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attribute data — English
The particulars and details that describe a person, place, activity or phenomenon. It is a very difficult term to define since the terms “attribute” and “data” are often used interchangeably in Geography. In fact, it has more to do with the capturing of data (electronically or manually) in a database or on maps than anything else. Geographers deal with spatially distributed data and with the spatial patterns described by the data (see “spatial distribution”). Every piece of data that is of interest to geographers has two main characteristics: firstly it is, or comes from, somewhere (that is a spatial characteristic), and secondly it is or has some quality that is of interest to geographers. This quality is a descriptive characteristic or an attribute. Geographers study spatial patterns, that is, the way in which attributes are distributed within a specific area, namely the study area. The subject of the investigation might be the occurrence of flu in a specific area. The study area is defined and then demarcated on a map (see “demarcation”). Secondly, all the people who live in the area are plotted on this map by means of their addresses. Now we have a map covered with dots. The spatial distribution of the people in the study area has therefore been graphically described (that is, the pattern can be seen on the map). But some of these people (dots) have the flu and some do not. If the dots representing the people who have the flu are coloured red and those who do not have the flu are coloured blue, we can clearly see the spatial distribution pattern of the flu in the study area. The dots carry the spatial data and the colour (of the dots) carries the attribute data.
