Attributes are needed to characterize objects. Traditional geographic attributes are area, length and direction. Other attributes may be added and can include chemical, physical or descriptive characteristics. These characteristics can be either in numerical or character format. A numerical format can be values for specific conductivity, pH and similar variables.
Characters can be place names, rock types or soil description.
Topological type defines spatial relation between objects. By using the attributes of these objects, very powerfull queries and databases can be developed. Spatial data manipulation within GIS should be based on the particular GIS data type and structure. There are two main types of GIS - raster and vector. The choice of using either a raster or vector GIS system depends on the specific application.