Digitizer

digitizer - 

(1) [data capture] A device connected to a computer, consisting of a tablet and a handheld puck, that converts positions on the tablet surface as they are traced by an operator to digital x,y coordinates, yielding vector data consisting of points, lines, and polygons.

(2) [data capture] The title of a person who uses a digitizer.

(3) [data capture] An optical device that translates an Analog Image / Analogue Image into an array of digital pixel values. A video digitizer can be used in place of a manual digitizer, but since it produces a raster image, additional software must be used to convert the data into vector format before topological analysis can be done.

[Category=Geospatial ]

Source: esri, 28 March 2012 08:24:37, http://support.esri.com/en/knowledgebase/GISDictionary/term/abbreviation