Synonyms
Automated map compilation; Realignment; Rubber‐sheeting; Data integration; Entity integration; Vertical conflation; Feature matching
Definition
In GIS, conflation is defined as the process of combining geographic information from overlapping sources so as to retain accurate data, minimize redundancy, and reconcile data conflicts [7]. The need for conflation typically arises in updating legacy data for accuracy or missing features/attributes by reference to newer data sources with overlapping coverage. For example, the street-name and address-range data from the US Census Bureau can be conflated with the spatially accurate USGS digital-line-graph (DLG) to produce a more accurate and useful source than either dataset. Conflating vector GIS data with raster data is also a common problem.
Conflation can take many different forms. Horizontal conflation refers to the matching of features and attributes in adjacent GIS sources for the purpose of eliminating positional and...
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© 2008 Springer-Verlag
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Seth, S., Samal, A. (2008). Conflation of Features. In: Shekhar, S., Xiong, H. (eds) Encyclopedia of GIS. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-35973-1_181
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-35973-1_181
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