Map Algebra

Map Algebra is an analysis language based loosely on the map algebra concepts presented by Dr. Dana Tomlin in his book entitled Geographic Information Systems and Cartographic Modeling (Tomlin, 1990). Map Algebra is a high-level computational language used for performing cartographic spatial analysis using raster data.

Simply put, Map Algebra is math applied to rasters, a practice that's possible because rasters are geographically referenced arrays of numbers. If you stack rasters on top of each other as if they were a mathematical sandwich, you can perform simple arithmetic to the most sophisticated algorithms with them.

Map Algebra is possible for rasters that share the same coordinate system.