Essential ArcGIS Mobile vocabulary

When reading through the ArcGIS Mobile documentation, you may encounter terminology that you have not heard before. Below is a list of terms that are specific to field GIS.

Term	Definition
Mobile device	A generic term that is used to describe a computer that is used in the field for field GIS. This term includes both Windows-based notebooks and handheld devices.
GPS	A system of radio-emitting and radio-receiving satellites used for determining positions on the earth. The orbiting satellites transmit signals that allow a GPS receiver anywhere on earth to calculate its own location through trilateration. Developed and operated by the U.S. Department of Defense, the system is used in navigation, mapping, surveying, and other applications in which precise positioning is necessary.
Deployment	The installation of an application, application component or field GIS dataset on a target machine.
D-pad or Rocker	Short for directional pad and often referred to as a rocker, this is a relatively flat, thumb-operated pad that is found on all Windows Mobile handheld devices. It enables navigation between forms in an application and provides a central key that acts like a click of a mouse. ArcGIS Mobile leverages the D-pad for both form and map navigation in the ArcGIS Mobile application.
SMS	Acronym for short message service. This is a communication service that uses standard communication protocols to interchange short text messages between mobile telephone devices.
NMEA	Acronym for National Marine and Electronics Association. This nonprofit association is composed of manufacturers, distributors, dealers, educational institutions, and others, interested in peripheral marine electronics occupations. NMEA has created a standard that defines an electrical interface and data protocol for communications between marine instrumentation that has been adopted as an industry standard by the GPS industry.
DOP, PDOP, HDOP, GDOP, VDOP, TDOP	DOP is an acronym for dilution of precision, which is an indicator of satellite geometry for a constellation of satellites used to determine a position. Positions with a lower DOP value generally constitute better measurement results than those with higher DOP. Factors determining the total GDOP (geometric DOP) for a set of satellites include PDOP (position DOP), HDOP (horizontal DOP), VDOP (vertical DOP), and TDOP (time DOP).