Table 2. A Summary of Data Storage Types

Type
Byte¹
Integer
Non-integer
Character
Other Names
char
8-bit
numeric
decimal
float
string
Examples
6
200
402
-10
7.5
3.14159
Hawkesbury
'99 Balaclava Rd'
Invalid
Examples
(reason why)
310
(value is too large)
2.1
(must not have decimal point)
3.2
(must not have decimal point)
27m
(only figures allowed)
6/2/1998
(only figures allowed)
Bondi Beach
(terminators, which are usually quotes, are required around names with spaces)

Notes

  1. Byte data is frequently used for raster data (especially remote sensing imagery), but seldom used for vector data.
  2. In some software 4 byte (32-bit) storage is used for integers.
  3. With non-integer storage, 8 byte storage is used for storing coordinate data in some vector software. This may be referred to as double.