Industry Terminology: GIS Format
Historically, "coverage" is the term typically applied to the legacy Arc/INFO format developed by ESRI. The Coverage model at that time was a revolutionary concept, extending CAD formats into more spatially aware data that featured linked attributes. Coverages processed using the BUILD and CLEAN commands are 2D planar datasets that maintain topological information, thus a polygon "knows" which segments of its perimeter it shares with adjacent polygons. Due to the lack of processing power in computing at the time of its development, the Coverage model employs indexed binary files to store spatial and attribute data separately as opposed to utilizing a RDBMS.
This has changed with the advent of raster database technology like rasdaman which makes efficient ad-hoc filtering and processing feasible.
Read more about this topic: Coverage Data
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“No delusion is greater than the notion that method and industry can make up for lack of mother-wit, either in science or in practical life.”
—Thomas Henry Huxley (1825–1895)