What do the rows in an attribute table represent?

The rows in an attribute table represent records, which correspond to individual entries or observations within a dataset. Each record stores data for a specific feature or entity represented in the associated geographic layer. For instance, if the layer is a map of cities, each row corresponds to a different city and contains various details about it, such as its name, population, and area.

This concept is foundational in GIS as attribute tables serve to organize, store, and manage non-spatial data associated with geographic features. Each record is tied to a spatial object, allowing for a comprehensive understanding of the spatial data represented in maps and analyses. The importance of records is highlighted in GIS applications where analyzing and querying specific features based on their attributes is key to deriving insights and making decisions.

In contrast, fields refer to the columns in the table that define what type of information is stored for each record (for example, the name of the city or its population), while attributes are the specific data values stored in those fields for each record. Data types classify the nature of the data contained in the fields, such as text, integer, or floating point, but they do not specifically define the overall structure of the table.