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ArcGIS
desktop.arcgis.com › en › arcmap › latest › extensions › 3d-analyst › discrete-and-continuous-data-in-3d-analyst.htm
Discrete and continuous data—ArcMap | Documentation
Surfaces are continuous data, such as elevation, rainfall, pollution concentration, and water tables. This data can be represented as a continuous surface, generally without sharp or abrupt changes. ... Discrete features are discontinuous and have definite feature boundaries.
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Geography Realm
geographyrealm.com › home › articles › what is continuous versus discrete data in gis?
What is Continuous Versus Discrete Data in GIS? - Geography Realm
August 13, 2024 - Elevation, slope, temperature, and precipitation are examples of datasets that are continuous. In the example map below, every point on the map within the contiguous United States contains a temperature value.
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Geospatial
vector.geospatial.science › textbook › chapter-three › discrete-and-continuous-data
Section Four - Discrete and Continuous Data | Vector Based GIS
Examples include: Land use maps – Representing categories like "Urban," "Forest," "Agriculture." Zoning maps – Dividing land into distinct regulatory classifications. A Triangulated Irregular Network (TIN) is a vector-based representation of continuous elevation the vertical distance between ...
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Esri Support
support.esri.com › en-us › gis-dictionary › continuous-data
Continuous Data Definition | GIS Dictionary
A to Z GIS | Explore this related guide, featuring updated terms and graphics and developed in coordination with Esri’s GIS Dictionary team. ... [data architecture] Data such as elevation or temperature that varies without discrete steps.
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Mapaspects
mapaspects.org › courses › gis-and-anthropology › weekly-class-exercises › week-5-raster-data-model-dem-and-other-continuou › index.html
Week 5 - Raster Data Model: DEM and other continuous data | www.MapAspects.org
Continuous data is represented in the form of cellular or “gridded point” in a GIS. This data model is suitable for working with themes that consist of continuous values across spaces. Examples include: elevation, vegetative cover, temperature, and barometric pressure.
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T-kartor
t-kartor.com › blog › an-overview-of-data-types-formats-and-uses-in-gis
An Overview of Data Types, Formats, and Uses in GIS
May 8, 2026 - Continuous data varies smoothly over space, meaning the data doesn't abruptly change from one value to another. Examples of continuous data include temperature, elevation, or rainfall—values that exist everywhere within a given space and can ...
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MGISS
mgiss.co.uk › the-different-types-of-gis-data
The Different Types of GIS Data | MGISS
March 12, 2025 - Continuous Data – Continuous rasters are cells on the grid that gradually change. Some examples would be an aerial photo, elevation and temperature. Continuous raster surfaces come from a fixed registration point.
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ArcGIS
desktop.arcgis.com › en › arcmap › 10.3 › manage-data › raster-and-images › discrete-and-continuous-data.htm
Continuous data
Discrete data, which is sometimes called thematic, categorical, or discontinuous data, most often represents objects in both the feature (vector) and raster data storage systems. A discrete object has known and definable boundaries: it is easy to define precisely where the object begins and where it ends. A lake is a discrete object within the surrounding landscape. Where the water’s edge meets the land can be definitively established. Other examples of discrete objects include buildings, roads, and parcels. Discrete objects are usually nouns. A continuous surface represents phenomena in which each location on the surface is a measure of the concentration level or its relationship from a fixed point in space or from an emitting source.
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University of Connecticut
guides.lib.uconn.edu › c.php
Spatial Data Models - Geographic Information Systems (GIS) - LibGuides at University of Connecticut
Raster data can represent discrete values, as well as continuous data values, or values that fall within an infinite spectrum of numbers that can be measured to any decimal place. In GIS, we store raster data using cells/pixels organized into a grid, and each cell represents a data value. Some examples of data that are stored as rasters include:
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Gis
wiki.gis.com › what is gis › gis resources
GIS Concepts, Technologies, Products, & Communities
May 6, 2024 - GIS is a spatial system that creates, manages, analyzes, and maps all types of data.
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Quizlet
quizlet.com › 423611526 › geog-463-chapter-1-quiz-flash-cards
GEOG 463 Chapter 1 Quiz Flashcards | Quizlet
Discrete: road, city, country Continuous: temperature, elevation, relative humidity · A 50-m long swimming pool measures 2-cm on a large scale map. What is the scale of the map? ... GIS data sets do not have map scales because only the coordinates ...
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Esri
webhelp.esri.com › arcgisdesktop › 9.2 › index.cfm
ArcGIS Desktop Help 9.2 - Discrete and continuous data
September 22, 2008 - We cannot provide a description for this page right now
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MiMi
en.mimi.hu › gis › continuous_data.html
* Continuous Data (GIS) - Definition - Meaning - Lexicon & Encyclopedia
Continuous Data - Topic:GIS - Lexicon & Encyclopedia - What is what? Everything you always wanted to know
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OpenGeoEdu
learn.opengeoedu.de › en › gis › vorlesung › geodatenmodellierung › diskret_vs_kontinuierlich
Discrete versus continuous objects | OpenGeoEdu
For example, a point can be assigned a point number, a street name can be assigned to a street line defining a street center, or the parcel number or area size can be assigned to a polygon. In the raster data representation, thematic information is assigned to a single raster cell.
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Esri Support
support.esri.com › en-us › gis-dictionary › continuous-raster
Continuous Raster Definition | GIS Dictionary
It is assumed that the value assigned to each cell is what is found at the center of the cell. Rasters representing elevation, precipitation, chemical concentrations, suitability models, or distance from a road are examples of continuous rasters.
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University of California Irvine
guides.lib.uci.edu › gis › formats
Geospatial Data Formats - Geographic Information Systems (GIS) - Research Guides at University of California Irvine
March 18, 2026 - Examples are county boundaries, the location of roads and railroads using lines, or point data indicating the location of fire hydrants. By contrast, raster data is best suited for continuous data, or information that does not have hard boundaries or locations.
Top answer
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Just to add to what @Kostas VI. mentioned: Measuring means always approximation. If the approximation is "good enough", you would consider it "reliable data". What that exactely means has to be decided in each individual context.

As general rule: if the data has higher resolution than the minimal size you need for your task, it's probably "good enough". A resolution of 1 meter in a Digital Elevation Model (DEM) is probably good enough to identify buildings (thus "continuous enough"), but might be not ideal if you want to identify structures on the rooftop (like chimneys, roof structure and so on).

If you have a DEM, taken either from satellite (like SRTM) or via aerial survey (LIDAR data), you get point data (or point clouds) - every sample point with it's own hight. Than, these raw data is processed in such a way as to generate a continuous surface (interpolation) - thus a "model".

These models often come in the form of a (Geo) Tiff, thus a digital raster image. The very concept of raster images implies that they are always discrete: they consist of pixels. But depending on technical resolution and the resolution you need for your task, there are cases where you could consider them as almost continuous, even if in fact they are not.

Also consider the coastline paradox: you can always find a better resolution for the thing you want to measure of capture in an image. The more you go into the details, the more "structure" you find.

But normally, a certain resolution is high enough for what you want to do with the data. In this case, if the technical resolution of the measurement used is higher, than you can consider the data to be "almost continuous" in a broader sense, even if from a technical view, digital instruments always save data in a discrete form (the very concept of digital technologies is based on this).

To make a long story short: there is no clear answer to your question, it depends an what kind of data you have and for what you need them: thus - what in your context the meaning of "continuous" and "discrete" exactely means (in a technical sense, to repeat, digital data is always discrete).

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I think it depends on what you want to do with it and what the image depicts. For example, a satellite image depicting Ocean Color (e.g. Sentinel-3 OLCI product) or Sea Surface Temperature (SLSTR product) can be considered continues, since the variables they depict are inherently continuous variables. However, if you wanted to discriminate between some distinctive ocean features (e.g. streams, eddies) you could classify them based on some rule, thus consider them as discrete.

If you're talking about higher spatial resolution land surface data (e.g. Landsat data) and you want to make a land cover map, then you need to consider them as discrete, i.e. different class corresponds to a different surface. If you want to distinguish between surface objects it doesn't make any sense to consider them as continuous. For example, if there is a highway road next to a crop, you'll take them as discrete.

But, if for some reason you want to take the spectral values of each pixel and do something more generic with it (e.g. a heatmap of spectral values), you could e.g. smooth the image bands.

Another example: Imagine you have Landsat data. Imagine you make a random cross-section of a spectral band which passes over a crop, building. What would you expect to see in various spatial resolutions? If the spatial resolution was higher then the distinction between the objects would be more clear and the cross-section would have a sudden jump, since building respond differently to radiation than crops. So if you wanted to distinguish between the two, it would make sense to consider them as discrete.