(Data West Research Agency definition: see GIS glossary.) Defines the borders of homogeneous features as well as the characteristics associated with those features which identify special land related information (e.g., a soils map describes the boundary characteristics of soil types from which the following types of information can be obtained: areas which have unstable land for construction; areas that may be within a floodplain; wetland areas; areas with high potential productivity for farming, etc.)

Polygon mapping is the cartographic display of regularly or irregularly shaped polygons and their attributes. Typically, this capability includes shading, symbology and numeric labeling, as well as other map cosmetic functions for generating alphanumeric labeling of polygons.