The Bird's-Eye View from a Worm's-Eye Perspective

Digital cartographic data are generally encoded either as drawings of discrete shapes or as images of continuously varying conditions. These vector and raster formats differ in terms that are not only operational but also conceptual. To explore the kind of thinking that distinguishes raster processing, several brief examples are presented in the form of classroom brainteasers. These are offered in support of a contention that raster operations are better understood from a local, rather than global, point of view.