Raster vs Vector

You often hear these two terms used when referring to imagery data in GIS, land surveying and engineering fields. It is important to know the difference between the two types of imagery. Raster deals with pixels, like the pictures we take with a standard digital camera AND Vector deals with points that have line and color information associated with them, like CAD drawings. Vector images can be easily scaled without losing clarity and integrity, they will look the same big or small for the most part. In contrast, Raster images when scaled up become pixelated and splotchy, losing a lot of their clarity and meaning.

To help clarify the versus statement I ran across a great thread from the Graphics Design Forum, http://www.graphicdesignforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=41. It really helped to clarify the Raster vs Vector imagery conundrum.