Quartz Compositor only accepts raster data, and is the only process that can directly access the graphics frame buffer.
This means that even otherwise compatible raster data may need to be analyzed at the level of scan lines in order to convert between formats.
IHO Publication S-61 provides guidelines for the production of raster data.
The most significant bit of a line of raster data represents the leftmost pixel.
Scanning a map results in raster data that could be further processed to produce vector data.
Remote sensing collects raster data that can be further processed using different bands to identify objects and classes of interest, such as land cover.
This is printed to order from digital raster data, allowing the customer to choose exactly which area the map should cover.
A map algebra, suitable for 2-D and 3-D spatial raster data, has been published by Mennis et al.
Teem, a collection of libraries for representing, processing, and visualizing scientific raster data.