Mapunkta

Mapunkta is a term that appears in some Swedish-language GIS discussions and community wikis to refer to a single geographic point displayed on a map. In practice, a mapunkta corresponds to what GIS professionals would call a point feature or marker, defined by coordinates (such as latitude and longitude) and optionally accompanied by metadata such as a name, description, category, or styling.

Etymology and usage of mapunkta are informal. The word seems to be a coined compound combining an English map with a Swedish-like suffix, but there is no widely cited authoritative etymology in major dictionaries. The term is not standardized and is mostly found in informal tutorials, forums, and local documentation rather than official GIS references.

In formal GIS contexts, the same concept is usually described using terms like point feature, marker, or point of interest (POI). A mapunkta is typically implemented as a point geometry in a spatial data layer, and it can be symbolized visually with a specific color, size, and label. Attributes may include a name, category, description, URL, or other metadata to aid classification and search.

Limitations: Because mapunkta is not a standardized term, its meaning can vary between sources. When working on interoperable GIS projects, it is preferable to use conventional terminology to avoid ambiguity.

See also: Geographic information system, map marker, point feature, point of interest, coordinate system.