Editing Geographic information system (section)

===Raster-to-vector translation===
Data restructuring can be performed by a GIS to convert data into different formats. For example, a GIS may be used to convert a satellite image map to a vector structure by generating lines around all cells with the same classification, while determining the cell spatial relationships, such as adjacency or inclusion.

More advanced data processing can occur with [[image processing]], a technique developed in the late&nbsp;1960s by [[NASA]] and the private sector to provide contrast enhancement, false color rendering and a variety of other techniques including use of two dimensional [[Fourier transforms]]. Since digital data is collected and stored in various ways, the two data sources may not be entirely compatible. So a GIS must be able to convert [[geographic data]] from one structure to another. In so doing, the implicit assumptions behind different ontologies and classifications require analysis.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Winther|first=Rasmus G.|year=2014|title=Mapping Kinds in GIS and Cartography|journal=Natural Kinds and Classification in Scientific Practice| editor=C. Kendig|url=http://philpapers.org/archive/WINMKI.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140808044350/http://philpapers.org/archive/WINMKI.pdf |archive-date=2014-08-08 |url-status=live}}</ref> Object ontologies have gained increasing prominence as a consequence of [[object-oriented programming]] and sustained work by [[Barry Smith (academic and ontologist)|Barry Smith]] and co-workers.