal conic projection is that shape distortion is minimized.
12. (12) Map projection--A systematic representation of all or part of a surface of a round body, especially Earth, on a plane.
13. (13) Raster--A data structure for representing spatial data. The raster data structure divides a region of space into a regular, two-dimensional grid. Each cell in the grid has an associated data value. A common use of the raster data structure is to represent imagery in a digital format. In this case, the data value for each cell represents the color exhibited by that part of the image.
14. (14) Survey product--A map, report, letter or other document produced by a registered professional land surveyor while engaged in the practice of land surveying.
15. (15) TIFF--Tagged Image File Format. A public domain raster image file format.
16. (16) World file--A file that accompanies a specific raster image file and that contains georeferencing information that can be used by certain GIS software to correctly display the raster image in an earth-based coordinate system.

Source Note:The provisions of this §205.1 adopted to be effective September 20, 2011, 36 TexReg 6143.